How did planners gain such influence that they can recommend communities pull up their draw bridges?
Staley: Planners are on a continual search for a better community. The planner’s job is to make communities more liveable. But they completely mis-diagnosed what the notion of community is. What they should do when they look to the 19th Century suburbs is recognize that those suburbs have been in place for generations. Over time, the people who lived there created an identity, and more people moved into those suburbs because they identified with the values already there: the living styles, two incomes or one; schools or the absence of schools, and children or the absence of children. When you look at a modern suburb, you find that they are very new communities, with only one or two generations of experience. But look at them after three or four generations, and you’ll find more sense of community. The children of those families are staying in those suburbs. EN: You think the suburbs are a nice place to live? Staley: The suburbs need help, particularly with their architecture of the 195
Related Questions
- How has the growing influence of transnational companies affected the type of displacement that the communities are suffering?
- How did planners gain such influence that they can recommend communities pull up their draw bridges?
- Do communities who have had Ohio BR&E Initiative memberships recommend it?
