06-10-2008, 04:45 PM
Actually, we can all stop driving, but we need to rebuild our houses and towns to do it. Has anyone read "The Geography of Nowhere" by James Kunstler? It's all about how our communities are not really communities anymore they are just collections of houses that everyone accesses via cars.
We need to build towns and villages where everyone can get most of what they need within walking distance of their house. They suggest eighty acres is a good size of a village so everyone will be willing to walk everywhere. A post office, a cafe, a general store, a few specialty stores, apartments above the stores, an open market, a park, a promenade, a library, a swimming pool and tennis court, a few statues, benches to sit on, narrow streets so if cars do drive they have to go slowly. Sidewalks on each side of the street planted with shade trees and with benches scattered about. Each house with a big front porch and all garages behind the house off an alleyway behind the houses. Gardens behind the houses and maybe a community garden as well. Doesn't that sound like someplace you'd like to live and work? Why don't we build a few and see how they go?
We need to build towns and villages where everyone can get most of what they need within walking distance of their house. They suggest eighty acres is a good size of a village so everyone will be willing to walk everywhere. A post office, a cafe, a general store, a few specialty stores, apartments above the stores, an open market, a park, a promenade, a library, a swimming pool and tennis court, a few statues, benches to sit on, narrow streets so if cars do drive they have to go slowly. Sidewalks on each side of the street planted with shade trees and with benches scattered about. Each house with a big front porch and all garages behind the house off an alleyway behind the houses. Gardens behind the houses and maybe a community garden as well. Doesn't that sound like someplace you'd like to live and work? Why don't we build a few and see how they go?
Kurt Wilson