Think on Your Feet

After asking a prominent owner of an urban carpool company "What about suburbia?" I received an annoyed and definite "Nothing." Nothing is in development to connect suburban people and families with affordable car-sharing, at least in a realistically available way, simply because of a lack of current need. Those who live in the 38th cul-de-sac most likely already have a car, and probably would find stuffing their three kids' four bags of football equipment into a Ford Focus irritating and overly time-consuming.

Now that carbon footprints, driving habits, and what car we drive are actually starting to matter, it might also be time for us to connect the now nauseating buzz phrases "housing crisis" and "car bailout" together to think about how we should address the overdevelopment of suburban wasteland – rows and rows of cul-de-sacs organized with almost military precision, style circa post World War II – and its effect on how and where we drive.

The long fingers of single branched "communities" are popular and relatively easy to develop, extending roads and growing into veins that stretch far into neighboring countryside. Besides dog walking, running for exercise, and the occasional neighborhood kids, the streets are seldom used for walking or biking. Cars rule the roadways, and they should – these places were built for them; their wide roads and highway-like streets perfect for speeding through on the way home.

We have increased our reliance on cars to the point where, in many of the places we live, it is the only form of transportation. This may seem like a ridiculously obvious statement, but maybe only because we are conditioned to think of driving everywhere as a normal behavior.

Traditional town planning emphasises the need for amenities and fun to be within walking distance of home. Solid, healthy, diverse communities and citizen happiness depend on it. But, because of the profitability of suburban developments and the excessive time and intelligence it takes to grow complex cities, we have let our need for easy, quick building and McMansions override our instinctual need for human contact and walkability. This, in turn, has cemented our dependence on personal vehicles.

Better fuel economy and sustainable gas would be great, but shouldn't we also be talking about the reasons why we have to keep widening our freeways, why the stamp cost at the Post Office keeps going up, and why, in an emergency, one roadway is the only way out for thousands of people living in a development?

Not only do we need to think about what resources we waste when we force ouselves to drive, drive, drive; we need to also think about our wasted time, and how much better our lives would be if we could wave at our friend down the block while on our feet, instead of from the driver's seat.