This week I’d like to share a few thoughts on infill and sustainability that coalesced while preparing this week for another Pecha Kucha presentation on Retrofitting Suburbia.
I’ll begin with a little background. My daughter came home from her International Baccalaureate Elementary School with a new sticker in her daily planner proclaiming her an “Eco-Warrior!” She had been awarded the sticker because the teacher saw her picking up trash on her own volition (which I attribute to good parenting, of course). When I asked about it she explained it was ‘sustainability week’ and that she thought she got the sticker because she didn’t get one earlier in the day when the class was discussing ‘sustainability.’ The previously awarded Eco-Warriors had vegetable gardens, hybrid cars, solar panels, and worm/compost bins (In fairness, we do harvest limes in our backyard, which my kids will come to understand the value of after turning 21).
Yes, I hear my fathers voice as I type these next words; “My kids are growing up in a completely different world than I did.” No more sneaking off into the woods to smoke cigarettes as I suspect they’ll be sneaking off to check on their native habitat restoration plantings.
As Andres Duany states, embodied in my daughter’s 3rd Grade class, today’s theological rise of sustainability in confluence with the Great Recession and peak oil instability actually kicked-off our 21st Century around 2008. The changes we have been predicting for years are now afoot.
Now my few thoughts:
1) The power of new technology to change our built and cultural environment. The internal combustion engine begat the Industrial Age and changed our agrarian society to an urban one. We were now more able to access vast landscapes and grow as a nation across the continent.

Steam, then gas, engines connected our nation and the world.

Futurama, New York World's Fair

Images courtesy John Norquist, CNU

Value created in coastal scrubland.

Retrofitting Suburbia and Repairing Sprawl

City of Valencia, California, retrofitting their old mall with Main Street.

DPZ CNU Award Winner: Southlands Agricultural Urbanism,
Tsawwassen, British Columbia, Canada.

Good job! Moule Polyzoides Architects, Del Mar Station, Pasadena, California.

Today's Eco-Warriors.
–Howard Blackson
Howard,
Well written! We are going through a Comp Plan here in Austin and I am sure it will end up being the same old worn out plan (but with plenty of citizen input). Maybe the most important thing the plan could have is a provision for redoing the whole thing when your kids are 30. Keep up the good work.
Matt
Howard,
I am intrigued by your line, “Community is the new technology.” I can’t get it out of my head – like an earworm. Back in the late-1960s, I was involve with Robert Theobald who wrote a book called “Teg’s 1984” about a utopian decentralized society. People lived in nearly self-sustained communities and were connected to each other electronically. Remember, this is like 1968, so much of what we take for granted technologically was only a dream. The communities were organized around the concept of a “hogan” like in Southwestern Native American tribal communities. So how does this dream relate to “community as the new technology.” How do we use our new abilities to connect electronically to build community within a geographic area and among communities? I’m bubbling with excitement at what I’m reading from you guys. I remember sketching out plans for houses with courtyards and communities with common space in the middle (rather than roads, roads, roads). Thanks for the reminder and the jolt of inspiration.
Bob
Bob,
Thanks for the note. What is cool is the line mostly came from Andres Duany as we discussed the ‘New Technology’ that is advancing our ‘New Century.’ We were discussing the power of the personal computer, but that it in itself wasn’t alterning our sense of place; however, its social network is altering our ‘sense of community.’ I agree, its a powerful statement and resonates. We are sensing a return to community to collectively share resources and survive this Great Recession in the coming Long Emergency…
I’m reading Kevin Kelly’s “What Technology Wants” and I am steeped in thinking about the choices I make about technology. Kevin was also a part of the Whole Earth Catalog and the “appropriate techology” movement during the 60s and 70s when we went back to the land. I think a lot of the same impulse is occuring now, but we have even more technological choices. I was a part of an intentional community that formed out of a conference at Twin Oaks. We somehow communicated with 6-8 families that were Springtree Community’s founders, even though they were spread all over the East Coast. It would be much easier now, although the electronic communication would not substitute for the F2F conversations.
Howard:
PlaceShakers is one of my favorite blogs! Your comments and insights, in this post in particular, ring true to me both personally and professionally. It was great to meet with you and Nathan yesterday. Keep up the great work and keep your shoes shined!
Peter