The Position of Power

With big corporations falling like skittles from a rainbow, one can only wonder where the power will pool. Not only have big businesses taken a hit, but so have the middle class "Mainstreeter," and the millennial pre-grad who will soon receive a student loan bill with a piece of paper that couldn't get him a job if it were plated in gold. So many people have lost money, time, and consequently, power. If power is seemingly draining from corporations, 401ks, and college diplomas, who will inherit this power and its attendant freedom?

The high-school graduate will inherit this power. The community college student will inherit this power, for they are the ones who will be entering the so called "real world" without a huge debt on their shoulders. Their homes didn't lose half of their value because these students are too young to own a house, and they have yet to invest in a university and therefore are not saddled with thousands of dollars worth of loans. They are staring into the reforming world with light shoulders and clear eyes.

Incredible opportunities lay ahead for these individuals. My hope for future generations is that these people do what they wish to do, which today is rarely realized due to parental and societal pressures which make kids question their ambitions and dreams. Future generations growing up with social networking, online publishing, and open courseware will be equipped with a completely new set of tools to connect, learn, and create. The real world used to mean get a job, soon it will mean create.

To learn more about the hypothetical future of our youth, see Jeff Jarvis' Hacking Education: Google U.

(Photo from Firelink. The original full-sized color version can be viewed by clicking the photo.)

Posh to be Poor? Greed is Over

With the economy on a historic downturn, unemployment reaching record rates, and foreclosures littering the nation, it's easy to see that the poor will be growing in numbers, perhaps exponentially. So if an increasing number of people are becoming poor, then it might be time to look at how to live well with little. In western society, people live beyond their means, which has been a large component of this economic downturn, so it's about time we look at how to live and be happy within our means. You don't need a lot to live well, it's true, many have already realized it and many more will soon be forced to realize it as foreclosure rates increase and the economy crashes. Money doesn't buy happiness, as Dan Gilbert illustrated at Ted when he showed that a paraplegic and a lottery winner were equally happy 1 year after their life changing event. So if it doesn't take money to be happy, and an increasing number of people are becoming poor, then perhaps it's time for designers to look at how to live with less. Which brings me to the conclusion that poor is popular in 2009; many, many trends and movements in the last decade have tended (WORD CHOICE) away from the exclusive and toward the community. These new communities have been rewriting what it means to live happily, and how one might lead a fulfilling life with much less than is currently being consumed by the average member of western society. The purpose of this series has been to analyze transportation, food, and shelter, and show how we can achieve each with less money.

Could it be possible that we are at a turning point in history, where no longer are guided by the strife for riches? The rich have gotten richer and the poor have gotten poorer, but today, the system has broke down, it isn't working. The bankers, whom we unwittingly trusted, took our money and flushed it down the toilet. Is it possible that the people of the modern will will seize to live on credit, and revert to concrete value?

In every Kanye West album I find a line, a lyric, or a song that I feel really resonates with the times. On "Graduation" it was "Stronger" with lyrics such as "I ask, cause I'm not sure, does anybody make real shit anymore" and now on "808's and Heartbreaks" the song "Welcome to Heartbreak" where Kanye says,

"My friend showed me pictures of his kids, and all I could show him was pictures of my cribs; he said his daughter got a brand new report card, and all I got was a brand new sports car...Dad cracked a joke and the kids laughed, but I couldn't hear em all the way in first class, chased the good life my whole life long, look back on my life and my lifes gone, where did I go wrong? "

You can say a lot about Kanye that one could argue makes this point irrelevant. His clothing can cost more than 10 grand on any given day, and he's flashy, for sure, but his work consistently shows, more than others, an understanding of the times. This song is really addressing value. He valued material possessions his whole life, and chased the dollar, now he's looking back and realizing there was more to life than that. This isn't a new theme, but the fact that it has penetrated the infamously popular hip-hop scene, from the most in-touch artist, is perhaps a sign of the times. There will always be those who always need more things, more money, more credit, but I believe that the majority, the masses, are beginning to sway away from possession and toward experience, away from the riches and toward the modest.

Posh to be Poor? Introduction
Posh to be Poor? Transportation
Posh to be Poor? Food
Posh to be Poor? Housing

(Photo from ChangeTheThought. The original full-sized color version can be viewed by clicking the photo.)

Americans Dream On

It takes more than an economic crisis to put a damper on the American Dream when it comes to habitat. A recent Pew Research Center study about where and how Americans want to live (summarized in David Brooks's column in the New York Times) found that although the suburbs have receded as an ideal, Americans are still motivated by the geographic tendencies that have characterized the nation since its emergence: a mentality of mobility, conquering the next frontier and combining the best of town and country living. The study also found that Americans would still prefer to live by a McDonald's over a Starbucks; with San Francisco, Seattle and Denver among the five most desirable cities to live in, I hope the Pew Center can reformulate the question.

The Dream Remains the Same

A recent post over at TNAC's blog, The Street, suggests that it may be time to change the American Dream. But what is the American Dream, exactly? It's a well-worn turn of phrase (were it a turn in the road, the guardrail might be out from being hit so many times), and while people usually use "American Dream" as slang for "house in 'burbs, lawn, two cars, spouse, 2.5 kids, dog," I would argue very strongly against this interpretation. The American Dream is not about houses or property or ownership -- heck, it's not even about money; it's about "new hopes, new dreams, and a better way of life for the future."

That quote was taken from an animated short produced by the Walt Disney Company in the 1950s. The subject was, surprise surprise, the future of superhighways. The Disney folks imagined a tomorrowland where automobiles provided the ultimate in high-tech freedom and mobility, populations were dispersed over "vast metropolitan regions" and the family unit was supported and enhanced by the great amounts of leisure time left over from avoiding the hassles of urban existence. On top of that, a global system of superhighways was to connect all nations and peoples and increase cross-cultural communication and collaboration. Oh, how glorious it looks on that little YouTube screen.

The present, as we are well aware, looks slightly different. Private vehicles do provide freedom and mobility, in a way...even if much of that free time is spent in the car, staring at a bumper. As a result, we've given up on that whole "extra time with the family" thing; in fact, divorce rates have soared as our population has spread out, stretching marital relationships to their breaking points by removing the basic social frameworks that might allow spouses to have some much-needed time apart outside of the workday (since both work full-time to pay for the oversized McMansion and the two SUVs).

Then again, that scenario is as well-worn as the term "American Dream." Still, the Dream itself is in no need of an overhaul. We would do well, perhaps, to wrestle it out of the arms of marketing-types still using it to pitch the 1-Acre Lots For All, Ford Chevy Ram MegaCharger bullshit. But the American Dream is as honest and straightforward and bright today as it ever was. You can see it in the modern sustainability movement in the same way that you can see it in Disney's adorably retro vision of the superhighways of tomorrow: the American Dream is about change. More specifically, it's about things changing for the better, and about people having the freedom to enjoy and participate in the process of change. Society and culture are driven -- and have always been driven -- by the masses. The dream of a brighter future took the "American" moniker from the fact that the United States was the first modern nation to do away with the European monarchal system. Change will always happen since the people will demand it; the US was one of the earliest countries to make that its raison d'etre.

In the eternal quest for the elusive "brighter tomorrow," we will continue to make mistakes. We will have disasters and wars, and terrible things will happen. People will die, dictators will rise and fall, and the oceans might rise up to claim some of our cities. But we will continue to evolve with the world around us. So the American Dream is in no need of modification. It is always a good idea to stop along the path and shake off some cobwebs, but hope for something better is the essence of what makes us congregate, collaborate, and create.

Cities are based on this principle; at their core, they rely on change. Cities lose buildings and parks and whole districts; much like any living organism, old cells must be shed to make way for the new. While it is sometimes painful, change will always happen, and as the largest, most interactive manifestations of mankind's ambition, cities will have to change for the good and the bad, just like we do. In short, you can't curse the suburbs; you'll just run out of breath. Instead, try to imagine what the next batch could look like. Try to imagine a brighter tomorrow while accepting that the suburbs will be a part of it.

More on this soon, as a review of Paul Lukez's Suburban Transformations is forthcoming.

(Photo from Flickr user brassplayer. The original full-color version can be viewed by clicking the photo.)


Links:
Changing the American Dream (The Streets)

Magic Highway USA (Part IV)

Magic Highway USA Publicity Stills (Paleo-Future)

WEEKEND READING: October 20-26, 2007

No good news on the laptop front...the machine is very dead, but whether the files on the hard drive are salvagable or not is a mystery until next week. In the meantime...

ITEM ONE: Built Environment Blog chimes in on the Atlantic Yards megadevelopment in New York with a brief history of the Superblock.

ITEM TWO: The Map Room features João Machado’s colorful map creations.

ITEM THREE: The Affordable Housing Institute highlights a series of articles from the Times of India that illustrate how myriad urban problems in Mumbai are interrelated.

ITEM FOUR: Does Big Development kill the American Dream? The American thinks so (and I agree!).

ITEM FIVE: Richard Florida's new report (with Tim Gullden and Charlotta Mellander), The Rise of the Megaregion, presents us with a whole slew of new opportunities for "BosWash"-esque portmanteaus -- and some kickass demographic images like the one at the top of this post.

Have a great weekend, everyone! Hopefully I'll be able to get my paws on a laptop for Urbanffffinds on Sunday.