Английская Википедия:Criticism of suburbia
Шаблон:Use dmy dates Шаблон:Globalize
Criticism of suburbia dates back to the boom of suburban development in the 1950s and critiques a culture of aspirational homeownership.Шаблон:Sfnp In the English-speaking world, this discourse is particularly prominent in the United States and Australia being prevalent both in popular culture and academia.
In the United States
Шаблон:Expand section While the United States government has yet to define what counts as a "suburban neighborhood," more than half of Americans have described their neighborhoods as suburban.[1]
Racism
Шаблон:See also Suburbs in the United States have often been criticised for instituting explicitly racist policies to deter people deemed as other.Шаблон:Sfnp
Urban sprawl
Шаблон:See also The demand for single-family housing has led to urban sprawl in many metropolitan areas across the United States, notably in the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area and the Northeast Megalopolis.
Environmental Issues
One of the major environmental problems associated with sprawl is land loss, habitat loss, and subsequent reduction in biodiversity. A review by Czech and colleagues[2] finds that urbanization endangers more species and is more geographically ubiquitous in the mainland United States than any other human activity.
Sprawl leads to increased driving, which in turn leads to vehicle emissions that contribute to air pollution and its attendant negative impacts on human health. In addition, the reduced physical activity implied by increased automobile use has negative health consequences. Sprawl significantly predicts chronic medical conditions and health-related quality of life, although it doesn't predict mental health disorders.[3] The American Journal of Public Health and the American Journal of Health Promotion, have both stated that there is a significant connection between sprawl, obesity, and hypertension.[4]
A heavy reliance on automobiles increases traffic throughout the city as well as automobile crashes, pedestrian injuries, and air pollution.[5]
Increased infrastructure/transportation costs
Living in larger, more spread out spaces generally makes public services more expensive. Since car usage becomes endemic and public transport often becomes significantly more expensive, city planners are forced to build highway and parking infrastructure, which in turn decreases taxable land and revenue, and decreases the desirability of the area adjacent to such structures.Шаблон:Citation needed Providing services such as water, sewers, and electricity is also more expensive per household in less dense areas, given that sprawl increases lengths of power lines and pipes, necessitating higher maintenance costs.[6]
Residents of low-density areas spend a higher proportion of their income on transportation than residents of high density areas.[7] The unplanned nature of outward urban development is commonly linked to increased dependency on cars. In 2003, a British newspaper calculated that urban sprawl would cause an economic loss of 3905 pounds per year, per person through cars alone, based on data from the RAC estimating that the average cost of operating a car in the UK at that time was £5,000 a year, while train travel (assuming a citizen commutes every day of the year, with a ticket cost of 3 pounds) would be only £1095.[8]
In Australia
Sprawling cities define the urban Australian landscape. The iconic "quarter-acre" block is often cited as fundamental to the Australian Dream; it has both cultural and political currency.Шаблон:Sfnp In 1901, the year of Australian Federation, "almost 70 per cent of Sydney's population were living in the suburbs".Шаблон:Sfnp
There is a profound cynicism that exists in much commentary on suburbia that is promoted by "intellectuals and others seeking to delineate the suburb"Шаблон:Sfnp which has been characterised by "conformity, control and some sense of false consciousness".Шаблон:Sfnp
Suburbia bashing
Despite the fact the majority of Australians still live in the suburbs, or maybe because of it, negative discourse about suburbia, often termed "suburbia bashing", perseveres in the mainstream media.Шаблон:Sfnp Dame Edna Everage typifies this as she demonstrates both "nostalgia and disdain for the Australian suburb and suburban life".Шаблон:Sfnp
Prominent journalist Allan Ashbolt satirised the suburb that represented Australian nationalism, rooted in the post-World War II era, as passive and uninspired, inscribed strongly in spatial terms. In 1966, he described Australian reality accordingly: Шаблон:Quote
Ashbolt, among others, represent a "tradition of abuse of the suburbs and of the majority of Australians" in Australian mainstream media.Шаблон:Sfnp
Suburbia vs the Australian bush
Suburbia bashing is entrenched in questions of national identity. Disparaging commentary about the suburbs often appears in contrast to the national mythology of the Australian bush. The landscape that is portrayed in the tourism advertisements, by poets and painters, does not represent the experience of the majority of Australians. The suburb and the bush are counterposed, "the bush (cast as the authentic Australian landscape) with the city (regarded as blighted foreign import)".Шаблон:Sfnp The bush landscape is a masculine construction of a more "authentic notion of Australian national identity" exemplified by the poetry of Henry Lawson.Шаблон:Sfnp Conversely, the suburb is feminised, epitomised by Dame Edna for more than fifty years, and more recently, by comedic team Jane Turner and Gina Riley in Kath & Kim.Шаблон:Sfnp
Australian ugliness
Architect and cultural critic, Robin Boyd, also criticised suburbia, referring to it as the "Australian ugliness".Шаблон:Sfnp Boyd observed a "pursuit of respectability" in suburban spaces.Шаблон:Sfnp Boyd writes of a contrived and superficial sense of place, centered on a "fear of reality": Шаблон:Quote
The ugliness that Boyd describes is qualified as "skin deep".Шаблон:Sfnp However, in the tradition of suburbia bashing, he proposes that there is an emptiness of spirit that can be read through an uninformed appreciation for aesthetics.
More recently there has been suggestion of a "new Australian ugliness".Шаблон:Sfnp New suburban developments have seen the proliferation of what have become known as "McMansions". McMansions epitomise the suburbia that is attacked by Boyd for both its monotony and "featurism"Шаблон:Sfnp Journalist Miranda Devine refers to an elitist perception that those who live in such suburban assemblages display a "poverty of spirit and a barrenness of mind" that is derived from a politics of aesthetics and taste, as expressed by Boyd fifty years ago.Шаблон:Sfnp In this "new Australian ugliness" some commentators attribute a rise in consumer culture: "There's a concern about over-consumption. But there's little thought of why – beyond advertising-driven gullibility".Шаблон:Sfnp Academic Mark Peel has rejected notions of gullible "consuming" residents of new suburbs by explaining his own "choice" to move to Melbourne's outer suburbs.Шаблон:Sfnp
Peel alludes to a discourse of suburbia that is elitist, and is based on matters of taste which have translated into a socio-cultural divide. When Miranda Devine refers to the elites, she refers to an inner-city population.Шаблон:Sfnp The divide is between the urbanites and the suburbanites, and the conflict is over national identity.
See also
References
Bibliography
- Шаблон:Cite journal
- Шаблон:Cite journal
- Шаблон:Cite book
- Шаблон:Cite news
- Шаблон:Cite book
- Шаблон:Cite book
- Шаблон:Cite news
- Шаблон:Cite news
- Шаблон:Cite journal
- Шаблон:Cite journal
- ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
- ↑ Шаблон:Cite journal
- ↑ Шаблон:Cite journal
- ↑ McKee, Bradford. "As Suburbs Grow, So Do Waistlines Шаблон:Webarchive", The New York Times, September 4, 2003. Retrieved on February 7, 2008.
- ↑ Шаблон:Cite journal
- ↑ Шаблон:Cite book
- ↑ McCann, Barbara. Driven to Spend Шаблон:Webarchive. Surface Transportation Policy Project (2000). Retrieved on February 8, 2008.
- ↑ "Is your car worth it?", The Guardian, Guardian Media Group, February 15, 2003. Retrieved on February 8, 2008.
