It's Not Too Late
(A former freeway, now restored as a park in Munich, Germany. Photo Credit: George Handley)
Note: Car infrastructure is the design and infrastructure in how the car is integrated into society through zoning and road design. It takes no heed for old world town designs, and refuses to create spaces in which alternative modes of transportation are preferred or utilized. Pedestrian infrastructure is created around the human, and has been the crux of city design for millennia.
What Does Utah Want?
What does Utah value? And what do we want Utah to look like? Do we have a plan? Do we see the end goal in mind? Do we want look like needle-riddled California? Or loose, chaotic Las Vegas? Do we want to look like New York? Stuffed into shoe box apartments with raging and omnipresent traffic outside? Do we value gambling, prostitution, homelessness, or sky scrapers? Or do we treasure our family values? Peaceful farming cities? Functional and beautiful spaces for families? Prosperity? Mental health?
Car Infrastructure is a Recipe for Poverty
I don't think Utah is prepared for what our car infrastructure has in store for our beautiful state and its families. As we'll discuss logistics in a moment, it makes entire cities and states bankrupt. Big money arrives to compensate for failing financial systems and "save" cities with rampant societal vices, (Las Vegas) while catering to the wealthy because a very large gap has been created between the rich and the poor. Of many, here's one reason why this happens.
California and Suburbia
Car infrastructure makes almost everybody poorer, except for the very elite. As I said before, the sprawled, nonfunctional suburban neighborhoods steal a lot of resources, are unsustainable, and eventually when a population surplus comes in, high density housing and roads begin to take over. Pretty soon, just as California has demonstrated, the wealthy seem unscathed, while everyone else begins to suffer the high price of poverty or the affects of it.
Moderately income suburbanites begin to be encroached upon by chaotic car traffic, noise, and a surplus of hideous franchise connections . This inspires wealthy suburbanites to move deeper and sprawl even further into the state. Land becomes a premium price because there is simply not enough peaceful and beautiful housing to go around. Wealthy and powerful suburbanites fight vigorously for isolation from any type of high density housing, business or car traffic. Communities become extraordinarily exclusive, barring only the very few to enjoy the peace. These communities continue to become wealthier and wealthier as they are still successfully maintaining beauty and peace, only because they have temporarily removed themselves from the uninhabited nature of car traffic and the noise that comes with it.
Beauty Actually Matters
Beauty and peace bring prosperity, families, safety, and stability. Proper pedestrian infrastructure in which cities and towns are scaled down to humans for organic interaction enables beautification. Car infrastructure begins to steal this from communities. Car infrastructure simply cares about the car, and a car doesn't care what anything looks like so long as it gets you places. Beautiful nature landscaping is often torn down, historical buildings are bulldozed, and shopping areas become hideous in the name of "safety", speed and prosperity. Car infrastructure does the opposite, stealing beauty, peace, prosperity, and stability year after year in sometimes devastating blows. Ugly and zoned stagnant places become slums because only the very poor can afford to be in such a place. Slums create crime, poverty, and homelessness. Utah, which has never truly dealt with this problem is about to experience it in only a few short years.
Homelessness
Suburban sprawl leads to a rise in homelessness, as not even the wealthy suburbanite children can afford a home next to their parents. It doesn't even need to be discussed here, but the affects of homelessness become catastrophic to communities as it grows. As prices continue to rise, the lowest income families must suffer the most inhospitable environments for raising families. There are no yards, their environments are ugly, loud and the zoning is still often nonfunctional, adding to isolation and traffic. These less valuable places, in which communities are building ugly, traffic riddled high density housing begins to look decrepit. Communities become poorer and poorer because businesses refuse to be in such areas, stigmatizing the merit of properly designed high density housing. Crime ensues. And the cycle continues until entire states like California begin to see the catastrophic effects of their poor urban planning, with people fleeing the state in refuge.
Politics
This also, unsurprisingly, begins to change the political leanings of entire geographical areas. Again, another reason why high density housing is extraordinarily stigmatized in its current design structure. Politicians who are in favor of our current urban planning, and don't understand other solutions find themselves overwhelmed and out of control with the spiraling poverty and violence that tends to encroach upon their high density cities. Although politicians are making some crucial mistakes, (A bad policy is a bad policy) it is not always necessarily their moral failing. Many are only prolonging problems that seem to be quickly worsening and won't go away. It's simply not in the American public brain to plan our cities differently. It's interesting that in most European cities, the wealthy conglomerate in the center areas, but in most American cities, most of the wealthy prefer to be on the outskirts, and for Utah, up in the mountains.
Logistics on How to Make Real Change.
I feel a sense of despair when I talk to people about these issues. They tell me drearily, "I agree... but it's too late.". The good news is, and I tell them frequently, it's not too late, not even close. Many of the changes they are longing for can and will happen in their life time and I'll get to how and why in a moment. There are those I've talked to (often wealthy suburbanites) who are utterly opposed to any change. They fight protectively for homeostasis because they fear everything will be taken away from them. This is not true. What suburbanites long for is peace, beauty, safety, and privacy. None of these things will be taken away from suburbanites, and none of the needed changes are going to happen overnight. The amazing news is that if done properly, suburbanites can experience all of what I mentioned before, but with more. Suburbanites, even the wealthy, are prisoners to the current infrastructure and what endcardependency is trying to do is expand their horizons, and give back to them what they've lost. I'll only list one example, as there are too many to list in this blog. Suburbanite parents lose opportunities to be near their children. As discussed before, sprawled housing causes a lack of affordability and supply for younger generations to enter the market. Parents and children who wish desperately to live near each other are barred entry from the rising housing market. (And unfortunately, as I will get into in another blog with a deeper financial outlook, no- a housing crash would not fix this problem so there's no need to hold your breath.) So, you either have children living in the basement, or the housing market becomes so unattainable, they move out of state. This is a sad thing for families. In old American cities, it was not uncommon to see three generations, sometimes even four generations of families, all living in very close proximity to each other. This provides security and community for parents and grown children alike who desperately need it. So, I digress with that small example of something we are trying to return back to suburbanites.
1. Awareness
2. Mixed zoning laws
The second step is changing the laws. We must allow cities to grow organically again. It is the lack of organic growth that keeps car infrastructure growing like a cancer, and keeps the people out of power. It's as though somebody introduced a nonnative species into an ecosystem and let it wreak havoc. We've lost diversity of businesses, housing, and income. These things are crucial for healthy cities for healthy lives. We must vote for mixed zoning to be reintroduced into suburbia for local businesses, we must vote to rid ourselves of only single family housing laws, we must vote for mixed sized housing again. All of these things puts power back into the hands of the people again, rather than third party investors. Individuals become developers once again, and huge corporations can't come in and drastically change entire neighborhoods. These three things must happen for communities to thrive again, and to make a dent in car usage on the road. Walking is enabled when individuals create businesses for their local communities. This will naturally expand housing accessibility to fit the need of the growing community which will create affordability again.
3. Pedestrian infrastructure
Once people are organically growing as cities again, then we can focus on road design and infrastructure. This is where less used roads can be reimagined for the walking and biking public. Beautification can be reintroduced so that the pedestrian has something visually appealing to look at. Wide bike paths, walking trails, and pedestrian centered courtyards can be put back into the infrastructure. We must change the engineering "standard of safety" so that our roads are actually safe again for both the driver and those walking. This means narrowing streets, abolishing stroads, and created new roads for quicker travel around cities. This means creating more space for those walking than for those driving, because the mixed zoning has created much easier access to amenities without a car.
4. Public transportation
The fourth and last step should be expanding public transportations in tandem with fixing road designs. The public is often jaded about public transportation because it usually the first step suggested to fix the car craze. Communities resent that money is being put into something they won't use, and it's true. Most of the time, the community will not use public transportation. But that's not because public transportation is bad. It's because our current zoning framework makes it often useless. If a person has to drive to the train station, only to extend their trip by 40 minute instead of just driving themselves 15 more minutes to their destination, why would they use the train? If a car is stuck in rush hour traffic, how much longer will a person on a bus be stuck in rush hour traffic? Once the zoning framework has changed, and people can more easily access what they need without a car, then cars are off the road. The city can start looking at the most used routes and begin placing the most convenient and quick public transportation options. Cars are no longer in the way, and the more a city practices putting in public transportation, the more the people will find it appealing. For countries who have done these three steps correctly, it is often the case that the wealthy prefer public transportation over a car because the whole scenario is simply faster than driving. We must have enough transit options, they must be planned well, they cannot be over run by car traffic, and they must fit the needs of the community. Public transportation can become a luxury for a city who values it. I like the idea of reading a book on a very speedy train than sitting in rush hour traffic, hoping I don't kill somebody on the way to do errands.
Once these four things are in place 1. Awareness 2. mixed zoning laws 3. pedestrian priority infrastructure 4. extensive and convenient public transportation, then cities can really get going. They can right downtown areas, and beautify cities. They can grow at an even pace to the needs of the community. Housing prices will go down, small businesses will begin to thrive, unused roads will shrink and be replaced with other properties, and people will begin to enjoy a peaceful and healthy life without the burden of a car.
All of these things should be done in order, (meaning you can't do public transportation before you fix the zoning laws) but they should also be done simultaneously as the city matures. Let communities work these things out for themselves. Put the power back into individual communities. Give both allowance for government and private options for transportation.
Countries have done this before. Amsterdam made a left turn in the 70s and instinctually knew what the car infestation would do to their country. They righted wrongs, and continually improved their road safety infrastructure. Their communities and cities are beautiful and unscathed by car traffic, and are international tourist destinations. Munich, Germany has a miraculous picture of a freeway that they turned into a beautiful park next to the lake. I tell people that this doesn't have to take as long as they think. In fact, the total destruction of American cities for freeways and highways only took 10 years. Or I explain how my hometown Saratoga Springs seem to change overnight in the span of 3 years because the need was dire. I often wake up in the morning drive down a road and realize they've expanded since the last time I visited. These things are happening at lightening speed, just in the wrong direction. How much more could we accomplish if we were all working together in one purpose to reverse the scars of infrastructure and restore healthy cities back to Utah? I believe it could happen in a very short amount of time. When Americans want something, there's nothing stopping us from getting it. We wanted car infrastructure, and boy did we get it in an incredibly short amount of time. Now, we know our mistakes, and want something better for our communities and families. Let's make it happen.
