Tuesday, November 08, 2005

s p r a w l

i hate sprawl. congested highways, 30+ minute commutes, cookie-cutter houses and yards, mini-malls, massive parking lots, gas consumption...ugh. i moved downtown 2 years ago to avoid all of that stuff. i learned today on Slate, however, that the urban sprawl phenomenon is not only not new, it's not even unique to the United States! i don't know if this should make me feel better or worse.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very interesting. I too hate sprawl. I live in the suburbs now, and it's draining my soul. I deal with it because it's the only way to make our checkbook balance, and we have good neighbors. But I miss my teeny tiny downtown carriage house--I miss its old no-right-angles-anywhere character, I miss riding my bike everywhere, and I miss being in the middle of it all.

pamela said...

I just bought a bike a few months ago to get used to riding, since I'll be doing a lot of that in Nicaragua. I love it. But there are too few bike trails for it to be safe on major streets. Sad.