The conversation is so often about lifestyle preferences - walkable urbanism vs family friendly suburbs or rural peace and affordability. Fads and fashions come and go for a hot minute. I tune that all out. What I see instead is a super-organism like mold in a petri dish of gelatin constantly pushing out and up in search of new nutrients to consume. Skyscrapers and cul-de-sacs are all a manifestation of the same basic dynamic. Growth of all kinds at all costs. What comes out the back end is a depleted landscape. Inner cities die of crime and corruption. But I see so many older suburbs that have hit a wall of declining property values, shrinking tax base, diminished demographics, and outward migration to the next shiny new place farther out. I can imagine a time when the raw fuel needed to keep this whole thing going becomes less readily available. The mold will eventually reach the edge of the petri dish and there's no more gelatin. Shrug.
Complex, interesting places take time to create, something big building companies don't have.
The conversation is so often about lifestyle preferences - walkable urbanism vs family friendly suburbs or rural peace and affordability. Fads and fashions come and go for a hot minute. I tune that all out. What I see instead is a super-organism like mold in a petri dish of gelatin constantly pushing out and up in search of new nutrients to consume. Skyscrapers and cul-de-sacs are all a manifestation of the same basic dynamic. Growth of all kinds at all costs. What comes out the back end is a depleted landscape. Inner cities die of crime and corruption. But I see so many older suburbs that have hit a wall of declining property values, shrinking tax base, diminished demographics, and outward migration to the next shiny new place farther out. I can imagine a time when the raw fuel needed to keep this whole thing going becomes less readily available. The mold will eventually reach the edge of the petri dish and there's no more gelatin. Shrug.