Topics: Insights, Environment, Transportation

Interesting commentary on the 5 Myths About Suburbia and Our Car-Happy Culture By Ted Balaker and Sam Staley in the Sunday, 28 January 2007 Washington Post. Ted Balaker and Sam Staley are coauthors of "The Road More Traveled: Why the Congestion Crisis Matters More Than You Think, and What We Can Do About It"

The Washington Post article opens...

"They don't rate up there with cancer and al-Qaeda -- at least not yet -- but suburban sprawl and automobiles are rapidly acquiring a reputation as scourges of modern American society. Sprawl, goes the typical indictment, devours open space, exacerbates global warming and causes pollution, social alienation and even obesity. And cars are the evil co-conspirator -- the driving force, so to speak, behind sprawl. Yet the anti-suburbs culture has also fostered many myths about sprawl and driving, a few of which deserve to be reconsidered..."

The "myths" examined and reconsidered are:

1. Americans are addicted to driving.
   Among other things, Balaker & Staley point out that in New York City, a city with an extensive transit system, "it takes transit riders about twice as long as drivers to get to work". I wish they had examined why this difference. Is it because of the wait times? Is the need to do one or more transfers? Did the statistics consider options besides mass transit and driving private automobiles. such as bicycles and walking?
   
2. Public transit can reduce traffic congestion.
   One of the good points the authors raise is that many commuters combine other chores, such as shopping, with their drives to & from work. Although increasing mass transit and pushing people in more dense, multipurpose communities may help, they are not as practical in the US as it may seem. But the authors note that improving mass transit is helpful for various people who cannot (or should not) drive.
   
3. We can cut air pollution only if we stop driving.
   The air is actually getting cleaner in the States. According to the article, "Although driving is increasing by 1 to 3 percent each year, average vehicle emissions are dropping about 10 percent annually."
4. We're paving over America.
   Only 5.4% of the US is actually developed in we use the definition of population density of 30 or more people per square mile. Looking at Google Earth will give an interesting glimpse of how much of the US is still rural or wilderness. But where the US is developed, it tends to be quite developed and nature takes a beating.
   
   (I look at the "earth by night" images compiled by NASA to get an idea of urbanisation & development. The concentrations of lights are quite telling. Among other things, much of the US Eastern seaboard is a continuous band of light.)
   
5. We can't deal with global warming unless we stop driving.
   It is not just driving nor is it only the developed world contributing to global warning. Stopping driving will not have as much of an impact as expected. (This does not mean that curbing emissions and seeking fuel efficiency is bad.)
   

I am posting this insight item simply to show that the global warming is more complex than simplistic concepts of problems and solutions.

J.D. Abolins