How does one age in “typical” suburbia?

The problem is simple: The Baby Boomer generation—the largest in our history—is hitting retirement age. By the time people reach age 70, most are unable to drive for several years. And in most of the U.S., driving is a necessity. Many Americans, unable to take care of themselves, are forced to spend their older age in a retirement home.

The solution, of course, is complex.

Can we recreate the typical suburb to offer seniors alternatives to the private vehicle? As the Wall Street Journal recently reported, some communities are retrofitting themselves to help people age in place.

If you’re very interested in this subject (or general principles of walkable urbanism), you might check out Andres Duany’s one hour and seventeen minute long presentation to the Atlanta Regional Commission. As with most of Duany’s presentations, it is definitely worth your time if you follow these issues.

Solar in the Sahara?

The Sahara Desert covers 3.5 million square miles—an area larger than the 48 contiguous states. And, of course, it is across the Mediterranean Sea from Europe, which uses about 26% of the world's energy (per the Country Profiles at Earthtrends).

So it might seem like a no-brainer: The Sahara is vast, extremely hot, and essentially unpopulated. If it were covered in solar panels, wouldn't it provide clean power to all of Europe, reduce global reliance on fossil fuels, and bring much-needed economic prosperity to Northern Africa?

There are certainly those who expect it to happen. The Desertec Foundation proposes a $572 million initiative which would help create a massive solar energy network in the Sahara.

Unfortunately, implementation would be complicated—and, according to some critics, infeasible. As a recent Reuters dispatch reported, Morocco and Algeria, which must coordinate to make such a project possible, are mired in longstanding disputes. And distribution on this scale would require a multi-billion dollar infrastructure; a model of distributed solar power (e.g. rooftop solar panels) may well prove to be cheaper and more efficient.

While these challenges may be manageable, even the project's most optimistic supporters do not expect that it will power most of Europe. Desertec's backers hope that it will provide 15% of Europe's energy needs by 2050—a signficant percentage, to be sure, but hardly a panacea in a world of increasing global competition for energy.

Why not 60% or 70%? Maybe some of you can help explain that one. Regardless of the reason, it remains questionable whether Europe can service the bulk of its increasing energy demands with any combination of solar, wind, hydroelectric and geothermal power. It may be forced to get most of its power from the same old sources (oil, natural gas, coal, and nuclear), all of which are extremely problematic.

"Ecodensity" in Vancouver

Check out this article about the evolution of Vancouver's much-touted Ecodensity Initiative, created in 2006.

Density is considered the "D Word" in planning, certain to create alarm among some citizens. For that reason, most local governments in North America would be reluctant to advocate increased densities. But Vancouver, the only major city in the U.S. or Canada which does not have a downtown highway, is not the typical North American city. They should be commended for addressing some common misperceptions and bringing their case to the public.

While increased residential density is not appropriate for all communities, it is good public policy in many. Increased residential density can offer many benefits to urban communities (e.g. more density leads to more stores, restaurants, and other amenities within walking distance); that is why medium- and high-density neighborhoods are often extremely popular. Furthermore, and contrary to popular perception, dense communities tend to be be very environmentally sustainable. After all, if Chicago's 2.8 million residents did not live in its 220 square miles, they would have no choice but to spread out on former farms and wilderness—and drive wherever they needed to go.

The City seems to be learning, through trial and error, how to make density politically popular. Kudos to Vancouver for taking the lead on this issue.

The Suburbanization of China

According to a World Bank Report, Beijing may be on track to mimic the United States' auto-dependent development patterns

To be fair, Beijing has a surprisingly extensive transit system (including an eight-line subway, three Bus Rapid transit (BRT) lines, and a 75-mile express train which can reach 217 mph). That's no mean feat for a city with a per-capita income of about $8,000.

On the other hand, most of the city's jobs are on the city's periphery, and its 17 million residents own about 3 million cars. The government is quickly building the type of suburban road system which may only encourage these trends.

While this tendency is most marked in the country's largest cities (excepting Hong Kong), it is alarming for several reasons. Clearly, the hyperindustrialization of China (including plentiful coal and lax environmental standards) poses major ecological risks, both both domestically and globally. Widespread car ownership by China's 1.4 billion people could be catastrophic.

This also means that China will need more and more oil (or other fuel for its vehicles). There will be increasing competition for fuel. If oil is indeed to become more scarce in the near future (a subject for a different thread), some countries will likely face shortages, or at least vastly-increased oil prices.

Grand Rapids, Michigan- Major Art Capital?

For a seventeen day period, between September 23 and October 10, Grand Rapids, Michigan will host a "part arts festival, part social experiment" called ArtPrize.

1,262 artists of various media (2-D, 3-D, Interactive, Performance, Film and Sound) will showcase their work in 158 venues within the central city. Visitors will vote for their favorite work, and ten winners will be selected. With a total of $450,000 in prizes (including a $250,000 grand prize), ArtPrize bills itself as "The World's Largest Art Prize".

Rick DeVos (grandson of Amway co-founder and multi-zillionaire Richard DeVos) founded ArtPrize in order to help bring more and a greater sense of place to Grand Rapids. Actually, the DeVos family has put enormous money and political capital into various revitalization projects for the city (including an enormous medical research complex). But this project may well turn out to be the most influential.

I am not aware of any other projects like this, so I do not yet know if it will work as planned. But I expect that it will help Grand Rapids establish itself as a clear cultural center within its region. In conjunction with other policies, I think it will help it attract people who prefer to live in (and visit) vibrant downtown areas, and thus maintain a strong local economy.

Unfortunately, Michigan will never again thrive on heavy industry. It can only succeed to the extent that people choose to live in its communities. And this is an exciting step in the right direction. Yes, this is funded by a private source; few city councils could budget $450,000 for this type of contest. Even so, I hope it has some impact on the way other cities will view economic development. I hope they will work hard to bring artistic and cultural amenities (grass roots as well as "high" culture) into their communities.

Currently, places with many cultural resources (such as university towns and some pockets of large cities) are in extremely high demand. For that reason, the very people who give these places their vitality are priced out. These extraordinary urban spaces become less ethnically diverse, while young creative people can no longer afford to live in them. The solution, in my view, is to increase the supply. The more great downtowns and urban neighborhoods we have, the less price pressure there will be. Good urbanism need not be elitist. If we make different choices, it can be accessible to anyone who wants it.

Trucks for Clunkers?

Many car owners are using the Cash for Clunkers program to buy very fuel-inefficient light trucks and SUVs.

Ostensibly, Cash for Clunkers was intended to encourage people to switch to more fuel-efficient vehicles. But the program's design is problematic. To begin, this isn't really about getting people to drive a Prius; it is possible to trade, say, a pickup truck for another pickup truck. In addition, some of the standards require only marginal improvements in fuel efficiency. For the largest vehicles, a trade-in which nets a 1 mpg fuel improvement would net a $3,500 credit.

Cash for Clunkers has certainly given the auto industry a much-needed boost. Unfortunately, it does too little to help us build a more sustainable society. It amounts to yet another expensive subsidy to maintain the status quo.

Building More Highways

There's a dispute about new highway construction near Birmingham, Alabama. This ten-minute video offers a well-balanced view of the issue.

A nearly 45-year-old program, the Appalachian Development Highway System (ADHS) was originally intended to bring modern infrastructure to the most impoverished parts of Appalachia. According to many critics, the ADHS has morphed into a pork program which offers perverse incentives for building unnecessary and wasteful highways.

Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford, among others, argues that the highway money should instead be spent on transit and improvement projects for the central city. Indeed, as the demand for urban living increases, it is difficult to see why the money shouldn't go toward enhancing Birmingham (and other already-built communities). New highways tend to encourage decentralized, low-density development, while investments in mass transit help create the types of high-quality central cities which are increasingly in demand.

The Future of Suburbia

This is definitely an interesting contest.

I love the fact that so many of these ideas involve repurposing certain spaces for agriculture. We have a great deal of underutilized space in this country, and our current food systems are only viable under conditions of cheap and plentiful energy. Generally speaking, I think it's very important for planners to start thinking about food, which most of us have (inexplicably) ignored until the last few years.

I also like the Urban Sprawl Repair Kit. A book called Retrofitting Suburbia has some helpful design tips along these lines.

I should note that most of the ideas are good (build in underutilize parking lots, plant native plants in for stormwater management, use the energy from electric cars to power the grid at night, etcetera). None of the good ideas, however, are particularly novel; I've seen them all before. The truly radical ideas, while interesting exercises, are completely unworkable.

I've done extreme, impractical exercises for group projects in grad school. It can be a good learning experience. But most of the "best practices" in our field are not particularly...fanciful. We need good, simple, sustainable, high-quality built environments more than extreme ideas which showcase the brilliance of their designers.

Print your own Money

It appears that local currencies are more popular than they have been since the Great Depression.

In some towns, groups of local businesses have banded together to create their own local currencies, thus encouraging people to support locally own businesses. Yes, they literally print their own money (it appears that this is indeed legal, within certain limits).

Perhaps the best-known example is the Ithaca Hours system, created during the 1991 Recession in Ithaca, NY. Ithaca is similar to other places with thriving local currencies (e.g., Madison, Wisconsin; Burlington, Vermont; Corvallis, Oregon). It is a university town which is open to unusual ideas, yet small enough that no counterfeiter could safely circulate a fake currency for more than a day or two.

If you are really interested in the subject, this 1 h 20 min interview with the founder of Ithaca Hours offers an excellent overview. Otherwise, go enjoy the rest of this Summer weather.

Grocery Stores Filling up "Ghost Boxes"

As many of the "Big Box" retailers are struggling, grocery stores have started taking over the vacant Big Box stores, A/K/A "Ghost Boxes". This could prove to be an interesting opportunity for adaptive reuse (there's only so much demand for roller rinks, discount stores and megachurches).

The examples in this article cover stores such as Circuit City, with 40,000-60,000 square feet. Unfortunately, 100,000+ plus square foot stores (e.g. many abandoned Wal-Marts) can pose a particular problem. Who but Wal-Mart needs that type of space? And who but local taxpayers will foot the bill to tear down such structures?

The real complication is that few of these Big Box structures were built to last. Most were constructed as cheaply as possible, to be abandoned when a bigger mega-store is built down the street. Few businesses are willing to invest in a building which will only last another ten or twenty years.

For local governments which have enough clout to do so, it would be a good idea to mandate that retailers construct their buildings to more durable standards. Barring that, some towns require large scale retailers to contribute to a "demolition fund" in case the building is abandoned.

By the way, Check out Big Box Reuse for some great examples of...well, Big Box reuse.