This post is due by Tuesday, October 29 @ midnight. No credit given for late posts.
Read the assigned chapters above, and then:
1. Provide 3 SPECIFIC observations about Cars, Culture and Media you learned from EACH chapter of our book, using 2-3 sentences combining the book and your own IYOW analysis. (Yes, the Introduction counts.)
2. Finally, ask ONE specific question you have of Cars, Culture and Media after completing our reading.
Ch 8
ReplyDeleteCars: There are no longer alleyways allowed in cities because firetrucks can’t fit down them! If they made them wide enough for that, by code, then they would no longer be an alleyway. I never realized the importance these alleyways served for a city. Creating a space for poor to live and trash/cans to sit while also not completely separating the poor and the rich-very important I would say.
Culture: “The auto age, as we have known it, will shortly come to an end..” (P124) This is showing Kunstler’s opinion that with petroleum running out we will soon be unable to support extensiveness of the automobile culture. There will most likely be cars still, but less of them and probably belonging more to the rich.
Media: Parisian boulevards sound like a very cool solution to the disconnect between highways and city life. To build a big road, but with parking on the sides in a city, having the middle move a faster speeds and the sides move at slower speeds, with planted, orderly trees? Such a cool idea! I was always one to want randomness and chaos for forests/trees, but the orderly trees on sides of roads really make a difference and I think they actually work better than randomly planted ones. Making the highways a “part of the urban fabric of the city” is such a cool idea!
Ch 9
Cars: Page 167: “The outside world has become an abstraction filtered through television..” ... “The car, or course, is the other connection to the outside world, but ot be precise it connects the inhabitants to the inside of their car..” wow...very interesting...and sad..way of analyzing our society! Makes me want to change everyone and open their eyes to this!
Culture: Sense of place and pride of place. A very important, yet forgotten idea in todays culture. Americans move on average every 4 years! (pg 148) No longer to people stay in places long enough to really build a community and a sense of place.
Media: Stone became popular in Europe because they were running out of forests. In america everything was built out of wood because it was so abundant. This led to less permanence in structure and less of a sense of place. England actually required that houses be built out of brick in Virginia if the inhabitants owned 100 acres or more...in an effort to recreate the life of an english country house.
Ch 10
Cars: Thanks to cars, the light rail system and the trolley went out of business right after the first world war. Driving a private car also increased business to roadside shops, fast food restaurants, country stores, etc...
Culture: On 178 Kunstler talks about the culture of trains and trolleys and how they used to connect all the different town and different states. Only to be paved over to make way for the personal mode of transportation-the car...
Media: The vanishing of general stores and the pop of convenience stores. The only thing is that these convenience stores are not owned by local merchants but giant corporations...
CHAPTER 8:
ReplyDeleteCars: A big theme in this book has been the car-friendly nature of American towns. This chapter argues that Saratoga Springs, and countless other towns, have done everything possible "to accommodate automobiles at the expense of pedestrians, and of civic life in general" (135). It brings out the ridiculousness of personal vehicles by drawing a parallel to railroads. What if people had privately owned locomotives back in the day? Kunstler makes the point that most every American town "has become one big automobile storage depot that incidentally contains other things" (135).
Culture: On page 136, Kunstler goes into how zoning laws in Saratoga Springs require a minimum lot size. This pretty much encourages wasting land. Our culture loves to waste, and I think that is partially because we rarely see the immediate problems with waste and overconsumption. Capitalism creates a "more is better" attitude, and the laws of our country reinforce that notion. Instead of having a minimum lot size, wouldn't it make more sense to have a maximum lot size? Establishing boundaries is much more sustainable than requiring a certain amount of usage.
Media: Page 137 talks about the appearance of buildings and how that shapes the way people view the town. Towns like Saratoga Spring want to advertise themselves as a traditional New England town, even though that isn't its history at all. We learn earlier in the chapter that Saratoga Springs used to be an old gambling town. When Kunstler talks about South Broadway street, with its "gas stations that looked like mosques and log cabins, motels like windmills…" (137), I couldn't help but think about Route 7 and Williston road right here in Burlington. I'm pretty sure there is an actual motel that is shaped like a windmill somewhere along those roads. Using the whole idea of traditional, rural settings to draw people in is a deceiving form of media.
ReplyDeleteCHAPTER 9:
Cars: Page 167 speaks to the car as a "connection to the outside world". Kunstler argues that the car actually just "connects the inhabitants to the inside of their car, not to the outside world per se". When you drive a long distance, or even a short distance, there is so much that gets overlooked in the outside world. Cars and highways serve as a portal in this sense. You bypass all the boring stuff (nature) in order to get to your destination. More often then not, the destination is just another "Noplace".
Culture: This chapter starts by further elaborating on the history of architecture in our culture. I drew a lot of parallels to what we see today, especially in a University setting. Kunstler writes that current architecture projects "tend to destroy open spaces without adding up to a community" (148). I fully agree with this, as it seems that we just build for the sake of building. The process of building is no longer exciting, it is a chore that needs to be completed. My example from UVM is the Waterman building. Construction has been going on at the front of Waterman since I was a freshman. Millions of dollars were spent, and sure it looks very nice, but it didn't really contribute anything to the community. It was an aesthetic project that the student tuitions payed for so that UVM would look more attractive. It is an endless cycle--Instead of investing the money they gain each year in a worthwhile cause like clean energy, the university has to bolster its appearance and spend the money immediately. Something as permanent as a building should have a relationship to the town and community. Perhaps there is some hope, as "green architecture" is building credibility. I think the Aiken Center is really cool, and it actually has a purpose, function, and relationship to the community and culture.
Media: Kunstler talks about how as realtors became more specialized, they created the concept of "home" as a product. "The prospective buyer was encouraged to think of his purchase as a home, with all the powerful associations the word dredges up from the psyche's nether regions." Home is unique for every person. I'm lucky that my real home is a combination of land and structure. Commodifying the emotions of "home" into a product called a "house" is a "neat little semantic trick" of media (165).
CHAPTER 10
ReplyDeleteCars: Page 179 talks about the much more diversified transportation system prior to World War 1. Trains, trolleys, boats, automobiles, horses, and foot travel all had their place. All of those things exist today, but the only meaningful source of travel is the automobile. Kunstler makes the point that "our present transportation system is as much of a monoculture as our way of housing and farming" (179). Because of this monoculture, a ridiculous amount of money is spent to keep it operating, leaving no leftover funds for the public. Perhaps if we spread out the distribution and methods of transportation, less money would be spent overall and mobility would be more efficient.
Culture: When talking about the town of Schuylerville, Kunstler notes how there are historical markers scattered throughout the town. This immediately reminded me of Burlington, and in particular I thought about the "Little Italy" historical marker on Battery Street. The fact that I so quickly found a parallel between the two towns plays into Kunstler's concept of "no place" perfectly. I also started to think about the culture of history that we have in America. We are incredibly proud of even the smallest historical events, for example, "Here the British Army parked their artillery" (175). I wonder what moments of today will warrant historical signs around America.
Media: The concept of "America as one big theme park, an endless circle of hamburgers" (186) is unfortunately a very fitting description of our country. Media spawned through capitalism (or is it the other way around?) has caused the things that are actually important, such as community and nature, to be objects. You cannot buy community. Kunstler targets tourism as particularly problematic, because it "supposes endless supplies of leisure and gasoline in America's future".
Question: Kind of a biggy, but when will we run out of cheap oil? How will it affect our towns, cities, economy, and culture?
Chapter 8
ReplyDelete-Kunstler describes how Saratoga Springs had done everything possible to accommodate the car, at the expense of pedestrians, and more simply civic life. As he described in earlier chapters, streets are designed solely with cars in mind, often leaving pedestrians to move about in dangerous areas.
-Kunstler brings up how large signs have become a staple of American businesses. In my hometown in Connecticut, there was a conflict between the town board and Whole Foods. A new supermarket was being erected right of the exit ramp from I-95, and Whole Foods wanted a sign larger than the town code allowed, in order to attract as many motorists as possible. Whole Foods had to conform to the laws of the town, but the sign is still massive.
-Kunstler mentions that because no new apartments are built over storefronts, we are in a affordable housing crisis. The American mentality is to move into a bigger and better home whenever the opportunity arises. When the economy boomed fifty years ago after world war two, cheap housing units above businesses were seen as unnecessary and their development ceased.
Chapter 9
-I like how Kunstler described a true town as something “akin to a living organism composed of different parts that work together to make whole greater than the sum of its parts.” That seems to be what so many towns are missing. Most people have to go to the next door to their to complete some or most of their errands. If a town has a main strip with a local pharmacy, butcher, etc., its residents will be more involved in keeping the town healthy and thriving.
-Kunstler points out that advertising is based on simplifications and lies. As Dr. Williams has mentioned before in class, ads conceptualize the ideal life, meaning that it probably contains a few lies. In terms of advertising on the road, the marketing campaign has to be oversimplified and leave out a lot of important information about the product because the consumer will only see the ad for a few seconds while driving by.
-Kunstler brings up the subject of signs again when discussing how the country store in Vermont had a “gigantic” sign on it, “as though passing strangers had to be informed in written words that they were in the country.” It’s as if to say the driver is so affixed on any type of large signage that he or she doesn’t even notice their surroundings.
Chapter 10
-“…the failure to own a car is tantamount to failure in citizenship.” Kunstler is stating that in our car-based society, you aren’t a real American unless you have a car. While all of the readings and discussions we have had in class have kind of alluded to this statement, to read it in a single sentence was really insightful.
-When discussing the town of Schuylerville, NY, Kunstler mentions that the tracks from the old Boston and Maine line are gone from the landscape. The tracks and their respective supports were dismantled shortly after the line service stopped, making a return to mixed transportation much more difficult.
-Continuing with Schuylerville, Kunstler mentions that there are to main convenience stores in the town, which are part of large national chains. While these business are able to provide services to citizens for cheaper prices, they take away the chance for a local merchant to make a profit that can help sustain the local economy, something that is becoming increasingly rare in this country.
Ch. 8
ReplyDelete"The zoning laws also require deep setbacks from the street, from the side property lines, and from the rear lot line, which encourages placing the building in the exact center of the lot with parking all around" (p.136). This reminded me of Seiler pointing out that cars promote the idea of individualism, which necessarily separates us from society at large as individuals. Beyond isolating ourselves inside a discrete area, we are also isolating elements of our towns. Here, businesses are isolated from the street, town (out on the "strip" of South Broadway), and from other businesses by their parking lots, just as we are separated by our cars.
"...the sidewalk on the Broadway side of the hotel is absolutely absent of human activity morning, noon, and night. There is no reason for anyone to go there. It is a dead place" (p.143). In a society that de-values the pedestrian, the places you can go on foot but not in a car become meaningless, or useless places. The sidewalk by the Ramada isn't serving a real purpose, it is just filling in space.
"There was no public opposition to the idea of the second mall, nor any discussion about whether it was necessary" (p.145). Once again we have the hidden assumption that more is better. Somehow, we see all "growth" (simply the addition of things to the landscape, and not a reworking of it) as a good thing, as long as new things are going being built, things are looking up. But we never stop to remember that too much of anything is almost never good.
Ch. 9
"The separate buildings exists in physical discontinuity with each other and their surroundings, and they promote further discontinuities of meaning and context..." (p.148). Again, we see a theme of separation and isolation in structures of our society. Except here, we see that it is a kind of chain reaction. Once we are isolated in our cars, that isolation extends to every other part of our world. When we are dependant upon cars, our communities will be also.
"Vincent Scully makes the point that he Greek Revival evinced an 'anti-urban' bias since a temple house looked best standing free in a rural landscape 'pure and unfettered" (p.156). Another hidden assumption, namely, the separate is best. Obviously, anything in contact with other things, such as buildings in heavily urban areas, aren't separate. It is an early hint towards the value of the autonomous individual, a hit at separation as ideal.
"Finally, the style was too puritanical, too symbolically restrictive. It failed to allow enough variety of expression in a culture that extolled each individual's freedom to do things his on way" (p.156). Seiler points out that the road doesn't really provide freedom, you can't go where ever you want, you can only go where the road goes. Similarly, Kunstler here is alluding to the fact that ways through which we retreat into individuality, here it is Greek Revivalist homes, now a days its our cars (or businesses) are often the same as everyone else. There is great irony in claiming individuality in a mass produced car, one of only a discrete number of models from which to choose.
ReplyDeleteCh. 10
"They [convenience stores] sell gasoline, milk, beer, cigarettes, soda, and snacks" (p.181). These stores sell popular items, but these items aren't nourishing. Gasoline and its production is hugely toxic to the environment, beer, cigarettes, and soda are all contain carcinogens (as does gasoline and its byproducts). Chances are the milk sold isn't locally sourced. The things most popular and which are cheapest and easiest to get, seem to debase our own livelihoods.
"Bt what they [corporations] contribute to the town is far less significant than what they take away: the chance for a local merchant to make a profit, to keep that profit in town, where it might be put to work locally...The presence of convenience stores has eliminated many other local operations...no local businesses thrive and the old buildings fall increasingly into disrepair" (p.181-182). Just as the things convenience stores sell undermine our physical well-being, their very presence undermines the fabric of the communities in which we live.
"But a community is not something you have, like a pizza. Nor is it something you can buy, as visitors to Disneyland and Williamsburg discover. It is a living organism based on a web of interdependencies... It expresses itself physically as connectedness..." (p.186). If individualism is our ideal, and that is necessarily precludes interconnectedness, then our ideals and values orient us away from wholesome communities. We have gotten to a point where we tell ourselves we need to be individualistic, without accounting for the fact that it upends almost all of our preexisting social structures, and eventually our physical ones as well.
I wonder, how can we continue to hold on to our traditional forms of community, tied to the design of our towns and cities, if that design is radically changing?
Chapter 8
ReplyDeleteCars: “This is roughly the situation today with the automobile. Saratoga, like virtually every other town in America, has become one big automobile storage depot…” This quote and the one before it really painted a good picture for me. It seems so weird and silly to think about our streets being covered in train track, with box car after box car, but that’s exactly what our town and roads looks like. Our streets are the train tracks encouraging us to drive everywhere and our cars are like box cars all lined up just waiting to go. A constant train of cars, sitting there, polluting our world all day every day. It’s a pretty disturbing image actually.
Culture: “First, the zoning laws in this part of town ordain a minimum lot size. Your business has to occupy a lot of at least on quarter acre, whether it is a hot dog stand or a car dealership, which makes for a lot of dead space.”… Are you kidding me? This has to be one of the most frustrating things I have learned in a while. This is just a great view into our American culture. We love big and large, even if it is completely unnecessary. These zoning laws are not only built for cars, they are built to keep people from walking. Not to mention the amount of wasted space that could be used for other things or even…green space*gasp*. “The law has to assume that cars are more important that people.”
Media: “The folks at Ramada decided that the side facing the parking lot would be the main entrance.” The way buildings look and how a town is set up is a form of media, they are trying to please a certain audience and unfortunately the audience in many towns has become the car. Obviously they would put the front entrance closes to the parking because they wouldn’t want to make people walk too far and be an inconvenience. Now the side that faces the town (the side that should matter the most) is a blank brick wall with some doors, adding to the depressing vibe of the town .
Chapter 9
Culture: “the more housing start, the better for the economy…they represent monoculture tract developments of cookie cutter bunker on half-acre lots in far-flung suburbs…one can rest assured that they will only add to the problems of our present economy and of American civilization.” There has clearly been a disconnection between our government and its people. We no longer are on the same page or speak the same language, what they see as good and tell us what is good, actually isn’t good for us at all. This reminded me of GDP which is a standard economic measure we use to represent our ecological constraints and human well-being, when it is completely a misrepresentation and not accurate. For example the equation might show that our GDP is growing, but they fail to consider or mention the growing gap between the rich and poor. In the case of housing starts, only few people will benefit from the selling of the actual houses increasing that gap, along with putting the consequences on the public.
Cars: “As a scheme for detached single-family houses, however, the Greek Revival had silent shortcomings. The characteristic low-pitched roof was not suited to the heavy snow-loads of a North American winter. Since chimneys interrupted the purity of the temple roofline, they were played down…” This part of the reading made me laugh because of the connection between the unconventional architecture and the unconventional decisions we have made in designing our cars. Something might look good or sound cool, but really adds nothing of importance or necessity.
Media: “Here was a neat little sematic trick introduced by realtors as they became professionalized: the prospective buyer was encouraged to think of his purchase as a home, with all the powerful associations…” This is their way of getting people to buy houses without using their rational brain, just like we have seen car salesmen do. They want you to picture yourself inside that car or house without considering other necessities.
Ch 8
ReplyDeleteOn page 134 a new concept of how greater transportation led towns like Saratoga to lose wealth because of shifting industries. This passage was particularly concerned with the emigration of gambling to Las Vegas. This is an interesting because not only did the industry officially leave the down, it also developed an underground, which farther degraded the town.
Pg 140 illustrates an economic shift. This comprised of low cost of gasoline and the notion that one should not live where they work. This aided in shifting populations away from town centers and into suburbs.
On page 146 Kunstler concludes this chapter with a rather powerful paragraph. It is off topic in that he draws attention to federal debt, which is independent of state (New York pays more in federal taxes than they receive) and municipal debt. In other words the residents of New York are not paying for 80’s spending by their state/municipality because both are required to maintain a balanced budget. He also does mention the impending rise in gas prices, which will affect car culture in the US. Rising demand abroad tied in with depleting supply and weak substitution effect will all be factors of the future car economy.
Ch 9
Pg 148 halfway down parallels to car add-ons
On page 148 Kunstler discusses all the various add-ons one can have to make their cost $500,000 as opposed to $100,000. His end point is that either way the house is just about the same. This relates to the discussion in Carjacked about the various pointless add-ons to cars, and how they entice people yet add quickly to the price.
On page 165 we learn the origins of urban sprawl. This came from Frank Loyd Wright’s idea of Broadacre City. While this never came to being the basic ideas of isolated neighborhoods outside of cities with cars being the only connecting force did.
Kunstler on page 167 states that, “The car… connects their inhabitants to the outside of the car, not to the outside world per se.” He then goes on to compare it to being inside of a submarine. I found this idea very truthful because when one is in a car they are very separated from whatever is happening around them.
Ch 10
On page 178 Kunstler discusses the death of the trolley system in Saratoga Springs. This has been brought up previously in Death of the Electric Car as a power move by car interest groups. Whether it faced a similar fate as the NYC or other large city lines is unclear.
On page 181 the author discusses the detrimental effect the movement of a road can have on a community. In this case Interstate 87 diverted traffic from the town of Schuylerville and thus the community suffered a lack of consumers and the development of business X and Y. This definitely is a detrimental byproduct of development but it should also be noted that there is an opportunity cost in the status quo if it hypothetically did not happen.
I find his final point in this chapter fairly impractical. He essentially asks us to take two steps back from where we are because the price of gas will increase. I know this is not too relevant to class but economically if the price of one good increases so does the price of its substitutes. Therefore if the price of gas is incredibly high profits in the electric car industry will increase with the demand and more companies will enter the industry.
Chapter 10
ReplyDeleteCars: “There was a time just before the first World War when a person could get around his part of the world by train, trolley, boat, automobile, horse, or on foot, and in fact each mode of transportation had its place.” I really like that part about eat mode of transportation having its place. I wish that our transportation systems were still like this today. They car clearly took up the mode of transportation in places it wasn’t meant for and we are now facing the consequences of that. “…our present transportation system is as much a monoculture as our way our housing or farming.”
Culture: “As our national economy became more gigantic, local economies ceased to matter.” “…But the profit does not stay in town. Instead, it is funneled directly into distant corporate coffers.” It is impossible for a local economy to thrive because all of the corporate owned business that have taken over, and have more money and more power to control how and where people spend their money.
media: “The signs of decay are visible everywhere in the village. The decay of property is physical expression of everything the town has lost spiritually while the American economy “grew” and the nation devised a national lifestyle based on cars, cheap oil, and recreational shopping.” Even when our towns are struggling and falling apart our nation’s government still try’s to “advertise” to us that America is still "ok" because our economy is growing, when really that means nothing to our communities.
Chapter 8
ReplyDeleteCar: On page 136 Kunstler talks about how parking lots tend to be bigger than they need to which is due to zoning permits requiring that amount of space. This is just silly to me. It certainly contributes to what Kunstler is saying is a waste of space. This was just interesting to me and made me feel good about UVM where new construction can only go on parking lots or old lots and not on green space. This is good and cities should aim for this as well.
Culture: “Imagine what the town would have been life if railroad tracks ran down every single street carrying a constant stream of privately owned locomotives” (p.135). This is very interesting, because this is no different than mac trucks driving down every street today. We have made every little area accessible by cars, and therefor created this large web of roads linking everything together. There is no adventure anymore because the paths have already been found (if that makes any sense).
Media: On page 146 it was discussed about malls and in order for malls to stay in business advertisements needed to be everywhere. This is still true to this day and for most people the only way to get to a mall is by car. Malls are large wastelands that encourage the use of automobiles, probably why Kunstler dislikes them so much and now I am beginning to see why.
Chapter 9
Car: On the last page of this chapter, page 173, it was stated that cars grant people the access to be able to pick up and move to wherever they would like to go next. This would be why there are so many falling apart homes in the U.S. and why more new houses are being built. People get sick of their old homes and move to have the next best thing. There should be regulations for this type of thing because once again our precious land space is being destroyed by the latest fad.
Culture: Throughout this chapter housing types were discussed. This made me think of culture because it shows how people change what type of home they want based on trends and what the best architecture is, not necessarily based on need, which is the same thing that happens when you buy a car; you go to the dealer wanting necessities but come out with a car that makes you look good.
Media: On page 159 loads of books were discussed about houses and types of houses. This was the only piece of media I could find within this chapter, and it wasn’t about cars. But it just shows how important media is for sales today.
Chapter 10
ReplyDeleteCar: “The cost of driving everywhere, to work. Or to obtain the necessary goods and services of life, impoverishes families. It makes it impossible for them to own their own home” (p. 183). This quote was very sad for me to read. It is true that cars are needed for many things today in order to survive, and it worries me because some people are giving up other necessities to be able to keep their car and their jobs. It would be a scary situation to have to choose between your home and your way to get to work and such.
Culture: On page 180, Kunstler talks about how local economies cease to matter when a town begins to become popular. Larger companies move in and mass marketing takes over, leaving the smaller local business in the dust to compete with the brand name companies. This is sad and still happens today of course.
Media: Business offices polluting streets are advertisements themselves. On page 177 Kunstler discusses how small streets were filled with offices. By having offices in walking areas, people are bound to look in to see what the office is for and see if they would benefit. This in a way is a form of advertising, solely based on location. Smart method of marketing.
Question: Are we too see plain places of nowhere in the future?
Chapter 8:
ReplyDelete- Kunstler refers to the rise and fall of Saratoga Springs in the opening of chapter 8. A once yuppie playground, the city fell from it’s high horse throughout the 20th century due to various factors. The plan for its revival is the most interesting part of this tragedy, however; interstate 87, and the classless highway stops accompanied by such car infrastructure, were the main prescriptions to revivify Saratoga Springs. It is peculiar that this was once thought to benefit a community, whereas in the previous chapter Pierce Lewis notes how such installments are destroying society.
- On page 144, Kunstler recalls the blemished past of the Saratoga mall; the group advocating for it’s building, the pyramid corporation, donated hearty funds to politicians, who would in turn approved the development. This leaves a bad taste in my mouth, and can be directly equated to greed. So many people do not care about the physical and mental well-being of others, as long as their pockets are getting fatter. And the problem only seems to have gotten worse in our contemporary culture of absurdly large campaign contributions…
- Immediately following, on page 145, the audience is informed that another mall are being built literally a stone’s throw away. This demonstrates the addictive, competitive nature that a capitalistic culture is perpetuating; an added mall is obviously not necessary, but it is supposed to boost the local economy (but more importantly those few developers and politicians who are its most prominent advocates). Again, greed plays a central role.
Chapter 9:
- According to Kunstler on pages 147-149, American towns have lost the their sense of community. He relates the towns of the early 20th century to a living “organism” – each part plays its role so that the whole may function properly. Contemporary towns, however, are more similar to a decaying carcass with amorphous fungal growths erratically sprouting all over. I know from my own hometown experience, more growth is almost always met with a groan, not a welcoming smile.
- Although American housing infrastructure has shifted too quickly (in my opinion) over the past few centuries – ranging from Georgian, to Greek Revival, to Roman; alternating between stone and wood – this does provide a somewhat positive outlook for the future. If the trend continues, and more Americans become fed up with the useless suburbanization paradigm, we may see a quick switch to a better alternative. The only worry is that we again employ something too hastily, only to recognize its pitfalls once we are deeply entrenched in the system.
- I do somewhat agree with Kunstler that home improvement is often over simplified, resulting in hodgepodge, sloppy house projects. But I also feel that he is being overly critical. There’s something to be said for those people who want to learn to do it themselves; not everything needs to be professionally done. And furthermore, many persons cannot afford to hire an expert. So more power to them for fixing the matters on their own.
Chapter 10:
ReplyDelete- Before the car became ubiquitous in American society, a person could get around using a variety of transportation types. Moreover, infrastructure supported a variety of methods; railroads, street cars, car lanes, and footpaths were all available. Kunstler states that this diversified transportation system has become a thing of the past, and we currently live in a “monoculture” of automobility.
- The X and Y corporation buildings that Kunstler describes one pages 181-182 reflect a tragedy of the commons scenario: X and Y corporation buildings ignore the unspoken building precedent. They encroach on public space and rights in various ways in order to maximize profits. In doing this, a new standard is set, whereby other businesses try to out due the X and Y Corporation. The result is an “everyone-for-himself” scenario.
- Kunstler says that the “American town” is a notion that many people long for when feeling trapped in corporate jobs. In this scenario, a sense of community serves a similar purpose that automobility served for those people stuck in a Taylorist system. Maybe it’s time to change office settings and occupations so that people enjoy going to work…
Q: How do we make work settings and occupations more enjoyable so that we don’t overcompensate with pleasure in others aspects of life?
Chapter Eight:
ReplyDelete“Imagine what the town would have been like if railroad tracks ran down every single street street carrying a constant stream of privately owned locomotives. Imagine further that the sides of every street were lined with idle engines, boxcars, pullmans, tankers, and cabooses, so that all of saratoga was a gigantic railroad yard... this is roughly the situation today with the automobile.” (135)
I remember as I read this section, before I even finished the ending statement relating it to modern automobiles, I was thinking to myself, the looks and the environmental impact of a town compiled of such infrastructure and massive unattractive equipment in transportation form seems unheard of, no longer even a town just an unappealing location for locomotives. But whats shocking and understanding after this section, is this is our reality, our cities, towns, country are designed around the automobile, while train infrastructure seems more intrusive, pavements, though more subtle, are equally as unenvironmentally sound, transportation takes over the layout of a town.
“At the intersection of Lincoln Avenue, motels stand on two corners... each one presents a blank brick wall to South Broadway... the fast food strip follows, all the little cartoon enteries in a row: McDonald’s, Dunkin Donuts,Pizza Hut...” 139
What’s ironic about this passage, I remember talking to my mom about this course at the beginning of the semester, and her first reaction to transportation shaping society was the idea that motels exist because of our society being in constant movement. It was an “aha” moment for me but the more I learn the more I realize that much of society wouldn’t exist if car’s and movement hadn’t shaped our environment the way it has through the years. Strip malls, fast food joints, motels, everything moves faster and less localized because of these trends sprouting from the routes of transportation.
“The mall, predictably, almost ruined Saratoga’s downtown business district. The town’s movie theater closed. The single “department” store downtown became a steakhouse...” (145) I picked this quote out before reading through chapter ten discussing loss of community, which goes to show the trends of transportation impacts gathered from this course. My first thought was how big super stores like Wal-mart, Hannafords, Home Depot, make local stores and therefore local store owners from the community close, local food markets, local hardware stores, local shops, which begin to deteriorate the community, especially community centers, and local workers and owners. And with this, the sense of community is lost, thinking about old films when people would step out of their house, socialize with neighbor in walking route to local shops, but when every task in done through their cars, the sense of place and sense of community is lost.
Chapter 8
ReplyDeleteCars
“Driving around for every necessity of life didn’t seem like such a bad idea. Gas was cheap.” (Page 140)
Gas in the United States is highly subsidized, which keeps the prices at a reasonable amount compared to Europe. With a lack of great public transportation why wouldn’t a person drive their car everywhere, unless you are living in a populated city there is a high chance that you own a car. If gas costs the true cost without subsidizes then there would be less people driving their car for unnecessary trips.
Culture
“The historic pattern was also harmed by the postwar notion that people shouldn’t live in the same place where business was.” (Page 141)
This statement can apply to many job situations. My hometown in New Jersey is located between Philadelphia and New York City, many parents in my neighborhood commute to either of the cities. This is the exact reason my grandparents moved to Princeton, NJ because my grandfather’s job was split between both cities and living in Princeton gave them the ability to live in a suburban area with their family instead of living in a city. Most people commute more than thirty minutes to work throughout the country.
Media
“Americans might continue to afford an economy based on people endlessly driving around, buying smurfs and Michael Jackson posters.” (Page 146)
The media supports Americans buying goods because it boosts the economy, when the economy is on the rise then people are able to buy houses at better rates and if you live in the suburbs there is a good chance that you will own a few cars.
Chapter 9
Cars
“The mobility that Americans prize so highly is the final ingredient in the debasement of housing.” (Page 173)
Americans are mobile and living in the suburbs allowed Americans to own a car and go everywhere they needed to go. Americans treasure mobility by cars more than many other places. The moment that teenagers get their first car and license are the most exciting moments of their teenage years. Americans are so dependent on cars in the suburbs and rural areas, because we have become a lazy society that will not walk or wait for slow public transit to bring us where we need to go.
Culture
“Where the functions of the town-tend to destroy open space without adding up to a community.” (Page 148)
Urban sprawl comes to mind with this statement because when a suburban community is built, each house lot has a large amount of land where they can use it for their own good. Instead of community parks with smaller plots of land for each house so that people communicate and spend time with each other in public spaces instead of spending time in their own yards. I grew up in a suburban town with an acre of land and this is absolutely true because we had a backyard with everything we could ever want to play with and there was no need for us to walk to the park to play on a daily basis.
Media
“Quickest to uproot themselves are the educated classes, generally to advance their corporate careers.” (Page 148)
The media helps to create new areas to live and work in, every city has up and coming neighborhoods that were once frowned upon to live in. Media can help to bring city neighborhoods back to life if they are advertising and creating more jobs. If the ghost city of Detroit creates updated and exciting neighborhoods within the city and more companies open offices there then young educated people will move there and create even better environments.
Chapter 10
ReplyDeleteCars
“Interstate 87, the four-lane, limited access superhighway that opened in 1967, was now the main route between New York City and Montreal.” (Page 181)
This hurt the small town economies in the small towns that used to be heavily traveled before the highways. The small gas stations and shops would be busy with truck drivers and travelers passing through the town, but now there were busy highways that allowed people to travel faster and passed by these small towns. Interstate 89 had similar effects on Vermont, the highway cut off the smaller Southern towns that used to be heavily traveled as well.
Culture
“The money they earned was spent mostly in town.” (Page 178)
This sentence stuck out to me because at this point in the chapter, he was discussing the early 1900s. This theme of keeping your money in the local economy and not supporting big businesses that do not support you community with your money, is making a comeback in the Vermont culture. There are so many movements around the country to try to buy everything local because it supports your local economy and I found it interesting that in the early 1900s it was being discussed as well.
Media
“The decay of property is the physical expression of everything the town has lost spiritually while the American economy “grew” and the nation devised a national lifestyle based on cars, cheap oil, and recreational shopping.” (Page 184)
This statement was bold, but it defines the American lifestyle because we are addicted to cars, cheap oil, and showering ourselves with unnecessary shopping. All of these are related to the theme that Americans live in excess and we want everything even if we don’t need it. This theme still plays true today, if oil costs as much as it did in other countries we would not be driving our cars around the corner to buy new clothes, we would be more conservative.
Question- How can we create communities where you can live and work, with adequate transportation and lively downtown areas?
Chapter Nine:
ReplyDelete“There must have been a time when people looked forward to the erection of a new house in town, or even at the edge of town. By town, I mean something akin to a living organism composed of different parts that work together to make the whole greater than the sum of its parts - this is, a community.” 145
While I agree with the idea of sense of community by welcoming new houses in town, this makes me question the idea of growth and sprawl as a result of continuously erecting new houses in town, especially growth outward instead of upward. I’d imagine people in multistory buildings would interact with more neighbors each day then single family homes, by simply stepping out of their home. I also think that this form of growth
results in more driving, and therefore again less community interaction. However, I think what’s key is the idea, “a living organism composed of different parts that work together,” in that case, a community is people working for and with eachother, something we’re losing in this modern era or growth and expansion.
“The vast supplies of timber in America promoted wooden buildings at a time when the forests of northern Europe were vanishing. As wood grew scarce in England and France, laws were decreed limiting its use among commoners... to promote stone construction.” (149) I was curious about this idea, because you’d think that England and France enforcing laws of limitation would help promote the ideas of limited resources and need for protection, instead of this growth and use and therefore overuse of America’s vast supplies.
The mobility that Americans prize so highly is the final ingredient in the debasement of housing. The freedom to pick up and move is a premise of the national experience. It is the physical expression of the freedom to move upward socially, absent in other societies.” (173)
I found this one particularly interesting because I immediately thought of my grandmother, whom grew up without a car for much of her life, and when the family finally had one it was challenging to squeeze all seven kids into it. Therefore the idea of mobility and national experience through movement wasn’t something that occurred to her, and when I express my ideas of adventuring across the country post graduation, it makes her both sad and nervous, as she wants us all close to home. Which also adds to my next thought and the idea that this presents an issue of “stand(ing) at odds with the wish to endure in a beloved places, and no place can be worth of that kind of deep love...” yet when I think of my Nana’s home, I think of a place that is deeply loved and never worth leaving, because it’s where they’ve remained for nearly sixty-five years... definitely a difference in time and accessibility to mobility affects the idea of “home.”
Chapter Ten:
ReplyDelete“What happen to Schuylerville since then stypifies the fate of farm and factory towns throughout upstate New York, parts of New england, and the Midwest: as our national economy became more gigantic, local economies ceased to matter, and with that, they ceased to be communities in the most meaningful sense, thought people and buildings remained.” (180) After coming to these thoughts and realizations in chapter eight, this quote nicely sums up this idea, of loss of community. Even thinking of my hometown, while the center of town is maybe a mile long, with the library, schools, and one local food marked all close together, it was the social norm to drive that one mile, and wave at friends by recognizing their cars, even though it was all walkable... And to the next extreme, I’ve traveled via train across the country, and to think of all the abandoned towns we traveled through, which makes sense that towns were situated and built near train stops, but as society altered there almost ghost towns now we’re deserted through expansion, and all that was left were signs of old shops that all specialized in something different, clearly showing that a community once existed.
“The signs of decay are visible everywhere in the village. The decay of property is the physical expression of everything the town has lost spiritually while the American economy “grew” and the nation devised a national lifestyle based on cars, cheap oil, and recreational shopping.” (184) This idea ties really nicely into the ideas above, as society changed through this lifestyle shift based on wealth, and accessibility, America lost it’s spirit, and I also think i’d argue it lost it’s passion and pride. To think of even people’s last names, I remember a girl from highschool had the last name Locksmith, and learning through history last names based on ancestors skill sets, means of making a living. All three of these ideas, cars, cheap oil, and recreational shopping changed the way society was.
“The worst schemes, it seems to me, are pegged to tourism, playing up the Revolutionary War angle. Such schemes suppose endless supplies of leisure and gasoline in Americas future...America as one big theme park, an endless circle of hamburgers” (186) What a quote, America as one big theme park, an endless circle of hamburgers, this is what America has turned into, think of the route of tourism, to tour, we wouldn’t be able to tour if it wasn’t for transportation, we wouldn’t have shops and places built around tourism, is this concept wasn’t available. Tourism sprouted through growth of transportation, America as a place to site see, play, tour, and coincidently full of fast food hamburgers to get you from place to place.
Question: How can we structure society back around the idea of communities, and recreate a sense of place?
Chapter 8:
ReplyDeleteCARS:
On page 135, Kunstler claims that his hometown Saratoga Springs, “like virtually every other town in America, has become one big automobile storage depot that incidentally contains other things.” He later goes on to say that zoning laws “assume that cars are more important than people” (137). As a pedestrian and occasional passenger, I can relate to Kunstler’s frustrations. The absolute worst place to be as a pedestrian is on a highway overpass, miles away from the next bus stop, sun beating down my back, asphault beating it right back up, and the nearest place to get a drink of water is Burger King that reeks. It really makes you detest cars (a little out of envy) in an entirely new way.
CULTURE:
On page 138 Kunstler asserts that American city builders have very little reference in good city design because “we have built so many terrible communities since 1945 and destroyed so much that was good.” I know Burlington and San Francisco aren’t perfect, and I’m no expert in urban design, but having lived in both places I think there’s a lot of beauty in them both and they are both relatively people-centered, compared to the Suburbias I’ve seen. I wonder how these two cities and others like them escaped the poor design that Kunstler talks about here.
MEDIA:
Reading this chapter about the main street, Broadway, in Saratoga Springs made me think back to the idea of Main Street, USA in Disneyland composed of boutiques and shops down a walkable boulevard. How does this media supported, advertised idea of a main street, focused on pedestrians and small shops get replaced by a main street as bland as the one in Saratoga and other American towns?
Chapter 9
MEDIA
According to Kunstler, “the culture of advertising—which bombarded Americans daily, hourly—eroded our capacity to distinguish between truth and lies” (169). Even though we know that it takes more than a shampoo to get that Pantene model’s hair so silky and shiny, we just accept it. Advertisements lie to our face blatantly every day, and it was interesting to see how these lies in turn effect the American Dream of the fantastic.
CULTURE:
In frustration with the bland, mass marketed housing that we see everywhere in America today, Kunstler claims that “these houses exist in no specific relation to anything except the road and the electric line” (166). The house I grew up in, yes, was probably some kind of cookie-cutter type house built next to houses that look incredibly similar. However, it’s in the peripheries of a small, but dense, city directly connected to three bus lines, with a huge city park across the street and a beach a mile away. There’s a kind of Main Street a few blocks up with restaurants, a movie theater, a rec-center, and doctor’s offices. I find it hard to believe that ALL houses EVERYWHERE in America follow the same no-place geography Kunstler is talking about, even if they are of the cookie-cutter type. I felt close to a thriving culture of the city, but well outside of the downtown area. I’ve got to be one of many, many people that grew up in a similar environment.
CARS
Kunstler alludes to cars as submarines, and the outside world as water on page 167. I usually walk everywhere, but I’ve been thinking about taking the next step and learning to drive and getting a car. Reading this, however, made me realize that as freeing as a car SOUNDS, there if far more freedom in breathing in fresh air and experiencing the outside.
Chapter 10
ReplyDeleteCARS
On page 179, Kunstler claims that “the rich variety of possibilities is hard to imagine when the failure to own a car is tantamount to a failure of citizenship, and our present transportation system is as much of a monoculture as our way of housing or farming.” I don’t think it’s necessary a failure of citizenship to own a car, and I think there are pockets in this country that have a rich variety of transportation and a thriving community at that. Burlington is one great example: work is ten minutes away, school fifteen minutes, and downtown with its great restaurants and bars 5-10 minutes away, all walking, at least for me.
CULTURE
On page 186, Kunstler reflects on the concept of the American small town, and that specific idea of community “is a living organism based on a web of interdependencies…it expresses itself physically as connectedness, as buildings actively relating to one another, and to whatever public spaces exists.” This reminded me of my neighborhood back home, where I lived and worked for two years until this past June. I worked at the neighborhood movie theater. Across the street was the local bar, the Hockey Haven and up the street was the local café, Simple Pleasures. Among these were Japanese, Vietnamese, and Chinese restaurants. My neighbors were my close friends, because we all frequented and worked at these establishments and lived in the neighborhood. I never had to text anyone to make plans to meet up, we just found each other at the café or I gave them a popcorn on the house.
QUESTION:
In these chapters, Kunstler focuses primarily on how automobility completely decimated the importance of a landscape that benefits community and people. What are the factors that make cities like San Francisco, Portland, and Burlington to be so community friendly? What does this mean for the future of these cities as the automobile becomes more and more expensive and inconvenient? Will they, as San Francisco is doing right now, become more and more gentrified and expensive to live in, increasing the problem for the poor in United States? Will most cities, like Detroit, face increasing decay and eventual bankruptcy? Will America go the way of Rome?
Cleopatra Doley
ReplyDeleteChapter 8
- the idea that with making cities better, one has to get rid of the “old” and modernize is an interesting concept. I feel that when the authors suburban neighborhood started to get rid of “old” houses, to create new modern ones, they were also getting rid of history.
- in NYC this idea of ignoring the function of walkability is apparent. the “modernization” of NYC was putting huge highways through the Bronx. But the unintended consequence was that that area of the Bronx became impoverished, and people who were in poverty were forced to move there. Modernization is really unfortunate for walkable people-friendly cities.
- Changing what we have and making it better is so radically different then the constant add on’s of modernization. The fact that this town had two huge malls, when people know full well they can’t financially support 2 malls is ridiculous. More is not better, improvements are better, and they’re not usually the same.
Chapter 9
- It’s just really difficult for me to read the authors Eurocentric views at times. The author starts a sentence by saying “in the colonial period, house-building methods were imported directly from Europe” and then says that Native peoples contributed nothing to colonists housing structures. And that’s the only sentence about Native peoples. I already know this chapter is going to be frustrating if the author is about to say only European colonists contributed to this infrastructure.
- and also, on pg 152, “democratic revolutionaries” were not all that revolutionary… considering that they stole the infrastructure of democracy from the many Native tribes that were already in the U.S. I’m just not about this White history lesson the author has going on at the moment.
- That was a very interesting White man history lesson on infrastructure. It’s really hard for me to want to analyze this in any meaningful way that is conducive to my learning. Due to the lack of, and misrepresentation of POC in U.S. architecture history, I don’t think this chapter was super helpful to me.
Chapter 10
- Trolleys and the infrastructure of cities changed dramatically over time. I wonder why trolleys were seen as obsolete? But over time, cities were able to further there expedition of public transportation to bring communities closer together.
- Uncontrolled capitalism in these areas is the downfall of them. These neighborhoods are so competitive, and then when everything falls through, decay occurs. The companies who designed this infrastructure for profit didn’t have to live there and suffer the consequences.
- The “small town street” is a really great way of urban planning. Making communities walkable and accessible, is a good start to understanding the true dynamics of cities. When cities are “modernized” to accommodate cars, you know you’re going in the wrong direction.
Question
How does disability affect urban planning? I feel like I’ve been talking about the “walkability” of cities… when not everyone can walk, or walk quickly/easily. How do cities accommodate people with disabilities?
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ReplyDeleteChapter 8
ReplyDeleteThe opening paragraph of the chapter describes the town of Saratoga Springs and why Kunstler chose to settle there, and it is much the reason why I came to settle in Burlington for my college tenure. I saw the city in Vermont, which would be no more than a town in most other states, as a place to get both the benefit of a city with amenities on Church Street, like Broadway in Saratoga Springs, but I could just as easily get to the mountains and lake for recreation.
Page 140: “In America of the 1950s there was little interest in fixing up old things. America had just won a big war and its citizens felt entitled to new things.” This reminds me of something mentioned in Carjacked about people justifying the purchase of a new car after a promotion or something like that. I feel like people use those types of things to justify something that is otherwise unnecessary. You don’t deserve a new car just because you got a promotion, you want a new car just because you’re bored with the old one.
The first full paragraph on page 142 talks about how the Ramada in downtown Saratoga Springs and how it chose to maximize profits instead of utility when designing the hotel. The idea of multi-purpose buildings is something not used enough today. It only makes sense to get the most out of a space as possible. The notion of business for profit needs to be washed away and replaced with a more sustainable notion of success.
Chapter 9
Page 163 talks about how the balloon frame transformed the craft of house building into an industry. I feel like if houses took longer to build and were then able to last longer, we would come to appreciate them more and was to preserve them. The old structures that took years to build and were meticulously planned (the pyramids, various architectural wonders, etc.) are somewhat preserved and still standing and people flock to them and appreciate them. Why can’t we appreciate our own residences and maintain them correctly?
On page 167, Kunstler intimates that having the TV as a central part of a household is a bad thing and that people don’t want to admit that watching TV is what the family does together. While I agree that it shouldn’t be all of what a family does together, I have very fond memories of sitting around on the couch almost every Sunday with close family and friends and watching football together. It is something I continue to do today with my friends up at school, no matter what the activity is that brings people together, all that matters is that you’re bonding together.
Page 168: “Americans wonder why their houses lack charm. The word may seem fussy, trivial, vague. I use it to mean explicitly that which makes our physical surroundings worth caring about.” Not only do the houses lack charms, so do the cities. People hate when another skyscraper is put in or when another identical house is plopped onto a lot in a neighborhood; these things lack the charm that makes people care about them. That’s why there is such a fight when people want to knock down old buildings that were designed with care, only to replace them with another industrial façade of a building.
Chapter 10
ReplyDeletePage 178 talks about how in the past, businesses were owned locally and how that kept the owners close to town and allowed them to invest locally as well. The change from this set up to how it is now with huge corporations owning and running things, then investing there money elsewhere causes small towns that were bustling like Schuylerville to be neglected. Outsourcing business outside of the locale has caused the small towns that we need to return to, to be neglected and fall apart, while giving rise to the totally unsustainable mega-cities such as New York.
Page 183-184: “The majority said that a television was turned on in their house at all hours, whether someone was watching it or not.” This passage specifically resonated with me because while I was reading, the TV was on in the background with no one watching it. I was using it for some background noise because I hate silence but I could have just as easily played some music, so why did I put on the TV instead?
Page 185 talks about how America’s small town streets were much better planned, and how the porches became a sort of haven between the private home and public street. I see this in Burlington as well. There are many buildings with porches facing the street that I envy because the porch from my apartment faces sideways towards the other buildings. It does not provide the same opportunity to people watch and be part of the community as does a street facing porch.
Question: Will we have the will to redesign our communities to be more efficient such as Kunstler calls for?
I don't know why, but my post is not here. I'm going to repost this.
ReplyDeleteChapter 8:
Cars: “During the 1920’s, as a result of prohibition, gambling (and with it drinking) was dispersed to the woodsy hinterlands of town—a move made possible by the rise of the automobile.” (p.133-134) The automobile took on a different meaning of freedom. It went beyond just driving on the open road, but was now a tool or a vice for organized crime. Car served as a mode of transportation to get you from one place to the next, but as a getaway vehicle, a place to do dirty business, or even a place for a gun duel. This relationship between gangs, gambling, alcohol, and cars are seen in all kinds of movies in our media and continue to be a popular theme.
Culture: “Meanwhile, everything possible had been done to accommodate automobiles at the expense of pedestrians, and of civic life in general.” (p.134-135) Kunstler talked about after the Oil Embargo of 1973, people limited the amount they drove and how they got from place to place, but in the 1980’s the oil shortages seemed like a thing of the past. New construction dominated the cityscapes and was centered on the automobile. I find it ironic that machines controlled by people were accommodated before themselves. Just goes to show how much power the automobile had on us and our culture.
Media: “Both are plain industrial boxes designed with no other purpose than to expedite sales of the products sold within. Both are painted in garish colors to snag the attention of passing motorists. (p.136) I’ve always found it interesting how places like McDonald’s attract us driver’s with such gaudy colors of red and yellow. To me, red and yellow are caution colors to stay away and do not seem very inviting and when you enter the restaurant the booths and chairs are uncomfortable. These chains definitely do not want you staying there long, but are successful in getting motorists to take time and buy their product. Fast food companies are really clever and it scares me how receptive we are, especially as drivers, to their ploys.
Chapter 9:
Cars: “The car, of course, is the other connection to the outside world, but to be precise it connects the inhabitants, to the inside of their car, not to the outside world per se.” (p.167) I liked this sentence from Kunstler, because I believe it’s absolutely true. We use are cars to transport us from one place to the next, getting us out of our homes and “connecting us with the outside world,” but in reality our cars restrict us. With all these fast food restaurants, the radio, and everything else, we still stay in our cars or our “little bubbles” and we aren’t really connecting to the outside world. We just move from one nutshell (our homes) and move to a new one (our cars.)
Culture: “Of course, if the public space is degraded by cars and their special needs—as it always is in America.” (p.168) Kunstler stresses this point how our culture has shaped itself to the automobile. I liked how he describes our public spaces as “degraded,” because I believe cars really have. I feel like there is no landscape left that hasn’t been built or altered by of cars.
Media: “As in television advertising, the lies have to be broad and simple because the intended audience is a passing motorist who will glance at the house for a few seconds.” (p.167) The advertising agencies knows who to target and how. Unfortunately, our family dynamics have been centered on the television and advertisers know how to get our attention and they are sneaky about it. Commercials not only target the family watching, but the motorist passing by the family’s house for a few seconds. I find it a little creepy and uncomfortable that drivers are looking into strangers houses rather than on the road, but alas shows me how effective the media really is.
Chapter 10:
ReplyDeleteCars: On page 183, Kunstler talks about how much it costs to own and operate a car for a year and how it is the equivalent of a year’s payment for a 30,000 dollar a year mortgage. He moves on to say that most families are multivehicle families and how it puts a lot of families in economic jeopardy. I still find it shocking that home ownership comes second to cars. I understand we need cars to transport us to our jobs, but there is public transportation for the most part, and I would think that having a roof over our family’s heads would be more important. I guess not…
Culture: “…when the failure to own a car is tantamount to a failure in citizenship and our present transportation system is as much of a monoculture as our way of housing or farming.” (p.179) Kunstler, like other authors we have read, brings up our cultural expectation that everyone should own a car or you are a failure in our society. I loved his metaphor of car ownership being a metaphor for a monoculture in farming or housing. There are so many modes of transportation: biking, walking, etc., but our culture has chosen the automobile as the “right” way to travel, as there are a various other crops we can plant in America or housing styles we can build. It’s crazy to think about. America is the country of options and the freedom to choose, whether it’s the car we drive, what house we live in, etc. We have so many options, but why do we only settle with one thing and get ridiculed if we choose to go outside what is deemed acceptable?
Media: “The garish internally lighted plastic signs tower above the town’s rooflines, and the mercury-vapor lamps in their parking lots cast an unearthly pinkish-green glow far beyond the edge of their properties.” (p.182) Corporations take advantage of the sides of buildings, parking lots, and street corners to market. They are constantly advertising and they target places visible to drivers and parking lots are a great place to advertise. I still don’t understand why corporations and businesses use these neon-lit colored signs to attract the public. Personally I find them to be an eyesore and a waste of energy to maintain. What is it about neon, plastic signs that gets us to want to enter a place of business? Are they really more effective than a simple billboard or non-illuminated sign?
Chapter 8
ReplyDeleteKunstler discusses the fact that in many places across the United States, parking lots dominate much of our landscape, and are larger than they need to be. In some parts “zoning laws ordain a minimum size. Your business has to occupy a lot of at least one quarter acre, whether it is a hot dog stand or a car dealership”. This size requirement results in an unnecessary amount of space being used as a parking lot, when instead it could’ve been left a green space, or utilized as another business space to minimize sprawl.
Throughout the semester we have discussed trees as a calculated, architectural part of our seemingly natural landscapes. Kunstler argues that uniform species selection and planting at formal intervals provide a “dignified formality and a uniformity of structure. They behave architecturally, to form columns… and a leafy roof above”. When the neighborhood planted a mix of trees that grew to different heights, with different crown shapes and colors, Kunstler claims that the neighborhood lost that effect. I would argue, that as long as the trees that are planted are native, variety is important, to avoid monoculture and the same situation that previously happened with the large elm trees.
In some cases, shopping malls and other big businesses were welcomed close to suburban areas; where the sales and other tax revenue have the ability to render residential tax entirely obsolete. These shopping malls also have the ability to cripple a towns business district, Kunstler argues. Encouraging shopping malls and other big businesses just puts more stress on smaller, locally owned businesses that in the end cannot compete with their larger counterparts.
Chapter 9
Currently, the developments we construct aren’t in any assemblage of a town. With people moving an average of every four years, Kunstler argues that “it can only be possible where people feel no connection or allegiance to their locality”. Gone are the days of stewardship, where people stay long enough to put down a set of complex roots that create “complex values known as pride of place”. Our current subdivisions and developments are places of “no character, no history, and no community”.
Traditionally, building materials have changed over time. Although we are currently in an age of synthetics, Andrew Jackson Downing advocated building in stone or brick whenever feasible, and thought that Americans were “erecting a new world of temporary structures” when we decided upon wood as a primary building material. Wooden houses built with a balloon frame were cheaper and simpler than ever before, making them readily available to mass numbers of American people, and spurring our development in the 1840’s. This new construction technique paired with industrialization opened up our forests for exploitation, as we embraced temporary structures because “America was bustling so tirelessly that few cared about the long-term consequences of anything”.
Pressure-treated lumber is in fact “pine impregnated with chemicals that kill insects and microorganisms, making it supposedly immune to rot”. While it may prolong the life of our preferred building material, the environmental implications are numerous. Not only are the chemicals that are used in treating the wood harmful to human health, but the factories that produce such lumber release a host of toxic pollutants.
Kunstler notes that “our obsession with mobility, the urge to move on every few years, stands at odds with the wish to endure in a beloved place, and no place can be worthy of that kind of deep love if we are willing to abandon it on short notice for a few extra dollars. Rather, we choose to live in Noplace, and our dwellings show it.” This perfectly captures the lack of effort and design we are putting into our mass-produced homes, that serve as temporary stops for millions of Americans as they plan to “move on”. “But move on to what?” Kunstler asks, “Where is the ultimate destination when every place is Noplace?”.
Chapter 10
ReplyDeleteFarm and factory towns throughout New England, upstate New York, and the Midwest used to be bustling epicenters of communities. Unfortunately, Kunstler discusses, “as our national economy became more gigantic, local economies ceased to matter. And with that, they ceased to be communities in the most meaningful sense, though people and buildings remained”. As someone from a small town, I can attest to the fact that local businesses and establishments are at the heart of our identity. Once a community begins to rely on big box stores and chains, it loses some of its unique qualities, and in many ways becomes similar to many other places around the country, erasing our attachment to place and encouraging our culture of automobility.
A community, says Kunstler, is not something you can buy. “It is a living organism based on a web of interdependencies—which is to say, a local economy”. It must be loved and cared for by its members. The notion of community began to “vanish in America after World War II”, which coincides with post-war economic expansion, as well as our ‘second industrial revolution’. As we became more mechanized and mobile, small towns became something to update or escape.
Some of the worst schemes to reinvigorate a community are “pegged to tourism”, Kunstler argues. Equally as bad are the idea of a small town as a commuter town for a nearby city. These schemes will not create the same economy, and instead only further deplete our scarce supply of natural resources through the abuse of automobility. As we approach these scarcities, Kunstler believes that small town economies and communities will reappear, as we must once again rely on proximity, the interdependence of relationships, and other renewable resources.
Question: What will happen to our existing miles of pavement and parking lots once we begin to revert back to a more communal style of living? Is it possible for the existing developments to build a community and economy within a practical proximity?
REV. Yah.
ReplyDeleteKunstler is good, isn't he?
- Dr. Rob