No “Shape of the Future” column this week but here is an exercise in connecting-the-dots on the path to understanding the shape of the future.
Yesterday and today WaPo devoted much of the front page to a two part series of great significance.
“Coming of Age: Graying of ‘Suburbs’.”
The stories, maps, graphs, pictures and captions (“Frank Brown, 66, has worked at Hollin Hall Automotive Service Station since 1992. Every morning, he helps Ruth Ann Harvey, 84, up the hill to work. Harvey, whose family has owned the shop since 1960, is behind the register six days a week. The full-service station is a favorite among elderly drivers, who don’t have to get out of their cars to pump gas.” “Rita Turner of Falls Church, seated, whose neighbors call her the Queen Mum, sold her car because she thought she was too old to drive. Now she must depend on others, such as driver Shobha Sahgal, to get her errands done.”) tell a compelling story.
Also see “Shape of the Future” column of 30 July “The End of Family as We Knew It” concerning the demographics of Dooryards and use of the word Household.
(Warning: For anyone who is aware of the importance of understanding of scale of components of human settlement patterns, the use of “community,” “village” and “neighborhood” in these WaPo stories is confusing in the extreme.)
In today’s WaPo Business Section (that is the “how to make and manage money” section) devoted most of the front page to two stories:
“Rejuvenating Loudoun: To Attract Young Workers, County Looks for Ways To Shed the Perception That It’s a Bit Middle Aged” and “Perks Give Area Firms a Silicon Valley Feel: Whether Posh of Quirky, Extras Help Lure Talent To the High-Tech Sector.”
Those who understand what they read at Bacons Rebellion should have no problem connecting the dots to grasp the necessity of Balanced Communities in sustainable New Urban Regions (aka, functional human settlement patterns.)
PS:
A regular reader e-mailed us last week and asked that we outline a simple way those who claim “I do not understand” to grasp the metrics of functional vs dysfunctional human settlement patterns. If this is a case where “you get WaPo but you don’t get it” then Civilization as we know it may be lost because these stories provide a wonderful primer. Here are some thoughts that will be expanded upon in TRILO-G:
Mobility and Access Crisis:
The level of Mobility and Access for those too young, too old or otherwise unable to use an Autonomobile.
(NB: “otherwise unable” includes economic as well as physical limitations. This is important since the percentage of Households that can afford and safely use one – much less more – Large, Private vehicles will decline dramatically as energy costs and vehicle complexity continue to escalate.
Just as alarming is the complexity and cost of the Large, Private vehicle support system as it grows to meet Business-As-Usual demands.)
Affordable and Accessible Housing Crisis:
Percentage who can live in the Community where they are employed. (NB: “Community” as defined in GLOSSARY.)
Helter Skelter Crisis:
Absence of unreasonable subsidies to achieve Balanced Communities. (NB: “unreasonable subsidies” can be defined by democratic processes once all of the location variable costs are fairly allocated.
In addition to the Loudoun stories noted above, See Jim Bacon’s “Bug in the Ointment” posted earlier today.)
EMR