Jon Christensen and Cities of the Future

A few minutes ago I read an article in Grist in which a grad student interviewed Jon Christensen, an environmental history professor at Stanford, about what kinds of cities will we build to encourage human and ecological health. Sad to say, it sort of struck a nerve because it was sooooo pie-in-the-sky. My comment on that interview follows.

Comment

Since we have demonstrated so powerfully as a global civilization that we do not wish to design and build cities that foster both human and ecological health, what possibly could lead anyone to believe that we have the political will or the determination to do that in the future? Academics who live in ivory towers generally know a great deal about theory but are not as well informed about the down and dirty practice of planning and building real cities populated with real people, many of whom are conservatives who soundly reject anything that smacks of green, sustainable, or urban-ecological responsibility.

The visceral desire by certain members of the student generation to do "something" about our mounting ecological crises has to be informed by the applied challenges of identifying and implementing solutions that can pass real-world political tests. To this date, I have seen nothing in the U.S. that would lead me to believe that effective urban-ecological planning solutions can appeal to both progressives and conservatives. Especially not at a time when millions of conservatives believe that Agenda 21 and sustainability are part of a plot by international socialists to deprive Americans of their property rights and individual freedoms. Anyone out there who does not believe that last sentence has probably not attended public hearings on land use planning and urban development in the last several years.

Plus, what in the world would we do about the many trillions of dollars already invested in cities that basically give the finger to ecological health? Too many people are comfortable in large square-foot homes on large lots in low-density suburbs, driving their SUVs everywhere. Check out mall and school parking lots if you want to see the scale of the problem we face.

That problem is NOT ecological in nature, it is cultural. And changing cultural direction-orientation is very difficult owing to inertia, indifference, ignorance, mindset, and greed. If that's the goal of student planners and ecologists, good luck; because they are going to need it.