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| An intersection on La Grange Road in Orland |
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| An Orland subdivision (orlandpalosrealestate.com) |
Now that you can clearly see this in your mind, imagine a major lack of sidewalks or any promotion of alternative transportation. There is the occasional Pace bus stop that sits on the corner of a busy intersection that also has no sidewalks leading up to it. Any time I see a person bravely try to cross the street, (sometimes there are no cross walks) or ride their bike, I think of how crazy they must be to attempt that. But they are not crazy, certainly not every resident can afford to be reliant on a car. Maybe they are the first of Orland Park residents to think that maybe we do need bike lanes and sidewalks, but they definitely have not spoken up about it.
From Palos Park, I cannot even get to Orland without driving my car. If I wanted to walk, I'd be walking through the marshy grass along side the road. If I wanted to bike, it would be a death wish. There are no other options, and when residents are not given other options, they are going to depend on their only form of transportation: the automobile. Newman and Kenworthy (1999) refer to the most unsustainable form of human settlement as the low-density auto-mobile dependant suburb. Ding Ding Ding! Orland Park you are the winner! Want to see how far my father has to drive to work each day? He drives 28 miles one way. That's 56 miles a day and multiply that by 6 working days equals 336 miles in just one week!**
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| How far my dad drives to work each day. |
The Roseland reading really made me see how unsustainable my hometown is and the ways in which I wish it could be. Orland Park has been stricken by the plague of "growthmania." Every time I come home, there is something new being built. This construction takes place while there are open store fronts all over the city because those businesses couldn't keep up in this economy. I really think the City should stop focusing on more more more, and pay attention to the already built areas that need some TLC.
I just wish Orland would think about some "creative development" like Yaro et al. Suburbs like Orland Park are what make me want to pursue a career in this field.
**(Disclaimer: there is a Metra rail line that runs into the city from Orland and Palos Park that is very popular with those who work downtown. It is just not very helpful for my father's location.)
Your comment about watching brave residents weaving through a busy intersection to get to a bus stop conjures up an image of nyc residents weaving (or as I like to call it, jaywalking) through the streets to catch the moving bus. No matter where you go, there seems to be a massive sea of cars that pedestrians have to fight with to even have space for their tiny 3 feet wide bodies to walk on. Car dependency is certainly great in suburbs and while cities don't necessarily have that problem, there are still too many cars on on the road, and simply not enough space for people. People live on Earth, not cars.
ReplyDeleteThere's hope! A recent policy analysis of by the National Complete Streets Coalition found 146 communities adopted Complete Streets in 2011 alone. Illinois is labeled as adopting 11-15 community or regional policies. And it's not just large metro areas that are embracing these policies. According to the study, a large percentage of areas adopting Complete Streets are medium sized suburbs and small/rural towns.
ReplyDeleteThe policy analysis can be read here: http://www.completestreets.org/webdocs/resources/cs-policyanalysis.pdf
What community in Indiana was the first to adopt a Complete Streets ordinance?
DeleteI also grew up in a city with several suburbs. It is a city that has preferred to be a follower than a leader in social and environmental issues for quite some time. That city is Indianapolis. Born and raised a native Hoosier, I feel your pain in regards to walkability and traffic. I spent much of my childhood dodging cars and trespassing private property to get to where I wanted to go. That or my parents drove me. The lack of connectivity and options for pedestrians/bikers are so few and far between it’s sickening. Until the past four years, I could not tell you where a bike lane was in the city. I would bet that there were zero lanes until Mayor Ballard launched the Office of Sustainability (www.sustainindy.org) around 2008.
ReplyDeleteI am happy to see that my hometown is taking the initiative to do something to provide sustainable modes of transportation. Even if the efforts are minimal, at least the foundation for future efforts is there. In fact, the city-county council just passed The Complete Streets ordinance this month (www.completestreets.org). If Mayor Ballard really wanted to launch a sustainability campaign, he would find an internal and steady source of revenue for the city’s bus system, IndyGo. The system has been underfunded for years and as a result no one rides it unless they have no other alternative. A better and more dependable system with a larger fleet would spur more ridership across the city. It would be wise to then take it to the next level and invest in electric powered buses. Just an idea.
That same quote from McHarg (39) struck a chord with me as well, as my hometown (Okemos, MI) has quickly become a conglomeration of strip malls and subdivisions. The town used to have a distinct downtown with a variety of businesses, but few locally-owned ones remain and the area is frequented much less than the newer, chain-retail locations. Being cognizant of this, I've even asked a few friends from back home where they would consider "downtown" to be, and a few of them placed it closer to the mall, target, panera, and starbucks, etc., rather than where downtown actually is.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up approximately 2 minutes from Indiana's second largest mall (Greenwood Park Mall), I can also relate to the frustration of ever expanding suburbia. The mall has expanded recently with many construction projects in and around the mall. It seems that these projects are mostly focused on the Christmas holiday and Black Friday in particular. Leaving my house in the Christmas season was a nightmare. My parents chose the house where I grew up because behind our house is a large forested area with a pond in which I can see Great Blue Heron almost daily in the summer and the occasional deer and woodchuck. Interesting that such a small, peaceful bit of nature can reside no more than a mile from a huge complex of shopping centers and miles of every restaurant chain imaginable.
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ReplyDeleteI came to the US arond 5 years ago, and have for the most part been exposed to only cities and college towns, both of which have good public transportation. I was brought up in a middle-eastern country called Kuwait. The country is excessivley dependent on their abundant oil. Gas prices are ridiculously cheap making it more of an incentive to stay far from work, in spacious cheaper apartments and driving around in your automobile. Public transportation is not very well knit, and I too have seen people, who can't afford cars, bravely crossing main roads to get to most bus stops. Roseland emphasizes the need to first change our community for any global scale impact. However, it is sad to see that so many communities/ countries do absolutely nothing towards environmental sustainability.
ReplyDeleteBefore I came to the US, I had this misconception that suburban areas are usually more sustainable.
It seems that you are definitely not alone in your thoughts regarding automobile dependency throughout the ever-growing spiderweb of suburbias in America (I too come from a place on Long Island which is quite similar to what you describe). But I think instead of focusing on all the negatives of these areas that you or I could easily point out, I think it is important to note that progress is being made. While the progress may be slow, and at the moment in a direction that is seemingly different then the sustainable community you and I have in our heads, it is still progress. You mentioned that a Whole Foods exists, which means there must be some sort of demand and awareness in that area toward organic and sustainable agriculture. And keep in mind, one of the best things about the state of our suburbia being so poor today, is that it fuels the passion of the young minds of our generation toward this field. The best thing we can do is learn and grow together; to work hard to slowly change these places around our country to better fit a model of sustainability and happiness.
ReplyDeleteSustainably minded transportation is a big issue in suburbia. It is important when trying to rectify this problem (either throughout improvements in public transportation, or making a community more bike friendly)that it is done correctly. Last year bike lanes were added to the major roadways in the town I grew up in. Although this gave bikers more options for transportation, it has resulted in more car accidents. Rather than just putting in a bike lane and forgetting about it, it is important to remember to educate the the public about changes like these, and what this means for them.
ReplyDeleteTesting. Thanks!
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