[sustran] Re: 'elephant in the bedroom'

[Zvi Leve]

Eric,

I am not familiar with any board games which "make real" the relationship
between mobility, development and land use but I would hazard to say that
this relationship is far more complex than that which can realistically be
represented in any kind of "game". In fact, our succes in finding and
applying such "simplifying" representations of reality which can then be
"optimized for greater efficiency" may perhaps be one of the primary causes
leading us down our dangerous path of near-sighted mono-cultural
development. Focusing on certain aspects of our
cities/civilization/culture/etc. independently of all the rest blinds us to
the complex tapestry of relationships which make up our world.

Sure cars and urbanism don't mix well - there is nothing new there. But we
started destroying our cities before the car was so ubiquitous! At the
moment I am reading a fascinating book on *Preserving the World's Great
Cities: The Destruction and Renewal of the Historic
Metropolis*<http://www.amazon.com/Preserving-Worlds-Great-Cities-Destruction/dp/060980815X/sr=8-1/qid=1159279059/ref=sr_1_1/002-8807979-5458466?ie=UTF8&s=books>by
Anthony Max Tung which describes a number of policies which have
succeded
[at urban preservation] in different places and at various times througout
history.... It is probably more edifying (for me at least) than the
'elephant in the bedroom' rehash. I don't mean to belittle the book - it
sounds interesting, but on this forum it is probably already 'preaching to
the converted'.


A key tenet of the New Mobility Agenda and the core of all that concerns us
> here
> is that there is a rather simple but ineluctable geometric conflict
> between cars
> and cities. Namely that most cities can accommodate a certain quantum of
> private
> cars in traffic and within their existing urban form and infrastructure up
> to a
> certain point - beyond which something has to give.



Can focusing on this "rather simple but ineluctable geometric conflict
between cars and cities" put urban quality of life back on the agenda?
Perhaps.... Making all of the hidden subsidies to the automobile more
transparent may increase people's awareness of the "true" costs of
motorization, but I think that most of us prefer to live with our heads in
the sand. There are implicit (and explicit) subsidies in all sorts of things
(not only in transportation), and certainly no one wants to pay any more
taxes! Consider for a moment how our entire culture has evolved around
"instant gratification" and everything has become a commodity - we no longer
develop long term relationships with anything. Can you put that in a game?
The winner is not the one who "accumulates the most stuff" but rather the
one who leaves behind the "best place".

 I hope that we can agree that at the end of the day it is "life" that is
important, and not only mobility! If we are ever to find any kind of
'sustainable solution' to our problems, I think that we need to find some
way to shift our perspective to the long-term. What legacy do we want to
leave behind to our off-spring?

Cheers,

Zvi
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