New Years is
traditionally a time of resolutions, goals, and other lists. And I tend to do some of that. But sharing a list seems trite, so I’ll offer
only a single goal. For which I must
give a short back story.
Last weekend, I met with group of North Bay urbanists. I had scheduling conflicts, so my attendance
time was short. But it was inspiring to
listen, even for a short time, to the stories of others who are arguing for
urbanism in the region.
At one point,
the organizer of the meeting turned to me and said, “I’ve been reading your
blog for awhile. You’re more of a
generalist.” I’d never thought of myself
that way. But I realized that he was
right. The other people in the room were
mostly tackling urbanism from a transportation angle. Less reliance on freeways. Streets that serve a broader range of
transportation options. Effective use of
transit.
Transforming
how we build and utilize transportation is essential to urbanism. But my personal feeling is that urbanism can’t
come to full flower if we predominantly focus on transportation issues. Or on any single issue. Instead, we need to spread our attention over
housing, public places, retail, jobs, sustainability, energy, and a host of
others, including transportation.
Viewing
urbanism as a far ranging list of interrelated issues, all of which must be
solved, is sort of like going to sea in a colander. It seems a nearly impossible task, but with
enough believers, enough enthusiasm, and enough problem solving, it’s achievable. And it’s essential if we are to provide the
urbanism needed to save ourselves in the coming century.
And that is
my one resolution for 2013. To embrace
that I’m an urbanism generalist and to promote the generalist perspective. (Actually, that sounds more like one-and-a-half,
but we’ll round down.)
Other
urbanists weren’t as hesitant to share lists, some of which were quite
good. The best are offered below:
Brent
Toderian uses Planetizen to issue
a 2013 call to action for all urbanists.
He admits to writing the piece with his thumbs. I wish I could write as well with all ten
fingers. If you only follow one link
today, this is the one.
Kaid
Benfield of the National Resources Defense Council nominates his best of 2012 across a number of sustainable
urbanism subjects. To me, walkable
urbanism is so much more sustainable than drivable suburbanism that I’m less
excited about rain gardens and their like.
But I’m pleased that Benfield is paying attention.
Lastly,
Lauren Drell writes on Mashable about the 25 technologies that cities should
have to provide more effective urbanism.
Most you’ve probably read about before, but there are a couple that were
new to me, such as a trashcan adopting app.
Here’s to
keeping resolution(s) in 2013!
Schedule
Note
The next
meeting of Petaluma Urban Chat will be Tuesday, January 8, 5:30pm, at the Aqus
Café. Newcomers are always welcome. Make a New Year’s resolution to join us this
year.
As always,
your questions or comments will be appreciated.
Please comment below or email me.
And thanks for reading. - Dave Alden (davealden53@comcast.net)
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