Suburban Sprawl - Sprawling From Grace; Driven To Madness

[SPAnsw]

Three words for the problem behind this sprawl, guys...

Endless. Population. Growth.

...driven largely in western countries by immigration.

[chrisconwaypeters]

too late

[AthenaOnFire]

Hi, please watch my video on Urban Sprawl :)

[Treebrains]

guys, suburbs suck, seriously, no better place than true city or true country. In the suburbs? You're lost.

[crazychrisva]

Are people supposed to live in communist style highrises.

People have to live somewear.

[bearsagainstevil]

how did people live before the car in walkable towns and villages , I live in a house in the united kingdom my towns walkable we have train station and buses so i dont need a car .if there are places like that in the states they will do better in the times to come, and any new building you make should be more like traditional european towns .

theres a thing called new urbanism thats the way you should go

[TheEMotionPictures]

You said a mouth full. This would go a long way to decreasing auto dependancy and as an added bonus connect us with our neighbors and communities. Something that is completely impossible if you are whisking by at 55 mph in your car.

[TheEMotionPictures]

I think we can be a little more imaginative than that. There are numerous examples in europe of communites that have suitable densities that exhibit thoughtful design and planning, and are vibrant places a peron would wish to stay in. While making the film Sprawling From Grace we gave 100 of our friends and acquaintences disposable cameras, and asked them to go out and take pictures of the neighborhoods they though were the most desirable. Not one came back with pictures of suburbs.

[crazychrisva]

But, can we still live in individual houses with small yards? A lot of old cities had that.

I just like my privacy.

[carlwilhoyte]

The answer to that question is definitely yes. There needs to be a healthy balance between the private and the public realm: a person must be able to have a private life but also have the opportunity to participate in civic life. Sprawl eradicates this possibility.

[crazychrisva]

Well the suburban houses I saw in the video looked very close together.

I personally hate suburban style houses with their cookie cutter designs and lack of individuality.

[carlwilhoyte]

I honestly don't think that's the real problem. Many beautiful communities have houses that look similar, but have a better relationship to one another and the community at large. Suburbia has the disastrous quality of providing a false promise of country living in the city, while providing all of the inconveniences of both and benefits of neither.

[crazychrisva]

I'll agree, the whole gated community thing is pretty silly as well. It's almost like they're saying that they should lock the door to their neighborhood and forget that the rest of the world even exists.

I have some friends who live in a suburb with laws that are pretty much draconian. The laws even tell you how many cars you can own, all in the name of protecting property values.

[carlwilhoyte]

The screwed up property value guidelines are another way of creating economic apartheid: isolating the poor in ghettos. Many vibrant, mixed-use communities that are so valuable often have people of different economic backgrounds living together, rich and poor. This is the European model and they're hardly a ghetto.

[TheEMotionPictures]

It's not how close the houses are clustered, it's that it's an homogenous zoning that doesn't allow for mixed use. There are no services for basic needs within a true comfortable walking distance. You have to get in your car for all of your daily needs.

[Dimitri0809]

@crazychrisva

Urbanization is the way to go fuck suburbia.

[TheEMotionPictures]

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