How to Wean Our Cities From Oil

[one...two...tree 2,762]

By Josh Harkinson

Here's some good news for anyone who wants the US to kick its oil addiction: Property values in outlying suburbs have been ravaged by the housting bust, but closer to downtown, not so much. On the fringes of the District of Columbia, for instance, suburban homes are now worth half their peak values, yet in DC's walkable inner suburbs and densely built urban neighborhoods, prices are off just 20 percent. Most housing experts now agree that the outer suburbs have been overbuilt and that it's redevelopment in older urban neighborhoods, places not long ago out of favor, that will lead the eventual housing recovery.

The reason for this is primarily demographic. Between now and 2025, Baby Boomers whose kids have moved out will be looking to move into smaller homes at the same time that their kids, members of Gen Y, the huge "Echo Boom," start renting their first apartments. As a result, households without children are expected to account for 90 percent of new housing demand. "Our consumer research shows that all of these consumers want to be in a higher density environment than they currently live in," Shyam Kannan, a real estate consultant with Robert Charles Lesser & Co, told me. "There is a huge pent-up demand for walkable environments."

A move towards denser living has huge potential to slash our oil use, of course, but it also raises some interesting new challenges that environmentalists should care about. As Christopher Leinberger points out in Atlantic Monthly's new Future of the City issue, we'll need to find creative new ways to fund the kind of public transportation that dense cities require. He proposes bringing back a model, common before WWII, in which developers and governments partner to fund rail lines that then boost private property values. But that's not the only kind of partnership that we'll need. It's also time for environmentalists to set aside their old animosities towards developers and help them win local approval for denser housing, housing that is often fiercely opposed by NIMBYs. I make this case in detail in "Tall is Beautiful," an article in the May/June issue which is now online.

http://motherjones.c...-our-cities-oil

[Obama 2012 1,714]

No thanks.

I'll stick to semi-suburbia.

[RDDIXON 0]

opps

Edited June 16, 2010 by RDDIXON

[DEDixon 39]

i've said it for years, suburban design is the worst, the absolute worst in the US. Grouping business of all types is stupid, but we do it and it is all automobile focused. If you need to do errands, you need to head out into different directions to get them done. Absolutely no stores, no offices, no anything are allowed in the neighborhood. I think the only "building" allowed in a neighborhood in the burbs is the elementary school.

we put accountants in one building, doctors in another, lawyers in another, architects in another.... in the city, things are everywhere so no matter where you live, walking/biking is an option and if it isn't you don't need to be on the bus for 40 minutes before you even see a store.

oh, and this is in "green" thinking california!

we have BART, the train/transit system, here and most stations in the burbs have absolutely nothing around them which blows my mind. why not build retail right on top of select stations so people can shop for everyday needs like shoes, clothes, cell phones, food and more without ever leaving BART? when i say build on top, i really mean encapsuling an entire station.... a massive building encapsuling another. in real estate, when you own the land, you own to a certain point the air/space above the land so BART could actually lease the space around the stations to developers as a means to fund BART. Heck, fares could enjoy a huge decrease.

right now, BART is used mostly to go to and from work and so during off peak hours trains are empty. if retail existed right within BART, trains would be a lot fuller in the off peak hours.

[Captain Oates 911]

I live in a small town and I have a 3.5 liter V6 Camry - it's one of the smallest vehicles in town

Everyone else has a huge SUV or pick up

I was thinking of getting a more economical car but mine does almost 30mpg and in comparison it's economical

Taxing cars by their engine capacity like they do in the UK would be a start and then people could live where they wanted if they were getting 55 mpg (American)

The US can't afford to catch up with European infrastructure so rail etc won't make a difference for decades to come.

[Texanadian 10]

I've noticed here that the older neighbourhoods near downtown that have old 1960's and older style housing (read: every house looks different, no cookie cutter homes.) Nice lawns in front and back......They're being bought and torn down. Replaced by Fourplexes that take up all the room on the lot. There is no yard. The fourplexes tower above the old 1 story homes.

My wife hates it because it ruins the character of the old neighbourhoods. I'm mixed. I'll agree they're ugly as sin. But it is high density living. One of the problems of these homes is that they take up so much of the surrounding green space that it taxes the roads for flood water removal. (We get some serious heavy rain here).

Ironically the generation gap is backwards when it comes to housing. The older generation whose kids have long moved out are the generation that has the money. Don't want to drive as much when they get older. They're the ones who would benefit from living downtown. They don't need nor want the big houses either. But the young person or person who just started a family wants to have a cheaper cost home. One with a yard. One that's safe to let your kid learn to ride a bicycle on the street. One with an extra bedroom or two.

Creative ways to fund public transportation? *sigh* They act like it's some magical problem that could never be solved by user-pay. Instead there will be a higher gas tax and higher property tax so that people can freeload off the public transportation system. Public transportion isn't even that green or efficient.

[Captain Oates 911]

Public transportion isn't even that green or efficient.

An electric train running off hydro electric power from the Columbia river dams ?

I have significant electricity consumption at home and my bill was $30 this month

[Texanadian 10]

i've said it for years, suburban design is the worst, the absolute worst in the US. Grouping business of all types is stupid, but we do it and it is all automobile focused. If you need to do errands, you need to head out into different directions to get them done. Absolutely no stores, no offices, no anything are allowed in the neighborhood. I think the only "building" allowed in a neighborhood in the burbs is the elementary school.

we put accountants in one building, doctors in another, lawyers in another, architects in another.... in the city, things are everywhere so no matter where you live, walking/biking is an option and if it isn't you don't need to be on the bus for 40 minutes before you even see a store.

Houston is the largest city in the US that doesn't have zoning laws. Every once in awhile it will come up for vote, but people always vote it down. It helps keep real estate prices low. But it also prevents exactly what you speak of above. I like it. Seems to work quite nicely. A little bit of something everywhere.

Taxing cars by their engine capacity like they do in the UK would be a start and then people could live where they wanted if they were getting 55 mpg (American)

I don't think you need to tax engine size to get people to understand the message. The costs will self regulate themselves. If I live 50 miles from where I work, I'm not going to drive a pickup truck. I'll buy a small car. Or I'll move somewhere closer.

[Texanadian 10]

An electric train running off hydro electric power from the Columbia river dams ?

I have significant electricity consumption at home and my bill was $30 this month

Light rail trains typically weigh about 100,000 lbs. If they're occupied, they're a good deal. If they're not (as they often aren't), it's a horrendous waste of energy. You're lucky in that your electricity comes from hydro. Most other areas use natural gas or coal instead.

[Captain Oates 911]

Light rail trains typically weigh about 100,000 lbs. If they're occupied, they're a good deal. If they're not (as they often aren't), it's a horrendous waste of energy. You're lucky in that your electricity comes from hydro. Most other areas use natural gas or coal instead.

Perhaps people should not be moving to towns but out to the country where wind and hydro is abundant.

Transmission losses on the wires means that local is best.

[SMOKE 1,426]

opps

[Dan J 277]

Creative ways to fund public transportation? *sigh* They act like it's some magical problem that could never be solved by user-pay. Instead there will be a higher gas tax and higher property tax so that people can freeload off the public transportation system. Public transportion isn't even that green or efficient.

Trying to put public transportation in low density suburbs is inefficient. In most urban areas it ends up being quite well used.

[Captain Oates 911]

Trying to put public transportation in low density suburbs is inefficient. In most urban areas it ends up being quite well used.

In Tokyo, it's so well used they have to Pokemon