The obvious problem with sprinkler cities is that at some point out West they're gonna run out of water to sprinkle all those stupid suburbs. You can only find water to create places like Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Phoenix in the middle of the desert for so long. As everybody should know, water politics is big time stuff already out in the arid West. (Remember Jack Nicholson in "Chinatown"?)
In an interesting news interview the other day pointed out that the LARGEST concentration of West Nile Virus cases was in Phoenix. They had the Phoenix Public Health director on and he described the source of the problem as "abandoned swimming pools!"
Forbes also ran a major piece on the Western Water Crisis about 10 years ago now. Their predictions are coming true in spades.
Leaving the junk behind and fleeing to a new frontier is the American way. But at some point, as Miggle sagely points out, we run out of hydrocarbon fuel. And of course it's not just we Americans who are addicted to oil. One of the things that really disappointed me about places like Korea, Vietnam and China is how they had a perfect chance to create future-looking transportation systems and instead opted for the archaic clunky old automobile.
The answer for this of course is purely economic.
The Internal Combustion engine was without doubt the single most transforming invention of the 20th century -- from any way you look at it. It allowed the denuding of forests to stop; shifted the "power" from "King Coal" to Oil; allowed major advances in transportation speed and the like to take place. Roads are actually much easier to build that "rail-roads" simply because they can be created with utterly manual labor and don't require a sophisticated support structure. (High speed roads are a different issue.)
Until a technology, maybe fuel cells, is "perfected" the clunky old automobile still provides the cheapest and most "mobile" form of transportation for not only people but goods and services also. But even with fuel cells, just like the Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) provided a personal portability not possible with centralized mainframes, the PMD - Personal Mobility Device - is still that which the individual demands.
Of course, one could couple fuel cells with something like a Segway just as easily as with a Bus or Truck. ... but we'd have to fix the sidewalks first ... get rid of those damm tree roots!
One of the things I love about old rust-belt Philly is the way it's emptying out, people are scurrying off southwest to the newest sprinkler. That's just perfect for an Amish like me. It means we slowly get an extra-livable walking-size city with lots of green space and all the cultural amenities, while the Yahoos are tying themselves up in traffic out in the sprawling nowhereland suburbs.
Philadelphia is surprisingly unique, if for no other reason than the vision of William Penn.
One of the biggest issues with things like Street's NTI and similar Urban Renewal programs is that the housing density in Philadelphia is much much greater than it needs to be, especially for its current population. Many of the derelict properties could be simply torn down and left as open space. Like most 19th century cities -- Philadelphia "just grew." As population increased so did housing density. Philadelphia had an advantage in early years in that it had the street railways and later the trolley systems. It also had space to expand. Housing developments, like University City, were the result of this same desire to move outward from the "teeming city" and all its horrors into a more bucolic setting.
Philosophically, there is something radically different about "commuting" for 30 minutes or an hour or so on the highway in a car or even in a Bus or Train when compared to spending the same amount of time walking. [Did you know that it is only about a 45 minute walk from 45th street to City Hall?]
T.T.F.N. William H. Magill [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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