Expert says sprawl not necessarily a bad thing

[slimwhitman]

My favorite quote:  "the media and academics' who have decided that high-density urban living is morally superior."

http://sunpublications.com/200910213040 ... thing.html


Edit: Please don't post the entire copyrighted article.

[slimwhitman]

What a relief!  I was getting worried that we might have made a mistake or two over the last 60 years.  Good to know we are right on track.

Carry on.......as you were.

[mudjack]

It sounds like he knows who is paying his fees. I wonder what he would say if KCMO hired him.

[LenexatoKCMO]

Does he actually offer any sort of logic or evidence to support his thesis that this isn't harmful beyond his "brilliant" observation that sprawl is basically inevitable?

[KCMax]

?One thing you need to do is defend yourself and not let people diminish what you have accomplished. You have done a great deal already. You really are ahead of the curve,

Like what exactly? All of the things he recommends are things Johnson County has absolutely not done. Aside from:

Average commute times for many suburbs, he said, now are considerably shorter than for those living in or near city cores.

To which I say...so what? Marginally reducing travel times isn't helping much. Getting people to stop using cars for every single trip is what will be more impactful. He even has the gall to denounce mixed-use developments - probably the one area suburbs can possibly do things right. Oh, it didn't work in LA? Wow, compelling evidence, I guess that means it hasn't worked anywhere and can never work.

[loftguy]

It sounds like he knows who is paying his fees. I wonder what he would say if KCMO hired him.

Sprawl impact denial is Joels schtick.  Simple as that.  He preaches that the american model of suburban development is the future of the world and he's got an audience that enjoys his justification of their decisions.

[kard]

^ yeah, Kotkin's been saying this stuff for awhile.

[dangerboy]

Also, global warming is actually a good thing because it reduces the number of people who die from hypothermia.

[LenexatoKCMO]

Also, global warming is actually a good thing because it reduces the number of people who die from hypothermia.

Yeah but what about the waste of all of the ice mass and glaciers that could have been used to build subdivisions and strip malls on someday?

[dangerboy]

Yeah but what about the waste of all of the ice mass and glaciers that could have been used to build subdivisions and strip malls on someday?

Well, we will need something put in bottled water once the natural springs dry up...