When we look at the American landscape, our neighborhoods, what do we see?
The clip above is the introduction to a Showtime show called Weeds. I think it illustrates the psychological and social problems that are part of many American subdivisions or neighborhoods. The monotony that is shown through each person following the same routine, having the same material items, and from the lyrics of the song Little Boxes, feeling the same pressure to be the all alike by following the same steps in life from college to career choice is juxtaposed in the neighborhoods we inhabit. Even without their inhabitants neighborhoods like this one personify the lifestyle styles that course through them. From the monochromatic colors of the houses to the large garages and long driveways it is clear that who ever would come to live here is held to a standard not by the other people who live here but the landscape itself. The landscape of where we live has a large impact on how we behave and tells where our expectations stand.
Let's look at an average home (This one is in Mishawaka Indiana) -
From looking at the front of the house there are several things to point out about the lack of function and message this house sends that contributes to the one the entire neighborhood and landscape is sending. To quote James Kunstler, "This is really in fact a television broadcasting a show 24/7 called we're normal, we're normal . . . please respect us" which is the message this house is sending. The front of this house is like a TV screen. The house itself like a TV. The sides of it have no windows, if you look at the house to left you'll see that it too has no windows on the sides, and the back of the house has two windows. Which leaves the front as the only side of house viewer worthy. The front is where we and the neighbors can watch the story of the people who live inside. Looking at the functionality of the house it tells several things. One being that the family that lives here relies on automobiles from the garage and really likes them because they have not one but two. It has a very small porch which can not even function as a porch it is so small but tries to through the delta covering and columns on either side, a full four feet apart from each other. The side walk out front which gets the most use from cars driving over it everyday as the residents of this neighbor can not walk any where but down the street and what is there aside from more house just like their own. The shutters that frame the windows on the main part of the house serve only one function and that is to say, "these shutters show we're are part of the American culture because they are just like shutters that once appeared on log cabins before window pains". The windows above the garage do not even pretend to carry any part of culture or design. The tan color of the house communicates it is just the same as all the others on street and that the people living there are just the same as well.
Looking the street the house is on -
From this view we can see how all the houses are set up the same. Same sized unused yard, long driveways and we begin to see the outline of the streets and col-de-sacs.
Looking at the surrounding entire subdivision -
This is the whole neighborhood the house is a part of. The streets are constructed in distorted square and circular blocks to make room for retention ponds that will later be called lakes and given placeless names like Carriage Field Waters. The streets are also fractioned to make sure each person has room for their car and that their yard is large enough so they do not have to interact with their neighbor if they do not want.
Subdivisions in the surrounding areas -
The neighborhood we looked at is in the left side of the picture about half way down. This picture is a prime example of sprawl. There are blocks of large subdivisions rather than blocks of houses. Each subdivision isolated from the next in terms of walking and all isolated from supermarkets and other commercial development.
Here's an example of a house in a smart growth area in Portland Oregon -
The image is a bit distorted but this house does a better job of actually being a house and just an idea of what a house should be. Its porch is usable and does get use as you would have to climb up onto it to get inside. This house as windows on all fours sides making it more permeable than the other one in Indiana. The owner's car is parked in the street which tells us that this use is not orientated around automobiles. It is also much closer to the houses surrounding it and since it has a door in the back as well as windows on all sides this house makes itself a part of the community because the people living in it and in the ones surrounding it can communicate to each other.
Looking at the smart growth neighborhood -
In this neighborhood the houses are much closer to one another and the streets have more of block formation that allows interconnectivity to other neighborhoods and makes it more walkable.
Looking at the smart growth region -
In this community the houses are in blocks are much closers to the needs of the community. Due to the interstate there is obviously still isolation happening but it is much improve from the previous neighborhood.
One of the biggest challenges for smart growth is how generating a smart growth region has to happen in a sprawl region. There is no clean slate to start what would be the optimal smart growth city and developing a smart growth city on undeveloped land would defeat the purpose of smart growth. Smart growth is not a matter of getting people to demand smart growth neighborhoods to move into but to demand that smart growth happens in their own neighborhood. Our neighborhoods and the land surrounding them are constantly changing and there is always room for smart growth improvement.
Works Cited
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Kunstler, James H. "Google Images." Google. 16 Apr. 2008. Web. 05 Apr. 2011. <http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://googlemapsbikethere.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/the_national_automobile_slum.png>.
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Richards, Lynn. "Google Images." Google. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 14 Oct. 2010. Web. 05 Apr. 2011. <http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/images/awards2004/sg_awards04_cover2.jpg>.
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