Driving As Amnesia

I've often thought that our obsession with the automobile has been one of the major contributors to our creation of meaningless places. When I drive, separated from the surrounding landscape by glass, fan whir and stereo blast, I feel strangely disconnected. Jean Baudrillard, author of America, captures this feeling of disconnection more precisely: "Driving is a spectacular form of amnesia. Everything is to be discovered, everything to be obliterated." And it's so true. When I drive on America's endless highways, I don't remember anything along the way, not just because much of it looks alike but because I'm not physically connected to it -- driving is primarily a way to pass through quickly to get from one point to another without a lot of hassle or disturbance. I could just as well be in California or Florida as Virginia. It's amazing how often I forget to roll down the window, open the sunroof or just turn off the radio so I can hear the wind. Photo courtesy of Photodu.de's

The Most Important Thing to Teach Children

"The most important thing to teach your children is that the sun does not rise and set. It is the earth that revolves around the sun. Then teach them the concepts of North, South, East, and West, and that they relate to where they happen to be on the planet's surface at that time. Everything else will follow." Buckminster Fuller
Photo courtesy of Lea and Luna

Meaningless Places

"For the first time in human history, people are systematically building meaningless places."
E.V. Walter

Photo courtesy of Chris L. Harris

De-Junking & Reorganizing

It's easy to clutter a house or office up with stuff that has no meaning. Magazines that no one will ever read again . . . wall hangings bought on sale from some unremembered store . . . odds and ends shoved on top of shelves.

Recently we realized that our townhouse didn't feel so much like a Place any more -- it felt like a pass-through point, just somewhere to sleep, an after thought. We thought about painting it, getting new furniture, or buying new art pieces to give it a facelift. But surprisingly all it needed was a de-clutter and a reorganization. We threw out stacks of magazines, reorganized shelves, and took clothes to the Thrift Store. We got rid of furniture that no longer served, rearranged dishware to provide more shelf space, and cleaned out the medicine cabinet.

In our "archeological dig," we discovered things we had forgotten: a beautiful vase we'd bought at a local fair, a mirror we'd brought home from our travels, books we'd bought and forgotten to read, tableclothes hidden in a bottom drawer. Clearing away the meaningless, allowed us to discover and enjoy the things that actually have value and which make our place feel like Home again. I need to remember that next time I feel like going on a shopping spree.

Snowstorms and Walkable Communities

Yesterday we had another huge snow storm in the DC area, but unlike most people, my husband and I were not snow-bound and unable to get to work. Why? Because we live, during the work week, in the walkable community of DelRay, where with a good pair of snow boots, we can get to the grocery store, the coffee shop, and our offices in a matter of minutes.

The wind blasted in 40mph gusts and we had nearly three feet of snow on the ground, yet we still managed to walk the few blocks to work, have lunch in the local cafe, and grab a chai tea mid afternoon in the coffee shop. It was a good day.

My suburban friends weren't so lucky. Anyone who had to drive a car to get anywhere was just simply stuck, and the Federal Government, who must consider the thousands of geographically-dispersed commuters on snow-clogged roads, has been closed for the last four days. With the massive numbers of roads and sidestreets created by our low-density, sprawling building practices, it will be days before many are dug out and able to go anywhere.

I wonder how much easier and less costly it would be to get the City going again if we didn't have the endless miles and miles of sprawl to clear, and if more people lived where they could walk to work. As things are, we have become increasingly dependent upon our increasingly-strapped Government to dig us out and save us from the storm.

Building Cities for Children

"Over the last 30 years, we've been able to magnify environmental consciousness all over the world. As a result, we know a lot about the ideal environment for a happy whale or a happy mountain gorilla. We're far less clear about what constitutes an ideal environment for a happy human being.

One common measure for how clean a mountain stream is, is to look for trout. If you find the trout, the habitat is healthy. It's the same way with children in a city. Children are a kind of indicator species. If we can build a successful city for children, we will have a successful city for all people."
Enrique Penalosa
Photo courtesy of daystar297

Need for Citizen Leaders

In tough economic times, people in struggling downtown areas have the tendency to point fingers at the Government and conversation seems to be around "who's to blame." While local Government shares much responsibility for the economic well-being of communities, I have always felt that citizens, business owners, landlords, artists, and others with a stake in Place, have as much and more power to transform their communities.

If rhetoric can be changed from blame to solutions, and citizen helplessness to empowerment and action, much can be done to transform sluggish downtowns. City Governments, especially with today's tight budgets, cannot be expected to do it all, and must actively seek citizen involvement and public-private partnerships to help revitalize and promote their City. If citizens can be transformed from complainers to ambassadors and their energy and good will put to use to plan special events, update websites, wield a paintbrush, clean up a lot or stream, host gatherings, organize an art show . . . amazing things can be accomplished without a lot of money.

The same, of course, can be said about our national economy, and I'd encourage all those out there who are truly interested in revitalization and preservation of Place to stop asking for permission and to just start making things happen. Your stories about how you've done this are welcome!

Photo courtesy of convexstyle