It's important for us to understand the USA [maybe some over there will reciprocate the compliment?] so I include this article. Some of it gets ranty towards the end and most illiberal! However the idea that there is an urban/rural divide will be familiar enough to Brits.
I want to add a few things to beef up this perspective and hopethat this beef isn't BSE'd!
One is to cross reference with this article on whether the days of suburbia are numbered -as oil grows more expensive. How will that reshape the scene: will urbanity reshape attitudes or will the trraffic go the other way? Interesting social experiment, eh? Especially if, in the meantime, cities start becoming even more ecologically sound entities. It will also mean managing sprawl -but its do-able, especially as there's a cost case for it: "The state ought to set impact fees, and set them high. It's bad enough that we're letting a handful of short-sighted developers trash our region: We shouldn't have to pay for the privilege". Brits should hear this too: factor in the externalities and price becomes the tool of rational collective decision-making....
All of which nearly makes me excited enough to consider being an urban politician; and that's freaky ....
No comments:
Post a Comment