 "Photo: Nick Tarnoff")
Writer James Howard Kuntsler discussed the impact of the "American Dream" on the urban sprawl and suburbanization of the United States on Tuesday. Kunstler is the author of nine novels and three books on urban and suburban issues. He spends time journeying to different cities around the world in order to gain insight into the issues surrounding urban development.
Kunstler said evolving ways of living will pose problems for future generations.
"[Living arrangements] are going to be a bigger problem in the decades to come especially where energy problems are concerned, and it's terribly important that we start thinking about changing the way we live," he said. "The days of the drive-in utopia are numbered."
Suburban sprawl, where strip malls and large retail stores dominate whole areas of land, pervades the country. This extensive grid of Wal-Marts is devastating to community and culture.
He went on to say there is confusion about the differences between city and country lifestyles.
"It's no longer country living in a country house," he said. He explained that the suburbs often contain the same congestion found in cities, but lack the culture and events cities provide.
This environment, he posed, is one that leads people, especially children, to depression and it is dangerous to the future of America. In comparison to the beauty and excellence of the French boulevards, low-quality American strip malls and retail shops look as if they were built to be thrown out.
Kunstler claims that as fossil fuels are depleted, America will enter into a substantial period of turbulence in their failure to prepare for the epochal change that the future brings. He described the period America is entering into as "The Long Emergency."
Such an era would require greater reliance on growing food closer to home due to transportation problems and fuel deficiencies. He encouraged downscaling America's mass-producing markets.
To save American culture, city planners must focus on the reformation of cities and urban design. Kuntsler called for the eradication of boring brick buildings surrounded by unnecessary shrubbery. Envisioning France, he suggested that buildings should look similar to French boulevards, with shops and restaurants on street level and a large walking space for pedestrians in order to provide interaction between what is happening on the street and what is going on inside stores.
Many students were enthusiastic about Kunstler's lecture and concerned about urban development in the United States.
"Actually, the title of this lecture caught my eye," said Alejandra Lizardo, GSA&S '09. "The reason I came is because I'm very interested in urban planning. There are too many cars and not enough places for walking."
Other BC students expressed their concern for the future of American culture in their questions to Kunstler. Students liked that he dealt with issues that directly concerned their future and that he did not focus on only one issue.
"It was helpful to compare the U.S. to other parts in Europe, but I wish he would have included some examples of successful cities [in the United States]. It would have been good if he had cited some examples," Lizardo said.
The event was co-sponsored by Boston College Urban Project (BCUP), one of BC's newest organizations, and the Undergraduate Government of BC (UGBC). BCUP started in the spring of 2004 with a mission to promote open discussion about social and physical urban issues and how they influence the community. Club officials said Kuntsler was an appropriate speaker to sponsor due to his area of expertise.
"He is a well known urbanist," said Stephen Cote, co-president of BCUP and A&S '05. "We knew he would engage the students and speak to us on our own level because he has a very important message."
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