So... What Now?

Courtesy of Strong Towns

        We now understand that the suburban feedback loop in America is unsustainable, racist and conformist. And unfortunately, suburbs are hardly elastic enough to allow for substantial changes. For this reason, we must explore every avenue possible to dismantle the suburban system in favor of a more equitable and less crony capitalist urban design. For the rest of this piece, we will discuss actionable policy changes that could reorient our urban landscapes around communities over cars, people over profit, and collectivism over conformity. The policies will be arranged as follows: (1) Idealistic but not realistic, which fulfill the ultimate goal of redesigning urban landscapes but come with significant baggage / are not possible in the current political climate; (2) both idealistic and realistic, which are ambitious but could be implemented on the case-by-case basis; and (3) realistic proposals, which are small steps that can readily be implemented in a variety of communities and contexts.

IDEALISTIC

1. End R1 (single family, detached residential) zoning in all municipalities with population densities greater than 1,000 per square mile;

2. Phase out the thirty-year mortgage and explore community, non-profit driven ownership of all housing;

3. Dedicate a majority (>50%) of all transportation infrastructure funding to public urban rail, bus and intercity rail mobility projects;

4. End all government subsidization of arterial road projects, and require that all highways be self-sufficient through tolling;

5. Implement congestion pricing in the inner neighborhoods of all urban areas with more than 500,000 people;

6. Drastically expand federal housing initiatives by shifting $100 billion in annual military funding to public housing development in high rent cities;

7. In cities that do not comply with the end of single family residential zoning, use eminent domain when necessary to allow developers to build multifamily housing;

8. Accept all existing proposals to gut urban arterial roadways (such as Aurora Avenue in Seattle and I-794 in Milwaukee);

9. Ban all new production of unnecessarily large light trucks in the United States;

10. And place stringent height and weight limits on cars of all types and implement more stringent pollution standards for car tires.

SOMEWHAT IDEALISTIC AND SOMEWHAT REALISTIC

1. Phase out the production of all internal combustion engine vehicles;

2. Require installation of ADA-compliant sidewalks and bike lanes on all non-arterial roads in certain cities;

3. Commit to expanding alternative transportation options by shifting transportation infrastructure funding to non-automobile modes;

4. Adjust the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards to end the loophole allowing light truck models to avoid regulation;

5. Establish additional rent and housing protections for non-white homebuyers;

6. Outlaw redlining based on geography or race; 

7. Outlaw adjustment of insurance rates based on race;

8. Enable congestion pricing in respective urban areas;

9. Require that urban planning boards be proportionally representative, based on member city/suburb populations;

10. And initiate a federal takeover of all ongoing private or state-owned intercity rail initiatives, to streamline progress and improve efficiency.

REALISTIC (and local!)

1. Cities develop their own Vision Zero initiative;

2. Establish separated bike lane networks on streets and greenways throughout urban areas; 

3. Commit to road dieting projects for high-injury roadways and corridors;

4. End R1 (single-family, detached) zoning citywide;

5. Initiate studies on racial dynamics in housing affordability;

6. Alleviate zoning laws to encourage multifamily housing developments;

7. Outlaw ongoing redlining policies;

8. Accept proposals on freeway capping and removal;

9. Establish minimum occupancy requirements for all residential spaces (to avoid corporate buyout of residential properties);

10. And charge suburbs additional levies for highways, water treatment systems, and other city services.

All of these proposals, together, will ensure a safer, more urban environment for all Americans–no matter their race, gender or sexual orientation. If you wish to get involved, there are many places you can start: Strong Towns is an excellent option to get involved with road dieting and multifamily housing work, and local planning boards also play critical roles in making housing developments possible. Consider running for your local board, getting involved in local urbanism- and social justice-oriented community organizations, or making your voice heard by calling representatives. In addition, as we fight ever harder against the ongoing oppression that our current government is initiating against black Americans, queer Americans and non-male Americans, suburban policies give us an excellent starting point–as a large majority of the country is directly and positively affected by the changes. Inevitably, these policies will benefit all of us, but we must be able to demonstrate to those who wish to call us their enemy that they, too, will benefit. 

Nonetheless, so long as we attach to the concept of racial, gender and sexual justice yet make no effort to acknowledge our complicity in perpetuating injustice, we will have lost the battle alongside our human siblings. In the end, social justice will take all of us, every enlightened one of us, fighting for a brighter tomorrow, a tomorrow in which some won’t benefit at the expense of everyone else, and a tomorrow when we can all join hands–in a nicer, decidedly more human suburb–and sit down together, as Martin Luther King said, “at the table of brotherhood.” Ultimately, I suspect that this table will be a community park in a small block adorned with trees, bike lanes and pride flags.

These first four essays represent the first of an ongoing series on exploring liberation through radically revamping suburbia. I encourage you to stay tuned as we publish more essays on this subject in the future. Please also check out the “Sustainable Communities Project” for more essays on how the built environment varies in urban areas around the world (many of which are already in the pipeline and will be released soon!). Thank you all, as always, for reading.