An interesting talk by Mr. Kunstler on tragedy of suburban design:
I’ll leave it to others to debate the aesthetics of modern architecture. But with energy prices surging, his point about suburban sprawl is even more salient than it was four years ago. The mile upon mile of McMansions and strip malls we’ve been building around American cities is simply not economically sustainable. Moreover, it may be bad for our health:
A new study found that the year your neighborhood was built may be just as important as diet and exercise for shedding pounds. Those who live in neighborhoods built before 1950 are trimmer than their counterparts who reside in more modern communities, the study reported.
“The older neighborhoods had a reduced level of obesity because they were generally built with the pedestrian in mind and not cars,” said Ken Smith, a co-author of the study and professor in the department of family and consumer studies at the University of Utah. “This means they have trees, sidewalks and offer a pleasant environment in which to walk.”
In the study, which appears in the September issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, the researchers found that on average men weighed 10 pounds less if they lived in older, more walkable neighborhoods while women weighed about six pounds less.
The older neighborhoods also tend to have a variety of stores and businesses located within walking distance, so people wind up traveling by foot to do errands, go to local restaurants or other activities, Smith added.
This is the model to which our cities must return: high density residential housing, scattered mixed retail/commercial businesses, sidewalks, greenways, modest-sized public spaces, and revamped public transportation.