The design failure of suburbia
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- ethanfink
Suburbia: The place where dreams are made, you have some land, a big house, 3 big SUV's, a big dog, and you shop until you drop. Sounds like a pleasant life experience, no?
There has been many articles and thoughts from many resources that suburbia which was designed by oil rich, and car manufacturing companies are now becoming America's (the worlds) slums. Those white picket fences are going to start decaying, and turning brown. The fact is there are just not sustainable.
Gas prices are rising, driving people to stop using their cars, house prices are down (not in New York and many other metropolitan areas). We are in a war to continue to have control over cheap oil, and there is no solution for alternative energy. Wind, Solar, and Hydrogen are not capable of sustaining us. (Hydorogen has to be created using either natural gas or oil)
Is this the end of suburbia as we know it?
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/2…
http://www.npr.org/templates/sto…
http://news.ncsu.edu/releases/20…
http://www.endofsuburbia.com/As designers we all face challenges to improve communication, user experiences, and making our lives easier. We are constantly looking at how to design a better, more cohesive, all encompassing product. Some how improving the interactions and well-being of human kind.
As designers how are we to save our suburban counterparts from a perilous future? Is there an answer?
Disclaimer: This sounds like a crock of shit, but after learning and reading, I am sort of nervous to see this economic downfall continue.
- utopian0
The suburbs will be the future ghettos of America!
- OSFA0
Good thing I live in the GheTTo...
- mikotondria30
nah - people will just have to adapt - either live within biking distance of work, carpool, company bus, public bus, motorbike.
The suburbs are not the new ghetto, they're the new countryside.
I fully expect to see all my neighbors using half their land to grow veggies, walking more, using the local park and exercise trailways more.
The suburbs were lonely places where all anyone did was drive to and away from. Now people will actually have no choice but to use, and therefore become interested in the facilities and management of, the spaces within a mile of their homes. I foresee more: local kids getting to know each other and playing outside, parents and neighbors doing more locally - parties, cookouts, bulk buying, more interest in what's within walking distance rather than 20minutes drive away - At the moment, American cities are tangled webs of essentially isolated individuals and fractured communities of people that expend waaaaay too much gas just to operate. I lived in Phoenix for a good while, and my closest friends were 50miles across town. It took nearly an hour to get there, during which time I passed thousands of people doing exactly the same thing in the other directions. Hundreds of gallons of gas expended, unnecessarily.
People will begin moving closer to their friends and families, and making new connections closer to home.
We played golf on the moon ffs, burning less gasoline we be a walk in the (newly revitalised) park.
- mikotondria30
now see - that hugely pumped up Hummer there.
Why on earth does noone at Hummer have the nous to realise that the hummer brand has a lot of momentum, good or bad, it doesnt matter, and just make flexfuelled/biodiesel/lpg version - give it to a european manufacturer who will tweak it up to get 30mpg out of it, then lauch that ?
OK, they're friggin ugly ridiculous things that look like Optimus Price with thyroid cancer, but theres millions of people who would have one if they didnt have the eco-terrorist label.
'sfuckin simple.- they tried doing this in a half assed way with the H3 modelLlyod
- Llyod0
and they're so well made
- pr20
We're not in a war for cheap oil! -- Cheap oil = lower profits for the oil companies. We are in a war for CONTROL of oil as that allows the big corporations to charge us whatever they feel like.
Don't believe the propaganda.
- OSFA0
HUCKABEE!!
- Point50
the choice of owning a car is a matter of:
• where you live vs. where you work
• your community's urban/suburban planning
• having kids vs. not having kidsbelieve me, I would love to not have a car, but with 2 kids and a 16 mile one way commute to work it's simply not an option. Hell, I could take the bus, but that would take two hours each way just to get to work, so fuck that.
- and I'm not pointing the finger, these are all situations I've created, but there's not an easy alternative.Point5
- ukit0
C'mon Point5 don't be such a wuss - you can jog those 32 miles! One kid under each arm.
- Point50
for the last year (since I got a bike) I've been going back and forth about not so much getting rid of my car, but trying to cut my driving in half. I would love to ride my bike to and from work at least two days a week, but I there's no shower at my job, and considering that it sometimes is about 90°F+ at 8a during the summer, well, my odor wouldn't go over so well in the office. I'm no New York bike messenger so I'd prefer a bike lane when I can get one and those things are almost non-existent here.
- mg330
F'n great movie.
