Ah, Rome. The creators of “the road.” In honor of the great Roman murder of Caesar on this day, I thought it would be a good idea to discuss this great Roman invention…and how I think we should get rid of it. Okay, so that might be a little controversial, but look at it this way, it has been two thousand years since Rome was in power, surely we’ve got the great minds to move us to the next step of our transit evolution by now? What’s wrong with roads? Other than the pollution of cars, the resources and money needed to build and maintain them, and the continuation of the dependence on foreign oil that they support, plenty. The biggest problem is that they (and the suburbs and cul-de-sacs that come with them) are spreading like a cancer across our country. They take up too much space and interfere with ecosystems too much. It has to stop. They begin to cover everything. So how do we fix it? The goal is to get from point A to point B faster. Without the advent of teleportation (Come on, science, it’s 2010 already!) we are stuck with physically moving our bodies. Currently, the popular method of doing this is driving there. Where is there? Across the vast urban sprawl that is etching its way into the surface of America. So how can we get rid of roads? We condense cities. Portland, Oregon is the first city to go to battle for the restriction on building suburbs. The goal is to save the nature areas that draw people to Oregon in the first place from the builders and roads and strip malls and billboards. However, Portland’s plan has not been comprehensive or effective. The side effect has been to cause growth in the city to slow and to raise the prices of property within the city. Vancouver, BC has been battling sprawl and housing costs as well. Although they keep making provisions that momentarily keep housing prices in check, such as changing laws so that builders may now use all available space, including rooftops and alleyways, to build compact housing, and focusing on building one of the best public transit systems in the world. But with an estimated 2 million new people moving to the city in the next ten years, housing will be inadequate and the pressure to spread out will be on again. Are there any cities that are effectively dealing with this problem? Cities must be condensed, roads reduced, and cars eliminated. But how can we afford to live without them and maintain our standard of living?
See the article here:
The Ides of March
