Optimism about the future of the built environment
Evidence abounds to support a worldview of optimistic urbanism. It's naïve to think unhealthy infrastructure is permanent.
The Cold War lasted 45 agonizing years. Daily life in the Soviet Union was a mixture of dread and horror. On November 8, 1989, people living under Soviet control thought it would last forever, but the very next day, the Berlin Wall came down. No tanks or gun battles or sabotage—a peaceful and surreal collapse.
“Spontaneous acts of high-spirited foolishness,” to quote Sky News. “Utter disbelief and glee.”
The collapse of the empire happened slowly and suddenly. Now with the benefit of hindsight and information widely available online, we know life under Soviet rule was far worse than portrayed in movies or propaganda posters. As millions were suffering, they couldn’t even ask for help because everyone was incentivized to spy on their neighbor. No personal bonds with other
And then out of nowhere, Germans from east and west Berlin were blaring music from boom boxes, laughing, dancing, spray painting graffiti, and taking turns smashing apart the physical barrier between despair and hope.
Just because current circumstances are miserable doesn’t mean they can’t turn around. When you learn about history, you can’t help but be overwhelmed by how often things get better in the end.
There's a lot of cynicism among urban planners and infrastructure reformers. They desperately want to break free of status quo regulations and processes that lead to an unhealthy built environment, but it seems hopeless. Yes, the current situation for most of us is terribly unhealthy:
Infrastructure’s hidden health hazards
Anxiety
Depression
Isolation
Cancer
Obesity
Diabetes
Heart disease
Infrastructure’s outward health hazards
Air pollution
Noise pollution
Traffic crashes
It feels like things have always been this way, and that things are always going to be this way. Lack of pedestrian infrastructure, unreliable transit service, subsidized sprawl, ever-expanding arterials…it’s a lot.
Focusing only on the negative without exploring positive outcomes is how cynicism creeps in. “They’re never going to change, because they don’t care about us.” (Whomever “they” happens to be for any given topic.)
cynic // noun // a faultfinding captious critic who believes that human conduct is motivated wholly by self-interest
The internet is full of inspiring examples of institutional reform, from massive governments to pocket neighborhoods. Change agents work in the background, and then suddenly…a liberation!
🌟 DIY bike lanes become permanent
🌟 Traffic calming eliminates traffic deaths
🌟 Abolishing minimum parking requirements
🌟 Legalizing community gardens
🌟 Permitting 3D printed houses
Just like world history lessons, you can’t hold onto cynicism if you allow yourself to learn about before-and-after stories related to the built environment. There's too much evidence of reform for anyone to hang their head in gloom about the future of planning and design.
Things get better in the end!