Joel Kotkin discusses the Regressive Progressives in a video interview with Instapundit. Towards the end of the video they discuss for a moment this book:
Sprawl: A Compact History
The book discusses the virtues of Sprawl. Here is a review I thought interesting:
I have always been, and will continue to be, a city boy at heart. Bruegmann has given me reason to rethink how I feel about modern-day suburbia. Before this book I would drive through the suburbs thinking “Ugh! How could anyone want to live in this drab, boring, soulless environment?” After reading this book I now think “Boy, I’m really glad all these people live out here so I can afford my nice little townhouse in the middle of the city on my modest salary.”
Of course there are other arguments for sprawl and the politics that go with it. A thermodynamic explanation of politics. And the reviewer got it exactly right. Without the harvests of the suburbs and country the city would cease to exist. Neither the city nor the country nor the land in between can exist without flows and interchanges between each other. There is symbiosis although from some points of view any of the components can be regarded as parasitic. And that is when the ignorant get at each others throats for not living “right”. When the right way to live depends on the ecological niche.
Things would work so much better if people weren’t so good at minding other people’s business. Ah. Well. Human nature. Ain’t it grand? Not always.
Cross Posted at Power and Control
Comments
2 responses to “Regressive Progressives”
I live in Atlanta, Urban Sprawl capital of the Southeast, if not the entire East. It’s probably true that if all the suburbanites (and most of what people call “Atlanta” is really “Greater Atlanta”–i.e., suburbia (it’s like calling, say, Great Neck, Long Island “New York City”) decided to pack up and move-in town, real estate prices would shoot through the roof and I wouldn’t be able to afford to live-in town. But I still hate the Sprawl. To go anywhere, even in-town, you have to make an expedition of it. As a friend of mine from New Jersey told a friend of his from NYC, “Atlanta’s great–if you don’t mind spending half your life in a car.” You just have more time to do more things in an urban, pedestrian-friendly environment.
Bilwickk1,
Small town living not too far from a big city solves your problem. Sort of. In any case – small towns are generally good places to raise children.