The illusion of tranquil suburbs
Streetcar suburbs vs. Arterial suburbs
Suburbs and sprawl have become interchangeable terms, and it’s important to shake that conversational habit.
Suburbia—and therefore sprawl—is pitched as the quiet and peaceful alternative to noisy city life. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, suburbs were designed around streetcar lines, giving people neighborhood options that were quieter, greener, and more spacious than city centers. Those suburbs often had a street grid and easy access to groceries, schools, and churches.
Land that was developed after World War II could be called arterial suburbs, because of the way it’s spaced out along massive 6- and 8-lane trunk lines. The key difference between streetcar suburbs and arterial suburbs is zoning, which ushered in land use restrictions and ushered out mixed-use neighborhoods. Some portions of an arterial suburb will be tucked away in isolated cul-de-sacs, but in the 21st century, even high-priced single-family homes are pressed up against arterials that look like signalized highways.
Sprawl (but not necessarily a suburb) generates a ton of white noise and that has an impact on mental health. Beyond the obvious issue of hearing loss, research has shown that prolonged exposure to high noise levels can lead to a range of problems:
People get easily irritated and frustrated, impacting their quality of life.
Disrupts sleep patterns, causing daytime sleepiness and fatigue.
Clear link between chronic noise exposure and elevated blood pressure (i.e. hypertension and cardiovascular disease).
Affects our ability to concentrate, learn, and solve problems effectively. It’s even more traumatic for children because their brains are still forming.
Hospitals are a frightening example of adverse effects of excessive noise. You think you’re going there to get fixed but hospitals employ humans who are dealing with the same issues before and after work. Noise exposure impairs staff concentration and communication, making it harder to perform effectively. Obviously, a mistake by hospital staff can have disastrous consequences.
Sprawl, the regulated expansion of land development, is a significant contributor to noise pollution.
The 4, 6, and 8-lane arterials feel inevitable because how else would you connect all the various land use zones: housing, commercial, working, shopping, recreational, and so on. Those roads are anything but peaceful. Typically posted at 45mph, they function as speedways with impatient people racing from one stop light to the next, trying to shave seconds here and there, and racking up a shocking crash frequency.
Land use policy plays a pivotal role in perpetuating sprawl and, consequently, excessive noise pollution. Many conventional zoning practices aren’t necessary evils to create a civilized society, but unnecessary evils. Restrictive land use rules exacerbate the noise problem. But like I’m constantly telling you, this stuff is fixable and it’s fixable at the local level. Things can get better in the end.
Legalize Mixed-Use Neighborhoods
Even without streetcars, “streetcar suburbs” have great development bones. Push your local leaders to revise zoning and building rules to permit mixed-use neighborhoods, where essential services are within easy reach. This eliminates the need for massive, noisy arterials. Personal automobiles are still allowed, but they aren’t the only viable option to get around. More people have options to walk, ride a bike, or hop on a bus for all those short trips we take.
Enable Active Transportation
Advocate for infrastructure that supports walking and cycling, reducing the dependency on noisy vehicular traffic. What’s the point of posters celebrating “bike to work day” if the infrastructure feels like hell. Look for ways to develop a network of routes for walking, bicycling, skateboarding, etc.
Talk to People
County and city leaders are much more accessible than national politicians. It doesn’t take a large number of like-minded residents to raise awareness about the adverse effects of noise pollution and the benefits of quieter, more walkable communities. There are of course countless reasons to support good urbanism. But if the noise issue resonates with you, squawk about it.
Long-term excessive noise is more than an irritant. It's a silent menace that affects our physical and mental health, cognitive abilities, and even the quality of healthcare in our communities. There’s a ton of scholarly work on this topic. Google Scholar, PubMed, and others have aisle after digital aisle of free academic work published about the ways the noise generated from the built environment impacts mental health.
Counties and cities across the country are revisiting their zoning ordinances. If yours isn’t, maybe you can help spark interest. The best time to legalize peaceful neighborhood design was 100 years ago. The next best time is now.
Really appreciate this post Andy. We’ve lived in the same house for 27 years, and over that time the state highway that passes near our house has grown increasingly busy. I try not to let it drive me mad, this incessant noise. I try to tell myself that it’s like the crashing of waves on the beach. I don’t want to leave this home we’ve lived in and improved, but there are days when the noise is just too much …
"Talk to people." This is important. Also, listening to them. Do planners even ask people what people want? Like the "street people" issue downtowns have; has anyone from the city asked the street people what they really want? I bet they haven't.