Ugly, Ugly....Ugly
Have you ever wondered why the majority of European cities look like this?
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There's that Mcdonalds we all know and love... I guess. All I knew was that I felt Utah was ugly. "It's the desert" I would tell myself, "I'm more of a midwestern girl." I loved Utah, but I felt surrounded by fast food chains, roads, and bland housing. It didn't make a lot of sense since we have beautiful green summers, magnificent mountains, the Salt Lake, the Utah Lake, the Red Rock mountains, ect. My heart was aching and my disappointment was mounting. Should I leave Utah? Despite feeling I was constantly being assaulted by flashy fast food chains, and dismally lazy architecture, I didn't want to leave. My whole life is here in Utah, and so is my family. The housing market inflation exacerbated my feelings, as I couldn't put on blinders and isolate myself to a pristine suburb. Instead, I commuted often to the people I loved, unable to join them in their areas after graduating college. When I left on my commute from Provo, I felt like I was driving in a wasteland industrial park day after day. I was greeted by wide, asphalt roads, billboard advertising and fast food signs almost every two seconds, which I wish was an exaggeration. With my life already saturated by social media, indoor living, franchises and commuting, these drives were starting to wear on my soul. Sick of making the commute, I started looking for public transportation options. I was immensely disappointed, realizing that there was a train, but zero options for public transportation into the heart of Saratoga springs. With Springville only 15 minutes from me, the train wasn't even an option. The bus system was confusing, and if there were buses, they were expensive and often tripled my travel time. So, I resigned myself to taking my car, frequently running into traffic that only seems to be worsening as new townhomes pop up like daisies.
After discovering a Youtube Channel called, "Not Just Bikes." I finally understood. It wasn't Utah at all. It was all of America. The entire infrastructure of the American life is built around the car. With ever increasing population and increasing car use, the roads must be turned into stroads :A term coined by Charles Marohn of Strong Towns. A stroad is the combined design of a street and the speed of a road. They are fast paced, wide and inefficient in lessening commute time. They are both hideous and loud but also deadly to pedestrians. There are thousands of them in in almost every city in Utah, and all over America.
If you step a foot out of any suburb, this is what America cities look like now. The fellow simply trying to get to the other side without exacerbating his walking time on an extremely long stroad, looks like he may be hit at any moment.
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We also have the ever growing highways that are expanding metropolitan cities in America. Another huge consumer of space, loud, ugly, often congested and completely un-walkable.
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Even though some cities do provide a lot of pedestrian walkways and crosswalks on their stroads and infrastructure. These city areas are almost non-places, that are both hideous, loud and dangerous. There's a reason why the majority of people don't walk on them. It's far more convenient to drive your car than to walk or bike. There is simply no peace or beauty to look at, and a loud motorcycle could blow your ears out at any moment.
So how in the world do Europeans maintain such beautiful infrastructure? To the skeptical and hot blooded American, they may assume it's simply an overreach of governmental control. There's likely some truth to that in particular countries like England, because royals own 90% of the land, and it's not being given up any time soon. But in reality, the majority of European cities are so beautiful and unscathed because of their wise and proper mixed zoning laws, well thought infrastructure and cities are specifically created for a car-independent life. The Netherlands is absolutely famous for their pedestrian priority cities. This street here in the Netherlands is made for walking, bicycling and very slow moving car traffic. It's meant to be scenic, peaceful and easy to get around without a car for a local. That includes, the grocery store, the barber, the local coffee shop, and of course, their children's schooling. There are little to no billboards and franchises here because nobody wants to live directly next to a Mcdonalds. The free market reigns... in favor for the pedestrian again, maintaining the charm and peace of the town. They are designed to be functional and beautiful. It's a daily occurrence to see people walking and interacting with their neighbors outside, eating at locally owned restaurants, shopping, biking along the designated paths and children are out and about, playing independently with each other. For fast speed travel, there are also trains, and trams all over the city to take people to their jobs and across city distances. Everything is zoned properly together without the car in mind, so communities can become more tight knit, safe, and self sustaining.
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If there's something that I learned from "Not Just Bikes", it's that my intuition was correct. I am surrounded by ugly infrastructure. I just didn't know it's because modern America is designed explicitly, without exception, for the motor vehicle. It also made me realize something that I had not considered. America is addicted to cars. Our suburban zoning laws have made it impossible for mixed zoning and small local businesses to co-exist next to houses. You must therefore drive your car out of your suburban neighborhood and add another car to the ever growing roads. As more car-dependent, isolated and sprawled suburban neighborhoods are created, the more asphalt must take over our beautiful land, streets, communities and highways. There is no end in sight to appease the growing need for cars. If this trend continues, I fear what America will look like in eighty years or even thirty. I especially fear for Utah, as we have very limited resources and livable space. You may say, just move to a nice suburb and escape the noise and views, but as I've learned time and time again, these places are not immune from the disease of roads, roads, roads. America will continue to expand, continue to waste precious land and resources to make more suburban houses, which needs more cars, which needs more roads. The more roads, the more fast food places arrive, enticing you to pick up a bite to eat on your way home from rush hour traffic. It spirals into the hideous and nonfunctional American cities we see today. I should not have to escape to the middle of nowhere to avoid the ugly hum of cars and asphalt, only to wonder when it will inevitably come to my door, along with the next Mcdonalds.
Self sustaining cities with mixed zoning, beautiful architecture, and infrastructure that prioritizes the pedestrian, not the car, are healthier for our physical and mental health. Have we considered how seeing ugly tyrannical roads and billboards everyday affect our disposition and happiness in the long run? Can we ask how our car dependence has isolated us, tainted our need to be outside, and destroyed our environment? If we can see the repercussions of our car addictions and infrastructure, perhaps then can we invest in America's true potential and uncover what's been damaged. It's not too late to turn around, and rethink Utah. If we can create thousands of townhomes in only three years, we can rethink, and redesign our broken cities. It's not about taking away your car, it's about creating beautiful cities that don't need them. We must turn around, before it's too late. If we hyper focus on public transportation instead of providing more roads for more traffic, our parking lots can be returned for new affordable housing. We can replace wide freeways back to our beautiful farmland and natural resources into their proper place. Our suburbs are pretty, but they are becoming few and far between as traffic expands and those on the outskirts are suddenly forced to be near ugly industrial freeways, and listen to the constant hum of traffic. I yearn for a more beautiful America, and I yearn for a more beautiful Utah. I yearn to not need my car to live my life. I yearn for communities to know and trust each other outside of church communities because they are safe and functional to walk around in. Can you imagine restoring our communities? In the end, we must ask ourselves.
Do we want this?
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Or this?
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This?
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Citations
(1)https://www.dailysabah.com/life/travel/no-country-for-hollanders-charming-cities-of-east-netherlands
(2)https://www.bikede.org/2011/11/28/we-have-too-many-stroads/#page-content
(3)https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2018/3/1/whats-a-stroad-and-why-does-it-matter
(4)https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2018/3/1/whats-a-stroad-and-why-does-it-matter
(5)https://www.thedrive.com/news/43700/an-argument-against-stroads-the-worst-kind-of-street
(6)https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/06/us/widen-highways-traffic.html
(7)https://www.npr.org/2021/04/07/984784455/a-brief-history-of-how-racism-shaped-interstate-highways
(8)https://archive.curbed.com/2019/12/6/20802235/climate-mayors-widening-highways-emissions
(9)https://outliermedia.org/should-downtown-detroit-ban-more-parking-lots/
(10)https://www.blogto.com/city/2011/10/that_time_when_toronto_was_a_city_of_parking_lots/
(11)https://broganabroad.com/most-beautiful-cities-in-netherlands/
(12)https://wowiwalkers.com/what-is-the-netherlands-famous-known-for/
(13)https://www.goodnet.org/articles/how-this-dutch-city-became-so-bicycle-friendly
(14)https://www.orem.us/
(15)https://www.goodnet.org/articles/9-european-cities-that-are-making-great-strides-to-become-car-free
(16)https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2023/01/12/toronto-ranks-one-of-the-worst-worldwide-for-traffic-congestion-report-finds.html
(17)https://www.wbif.eu/news-details/another-loan-agreement-signed-2018-connectivity-project-peace-highway-connecting-serbia-and-kosovo
(18)https://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/news/2019/09/26/there-arent-many-lots-left-for-development-in.html
(19)https://shorttermrentalz.com/news/cities-european-union-airbnb/
