Ellen Dunham-Jones: Retrofitting suburbia

[misterjosh]

Too many shoulds in this talk. Stop subsidizing suburbanity and it will go away on its own.

[juliacotic]

looking forward for more.

[andreeaweed]

this project is a major demographic design ...i thing this is grate..i agree with

[careerhuntsville]

thanks for my friend for sending this vid....

[aseohosting]

This is exactly what i was looking for. thank you for the informative post

[66ventures]

Man everything TED puts out is just marvelous

[jobedied]

What she says is great but I promise you this ,Wall Street and Washington will never and I mean never consider changing in this manner. The forests have to come down the farms have to become bigger and bigger malls, highways and new cities, the simple fact is the Chamber of Commerce and the federal government want a population of one billion people in America by 2100 the whole banking cartel profit paradigm will never change get used to having everyone and everything shoved right up your ass.

[TenderTrap86]

@jobedied It's possible that they may never consider it, but it will most likely happen. Look at an Andres Duany lecture: these communities actually bring in a lot of revenue. There's a lot of money to be made in this. What a better time to invest in urbanism and suburban retrofitting than now? For the first time since WWII, "consumers" actually want smaller houses. For the first ime in over 60 years! Besides, the gangsters and banksters go where the money is. There's no honor among thieves. :)

[jobedied]

@TenderTrap86 I hope and pray with every fiber of my worthless hide that it goes as you predict, but this I do know. The engineering companies and politicians in suburbia and rural areas, and are appointed by the politicians they donate to represent most planning and zoning boards . These guys very uninterested in redevelopment and reconstruction of cities. The easiest and most effective thing they do is pave over farms and build their malls and sprawl. These guys control states and counties.

[TenderTrap86]

@jobedied Well, I know in Virginia (I think) they're already retrofitting McMansion neighborhoods. They're turning some of these gigantic houses into places for commercial use: salons, offices, cafes, restaurants and even movie theatres. Of course, there's a lot of talk nationwide that if the housing market doesn't pick up, most McMansions will become boarding houses or get chopped up into apartments. It was a similiar situation after the Civil War and before WWI. Just history repeating itself.

[jobedied]

@TenderTrap86 that is very good to hear Im familiar with our new jersey politics at local level, Im guessing about 70% of our 556 townships are controlled by the engineering development community . They pay to get their folks elected and appoint most members of planning and zoning boards . We do have a lot of farm land preservation that deed restricts farms to keep them farms paid by tax payers . But any peace of land not protected wet lands included is in extreme danger.

[TenderTrap86]

@jobedied Yeah. The biggest issue that I forgot to mention in my response is obviously the zoning. But, if too much property is sitting on the market for long enough, that'll definately change, I think. And, so do many others.

[Cyrus992]

For New Urbanism to have HIGH satisfaction from everyone must:

- Make it Free Market Influenced Design

-Private Services including Rail

-Make Sure Everyone can still have an AFFORDABLE Detached Home & avoid boundaries

-STOP THE MYTHS that is excessive government control! NOT TRUE!! Current polices are with INSANE codes and laws that FORCED us to have junk strip malls, cul-de-sac's, isolated subdivisions, collector roads, setback requirements, use segregation, and all other crap!!

[Cyrus992]

Wow the countries that have the most views: US, Canada, Austrailia, etc.. the places that grow problematic...

[magicpet]

Nice ideas. They won't ever happen. The owners of this country won't allow it.

[10kzebra]

I agree we have to go back and rethink out density/sprawl ratio, but how do we make it happen? We can wait for the market to decide it's a good idea, but if that's the case, there's no point in the talk. If we tried to mandate it, which would speed it up tremendously, it would be political suicide. The days where you could get something done without corporate interests launching campaigns of misinformation are gone.

[shaynetrimbell]

These principles were found in every development prior to WWII, and bring us back to the days when automobiles, if available were only a luxury. The idea of the suburb is so new in urban form, compared to the close compact towns people lived in for thousands of years.

[roidroid]

it's nice to see someone giving some insights and suggestions on howto make suburbia sane.

(was suburbia ever sane?)

[TheBlindGeek]

Very interesting lecture!

[Sondre7]

Enough of these climate change videos already.

[jsebastianfilms]

I didn't know Chinese Communism was green. You could take your "urban lifestyle" and stick it in your "you know what". The biggest reason to live in the suburbs is to get away from the city. Let me guess, Ellen Dunham- Jones, you think guns are abhorent, you think abortion is a form of birth control and we should all live like third world nations. while you lesbian communists run around naked in the woods where you confiscated land "retro fitted" for hedonistic homosexuality.

[t3tsuyaguy1]

@jsebastianfilms Wow. How did you get all that bile for her talk? Seems a little out left field to me.

[jsebastianfilms]

@t3tsuyaguy1 Yes she is very LEFT field.

[t3tsuyaguy1]

@jsebastianfilms Is it possible that you are engaging a little bit of "us-them". I find I'm pretty centrist. I support gay marriage. I support the right to bear arms. I believe we should have some form of government healthcare, but I want it run and funded at the local level. I could go all day with lefty-righty examples. She is clearly liberal, but her ideas can be implemented with a privatized "small-government" "local control" focus.

[notme222]

@t3tsuyaguy1 I agree with you completely, and I'm pretty Libertarian leaning myself. I do think this speaker would be far too happy with an inefficient centrally-managed top-down solution. But if properly handled via a market system then repurposing is quite reasonable, so the underlying message still has some validity.

[t3tsuyaguy1]

@notme222 Well put. :)

[t3tsuyaguy1]

@notme222 I can't find the other comment you responded to. It had to be about my views on recycling. I was under the impression that plastic is good to recycle because we have to refine oil to get it, making the recycling cost worth reducing the need for new oil. The raw materials for glass, on the other hand, are profuse, but removing the impurities from "used" glass carries a high cost. Aluminum was pitched as good, because you have to mine it. I could be wrong, or my sources could be.

[notme222]

@t3tsuyaguy1 It was, and now I can't find it either. :)

The benefit of recycling is less about the source and more about the process. Glass (clear at least) and aluminum are easy - you just melt them down and reshape. But plastic needs to go through a multi-step process, and uses so much energy that the bit you're able to save is more than wasted by the process. Especially non-clear plastic. Refining oil isn't trivial, but it's much more efficient.

[t3tsuyaguy1]

@notme222 Well thanks for that.  I think it's time for another round of research for me. :)

[notme222]

I wonder to what extent these newly unneeded malls are made so by internet shopping.  Or if not, what the cause is.

I'm concerned that (as is often the case in TED talks) there's no mention of cost. Are these new uses profitable, or at least revenue neutral? Or are they tax sinks? I mean I like the new uses too, but want them to be self-sustaining in all ways.

[truefictions]

She lost me at climate change..

[HumanistWikitopian]

@truefictions

Short attention span?

[LLGoldstein]

Again with the climate change myth?

What a bunch of Maroons.

[HumanistWikitopian]

@LLGoldstein

It's only a "myth" to the scientifically illiterate conspiracy theorists.

Fortunately, most of us live in reality.

[starxplor]

You could not convince me to choose to live in a building with shared walls again. 1) I work an odd shift, so my noise will wake others, and theirs will wake me 2) If I can not force them to not smoke, I refuse to live 'with' them. 3) I don't want someone else's overflowing tub above me to ruin my home.

[startreking2007]

@starxplor Just make sure your next place is nowhere near a HOA. They are are the worst scum around. Even when your on the neighboring street, outside of their jurisdiction they can impose their rules on you. Here where I live you may get a police escort off of public roads if the HOA doesn't want you there.

[MrJaiLeeworthy]

Suburbia seems to me to be a really inefficient way to live, on average. Dwarfed by empty space and people you don't know, one is almost isolated to be living there. I would like the sprawl to stop, and I suppose that making it more efficient is something of a way to do that.

[JPRubber2]

@MrJaiLeeworthy if you crave to be surrounded by people, go live in an apartment. If you value being able to landscape your own yard, look out your own windows and see trees that you put there, make noise in your own home without causing disruption to your neighbors, then find a nice neighborhood. Privacy is a major issue when it comes to quality of life. It affects freedom, stress, sleep, mobility. However, I do agree that we waste way too much time sitting in our cars. I live 1.5mi from work.

[MrJaiLeeworthy]

@JPRubber2 the Mahatma Gandhi had an admirable principle regarding this, in support of villages rather than cities (which in India, would be so important to implement now with the rise of urbanization and slums. I would much rather live in a tightly packed, small & efficient village community with direct access to sustenance agriculture. In this way is the least energy used, and the most received.

[JPRubber2]

@MrJaiLeeworthy Yes, the basic needs of sustenance must be met first. But, energy is not the issue. Energy is abundant and everywhere. What we are lacking is economical means of capturing that energy and highly efficient means of using that energy. Lighting has come a long way, but heating and mechanical means are still behind. Villages had another important function. Safety, security thru a tight social network. SN tools have already eliminated the need for close proximity.

[Silverstarlightt]

This sounds great. I can already think of a couple of places in my neighborhood that would benefit from a 'retrofittng'. We need more trees! (:

[briansmobile1]

I live in suburbia. I work from home. My transportation costs are next to nothing. I diversify vehicle use by incorporating a motorcycle and a bicycle into the mix. If it's just me and close by I bicycle. If its me (and some times my hot wife) going far- I take the motorcycle. It's SO cheap on gas and easy to park. I love it. I love my huge yard full of green trees, plants, flowers, and garden plants. When it rains hard, I drive my truck and plan my route to be productive cargo wise.

[MrJaiLeeworthy]

@briansmobile1 congratulations. that's one down.

[Dysentery7885]

1950's, roman and 3rd reich architecture, european cultural heritage architecture, early american town centers nao!

[luilef]

she is sooooooo Boring!!!!!!

[cosy18]

work from home lol

[dec041]

In the first graph she showed that suburbia uses 2/3 of gas for transportation as a reason to justify its urbanisation for a greener environment and then in all the pictures of the new developments I haven't seen a single bicycle lane!

[squirreljester2]

I'm sorry, but I'd rather drive 20 miles than sit in traffic for an hour to go 5 miles.

[mkotisrael]

i dont really liket suburbia.

i live in URBANIA.

im a proud URBANIAN.

i celebrate traditional URBANI holidays

[HDvideosaregood]

This woman is a lot like Obama. She thinks there is unlimited money to spend on every little project she can think of.

[LokiClock]

@xxxMrSuspendedxxx Pretty sure there's a reason for your namesake.

[drealm]

This is sort of new urbanism talk, but I found myself somewhat disappointed with these half way solutions.

[DirectInjected]

@drealm Half way solutions are the stepping stones to a proper answer. Progress ir progress right?

[LanceWinslow4]

I am really concerned with this "sustainable push" and academics wanting to tell us how to live, had they ever considered I like living in Suburbia. Go fix your own San Francisco neighborhood and live anyway you want to, but don't tell me how to live, I like it.

[RookofIvory]

@LanceWinslow4 No one is telling you how to live, neurotic fool. If someone comes to your neighborhood and tries to force you to do something, then you'd have cause to complain. What private enterprise chooses to do for its own motivations, be they efficiency savings, PR, or increased profits through development is none of YOUR business. You are a hypocrite guilty of the very thing you are attacking. You're threatened by an idea and are the self righteous sort that tries to legislate away ideas.

[LanceWinslow4]

@RookofIvory - Well, I disagree. First you can stop calling me names and get a life. But more importantly from a philosophical standpoint, the video promotes an argument for "sustainability" above all else, or else our civilization is unsustainable, baloney. Secondly, I have NO Problem, with a business or property owner devoloping how they see fit. I am bothered by all the cities adopting "sustainability" filters on project approvals due to the PR buy-in achieved by this line of thinking and PR

[xtronish]

horrible talk

[ricande]

Complete and utter bullshit !!!!!!

[jrt31169]

Ellen Dunham-Jones, thank you for making me proud of my GT degree!

[kaosgoblin]

This is fairly smart and practical when you look at the future. The retrofitting of the sprawl would change the strange weather that occurs over cities. It would allow for the creation of more public transit and a reduction in the reliance on personal vehicular transport in living/working spaces.

[MRSketch09]

She mentions Atlanta and the transportation cost... as someone who used to visit that place a lot, because of my work. I can tell you there were wrecks all the time on the interstate. So most of that cost probably goes to people just idling on the damn interstate waiting for the wrecks to be cleared.

[jert38]

bad presentation. too many slides of schematics that nobody understands.

[rabbitwho]

@jert38 Your TED talk will be better. 

[veyronman]

@jert38 Just because you don't understand them doesn't mean nobody else will

[Neylonx]

@jert38 are you kidding? what was hard to understand? I'm 18 with no clue about architecture/town planning/sociology and i understood every diagram and chart.

plus she clearly knew what she was talking about.

[fuunguus]

I use 0.1% on transportation. 60% on drugs, and 39.9% on food, lol.

[SuperiorApostate]

so now the suburbs are responsible for war in Iraq.

[DonVoghano]

Suburbia is an inhuman corporate social plan, driven by propaganda. The best places to live are medieval-renaissance burgs: beautiful and organic, safe and green, so solid that they stand the trail of centuries. Anyone who's serious about living a decent life will take inspiration and work on that model, anything else is just megalomaniacs treating you like a termite.

[TheWejdin]

@DonVoghano nut

[DonVoghano]

@TheWejdin Ever been to Siena or Perugia, bro? If you haven't than you won't know what I'm talking about. About the social planning part, it may sound like a nutjob's ranting but it's all true - the burbs were developed to dismember communities into sleeping districts, shopping districts and working districts, all to be connected by driving. It's conducive to consumerism, but a very inefficient design, which is part of the reason why the US waste so much more energy than everyone else on Earth.

[fishzilla001]

@DonVoghano I get what you mean, but it takes a lot of time to get to a Siena stage. I understand that you are against such suburban city plans, especially if you are from a city like Siena (I am too from an old city), but with small changes and steps over time these "megalomaniac boom" projects will become more human.

[animationfreek67]

Anyone want to start Underperforming Asphalt with me?? :)

[limeslimey]

@animationfreek67 heh : ) (knows how to wreck a driveway and turn it into a garden)

[DackIsBack]

Americans that go on about their "high gas prices" need to Shut The Fuck Up...

The rest of the world pays twice as much.

[RookofIvory]

@DackIsBack People who don't understand economics need to 'Shut The Fuck Up...'

Prices don't matter, when population density and demographics, income, and even culture are different. If the more sprawled out Americans paid what Europe does for fuel, suburban commuting would become unsustainable for many income brackets, which means that millions would have to either move or earn more, and that economic opportunity doesn't come from no where. Instead, it would be another global recession.

[DackIsBack]

@RookofIvory OK, That's why I got 11 thumbs up right?

I only read half your fucking comment, It seem s to be a BULLSHIT defense for you to stay FAT and get cheap gas.

BTW, Economics, You don't have a fucking clue, I DO, Your gas ain't as cheap as you think you probably know NOTHING of government fuel subsidies and backroom deals which force both of us to pay twice over.

Not to mention where your fuel comes from...

American Engine: 5 litre lump of wood, The rest of the world: TUNED 2 litres.

[RookofIvory]

@DackIsBack Plenty of reasons to hate on America, but you're just coming off as an ignorant pleb. Society is built on the cheap energy of oil, and if fuel prices were as expensive here as they are elsewhere, industry would shut down and the suburban model would buckle under the strain. You have no clue about economics, because if you did you'd know that price doesn't matter. You're a peasant who can't argue without resorting to appeals to authority and hostile profanity. You're a joke. Get out.

[DackIsBack]

@RookofIvory Hurr Durr, You don't know shit about the history of Oil either.

GET OFF YOUR FAT ARSE AND READ ABOUT IT... Wait, You don't even need to move, FUCKING GOOGLE IT.

"appeals to authority" Do you even know what that means?!?!

I did NOT make an appeal to authority! If you said "argumentum ad populum" I would concede that you had a point, But you don't know shit about Debate!!

There's so much bullshit in your comment I need a few pages to point it all out...

Frankly, I don't have time.

[RookofIvory]

@DackIsBack Your continued attempts to >imply that I am fat and ignorant only demonstrate with increasing clarity what a moron you are. And yet you say I'm the one who sucks at arguments. You embarrass yourself with every post. Instead of addressing the real arguments, you just shout obscenities and name calling. Just stop. Ever wonder why the nationalists who bash X country and tout their own are ALWAYS the worst examples of their own country? It's because only peasants like you do it. SHUT UP.

[DackIsBack]

@RookofIvory Nah, Actually, I'm partial to trolling morons brah...

I don't get much out of debate alone, I spend allot of time doing it, What's that harm in throwing in a few ad-hominems.(lol you'll have to look that up I'm sure... Because you don't know shit about debate.)

When someone says "SHUT UP" in LOLCAPS, I take that as an admission of defeat.

Good day fine Sir.

[RookofIvory]

@DackIsBack My, but you do like to talk don't you? And now you claim to be a troll. Derp. That's as sure a sign of failure as I've ever seen. But go ahead and enjoy your blind conjecture and self owning. I think my work speaks for itself, what with the steady drop in your, uh, popular support. Down to seven from eleven in only a half hour. If I'm such an idiot, then you should heed the words of a wiser man: 'Don't argue with an idiot, or onlookers might have trouble distinguishing between you.'

[DackIsBack]

@RookofIvory Damn you are thick...

Click "View all comments", Still at 11... Oh wait... No it's not... Oh dear...

Looks like you're the one that's self pwning.

Newfag.

[DackIsBack]

@RookofIvory Oh and I don't hate America, My father is American, I've been there 3 times.

I love it, And envy many aspects of the lifestyle.

I disparage Stupidity, Not Americans.

[RookofIvory]

@DackIsBack >I don't hate America...

Could have fooled me; what with the calling all Americans fat, ignorant, and lazy. Repeatedly. And when you say you don't have the time, you shouldn't betray yourself by continuing to post rubbish.

[DackIsBack]

@RookofIvory "...all Americans fat, ignorant, and lazy."

All Americans? You seem to be taking things a little far...

[darksean99]

@DackIsBack I disagree, that simply means the rest of the world should be going on about high gas prices twice as much. Never relent against the oil companies or we will never see progress.

[RazielKain]

@darksean99 Idiot

We need to get off the oil not demand lower prices

GET THE FUCK OFF THE OIL

[darksean99]

@RazielKain While I completely agree with you, but it is naive to think that we will do that without infrastructures in place to replace oil, and the only way that will happen is with economic pressure on either A) companies already in that field, or B) advances in other fields that can cost effectively replace oil.

So my point is still valid even within your mindset. If other countries demand lower gas prices it will force advances to replace oil with a more cost effective solution.

[facelessone86]

@DackIsBack

The rest of the world pays more for gas, yet we pay much more for transportation overall. It's what happens when you blindly adopt the personal automobile.

[behnnie]

@DackIsBack You're right that the rest of the world, generally speaking, pays more for gasoline. However-- in many of those places where gas costs more per gallon, people don't need to drive as frequently or as far as most American drivers. (See video content re: the great distances many Americans need to cover to get around where they live since everything is so spread out.)

[behnnie]

@DackIsBack You're right that the rest of the world, generally speaking, pays more for gasoline. However-- in many of those places where gas costs more per gallon, people don't need to drive as frequently or as far as most American drivers. (See video content re: the great distances many Americans need to cover to get around where they live since everything is so spread out.)

[adsilcott]

@DackIsBack True, but I think we drive farther on average. Regardless, anything that makes us change our wasteful ways is a good thing.

[dzjad]

@DackIsBack You should take a look at how far American's drive compared to the rest of the world. Many Americans drive more in a single day on their commute to work than some people drive in a year around the world.

[celsius233]

@DackIsBack That's really not the point.

[JPRubber2]

@DackIsBack most of us only complain because of the profits that the oil companies make and the misuse of the taxes we pay on gas. Part of the reason we have such a high GNP is because of our mobility, which is directly linked to fuel prices. So, a significant number of us who are self employed, complain because fuel prices directly affect our businesses. We will free ourselves from oil. But really, this us vs the world mentality is getting juvenile. Economics has become the new government.

[Irishmacwoof]

@DackIsBack 5.85 Euro a Gallon in Ireland, about 7.50 Euro a gallon in England

[millamulisha]

@DackIsBack American's drive more... they are forced too, capitalism. So gas may be priced higher for you, but you may drive a fourth as much as the average american. Especially if you are from Europe... Just something to think about.

[t3tsuyaguy1]

@millamulisha We wouldn't be forced to if we were willing to develop decent public transit. I'm told that where I live in Washington, we have one of the best transit systems in the country; yet it's still not possible to use it in place of a car unless you commute to and from Seattle and nowhere else. This is because we always vote down new transit projects.

[liquidminds]

@DackIsBack: The rest of the world just knows, that buying a car that uses two gallons just to open the door, is probably not the wisest choice for a car....

But you are right. If you take the oil-producing-countries out of the game, I think there is no country in the world that has lower oil-prices than the US.

[t3tsuyaguy1]

@DackIsBack It's pretty inexcusable really. Most of my people don't even know this.

[dinogrower]

This is bullshit. Honda with Vtec, ( too many fat people maybe) and you can drive forever, never break your budget in car expenses, and so affordable you can drive drive drive, all the time, its WOnDEuuuuurrffFULlllllll......­. so awesome. And rural living is what people want. I do not know what cool aid this lady has been drinking. America is more unstable than ever and rural living is safe, secure, private, offers the most quality life experience ever. You guys can have your urban nightmare.

[ninjabob2456]

@dinogrower You work for Honda right? Plus, rural living sucks. "I'd like to go and do something now, oh yes, I'll just spend an hour getting there first." Rural living ruined my childhood.

[NewgroundsOwnSBB]

@corkcityjane Well what did you expect From Dusk Till Dawn to end like? Obviously a few of them will survive the vampires, and I'm glad it was Clooney and that bitch. Excellent film, stop bitching. Next time don't watch trailers.

[Haengma]

I really think this is the way the future needs to go. We have to invent, and I imagine in some cases radically reinvent, our urban spaces - to be greener, more productive, friendlier, etc.

[Hamandchees3]

Suburban sprawl and the inefficiency it causes (ie. long commutes) stems from a collective action problem. People want to live close to the city but not in the urban environment, so each new home is forced to a greater outskirt. It could be solved if everyone collectively negotiated the way design of the suburban communities but this is hard. The only viable solution is to embrace high rise living, condos and the like, which exploit vertical space. This is why NYC is the greenest place to live.

[dinogrower]

@Hamandchees3 Yeah like those in Eastern Europe from previously communist countries back in the day, or hey how about a capsule hotel in Japan, NO THANKS, better yet, if you like big block housing try prison. The prisons are hardly distinguishable from this build vertical and on budget.

[mistermojo420]

really interesting thanks

[NewgroundsOwnSBB]

@corkcityjane you didn't watch it

[corkcityjane]

@NewgroundsOwnSBB excuse me? why are you so interested in what I do? FFS I watched this on TED.com just now and decided to respond when I saw it coming up on my you tube subscriptions....jeez, what's your problem??

[NewgroundsOwnSBB]

@corkcityjane This one time I met a guy with an enormous moustache. While it was truly an amazing sight, there was nothing more to it than the moustache. Which does not seem to be a problem until you realize that the moustache gets in the way when you're trying to put on a helmet. That guy had a problem.