Urbanism Must Be Optimism
We're not going to get anywhere without belief that things can get better.
My town is an urbanist’s worst nightmare.
If you want to look at it that way.
Cynical eyes will notice the way the entire town is essentially a series of loosely connected subdivisions with an outer ring of commercial strips surrounding them. They’ll see bike lanes that fade into nothing at random; patchy, inconsistent sidewalks; a highway that cuts through town just to service the GM plant.
And I was that cynic when my wife and I were looking to buy our first home last summer.
You see, Spring Hill is sandwiched between a pair of cities with beautiful historic downtowns. The one south of us, Columbia, even has in-town homes that were seemingly in our price range.
Living in Spring Hill almost felt sinful by comparison. Car dependency; no sense of place; no real local hotspots of note. A simple Google Image search for Spring Hill TN pulls up an initial result of our major strip mall anchored by Target. A search for Columbia TN shows a beautiful courthouse and a thriving main street with all kinds of great locally-owned shops and businesses.
But after a few failed bids in Columbia, we did end up in Spring Hill.
And I’m so glad we did.
Because if you look hard enough, Spring Hill has a lot to work with. And I only saw that once I lived here. It has taught me how to be an optimist.
Sidewalks may just sort of die off at random here. But that’s just opportunity to build out a more complete sidewalk network.
Large undeveloped parcels of land may separate the sprawling, unconcentrated parts of town. But two are being developed into mixed-use communities that will begin to tie the city together a little bit.
Most of the city may not be mixed-use, but there’s at least some retail within walking distance of most subdivisions, which is more than most suburban communities can say. There’s a canvas to work with and retrofit here.
Sometimes folks who live in places like Portland, Denver, or New York think I’m nuts. Understandably so: the things I celebrate as victories would be setbacks by their cities’ standards.
But Spring Hill isn’t Portland or Denver or New York, in the same way a baby isn’t a grown adult.
If a healthy, able-bodied adult started crawling after decades of walking upright, it would be cause for major concern.
But when an infant crawls for the first time, or takes a few steps before crashing to the ground, these are some of the most noteworthy milestones of early childhood. You have to crawl before you can walk, and walk before you can run.
Urbanists that care about transforming communities must be optimists. Cynicism, which embraces a “why even bother” attitude, is just a way of seeking credit for holding the right beliefs while absolving oneself of responsibility to do anything about it. In short, it’s laziness.
We need optimistic people who can see the potential in even the most seemingly uninspiring places and who are willing to do the work of slowly pushing those places in the right direction. If our love of great urban design goes no further than looking down our noses at sprawling disasters, we are as much to blame as the planners, engineers, and policymakers that made those places possible.
Let’s not just be known as those who say “it should be better than this.” Let’s also be known as those who say “it can be.”
One Thing to Get Excited About:
The city of Richmond, Virginia, is exploring removing parking minimums! There have been numerous examples so far in 2022 of cities across the U.S. considering or outright implementing this important step. Let’s hope Richmond is next to officially jump on board!
One Action to Get You Started :
In the spirit of today’s newsletter, grab a sheet of paper or open a Google Doc and start writing out parts of your city that have legitimate potential to improve. It’s one of the best ways to “exercise” your optimism muscles.
When you force yourself to look for potential, it’s amazing how often you’ll find it.
One Resource to Check Out:
If you’re looking to make a jump into “professional urbanism,” the website Planetizen has a job board of opportunities across North America! You can find everything from internships to senior level roles in both the private and public sectors.