How wonderfully refreshing it is to discover a video on this site that is neither inane nor populist. This fellow's ideas are thought-provoking and most succinctly expressed. His audience are indeed privileged to have heard him speak. And, I don't know if you noticed, he is extremely light on his feet, in the manner of a skilled ballroom dancer. That almost Latin sway from the hips, the subtle hand movements, the way he dominates the stage, that vaguely impish curl of the lips. Uuuuurrggghhhhhh! Vooooooooo! Brrrnnaaaah. My, an intellectual experience if ever one had one. Thankyou.
The guy is right and it's not even an exclusive problem of the US, it seems. I live in suburbia and I would't fucking care if a bilding two blocks away from me would explode.
Dolt. 911 souldn't answer your call for help? Ditto the fire department? Ditto the guy who is walking his dog by your home and sees smoke or flames at your place...or you, laying in your driveway, heart, stroke, mugged or whatever...he should just walk on and mind his own business.
What a dope. We all depend on others, wanted or not. Dope. Do NOT move within two blocks of me....two STATES from me, you callous fool. Move in with pisser.....a match made in...oh well, heaven doesn't exist for you...how 'bout in a septic tank?
This guy belittles the middle class family, stereotypes the poor, tosses in a few derogatory, racist remarks (ref: the wino, the "typical" guy [a black] looking for "clients" [to mug], etc...), and defends his ramble by attaching it to the war? His answer was to wash his hands of everything while putting more tax burden on the middle class ("...see what YOU can do..."), that is to say, the losers who can not afford to safely house their family within the city limits. He is lost in his own upper crust and will never understand normal-life.
Zamp - yup - that being said though it sometimes seems that extremism is all the gets headlines.
These TED things are pretty enjoyable in the sense that it simply seems to be a lot of bright people (unlie the alias arse below!) who put forthright views on the table for discussion
His reasoning, is null. This is just a nonproductive rant. He offers on solutions or causes for the problems defined. His solution is larger cities?
Here in New England many towns are faced with post Industrial infrastructure, called Mill towns. So where are the dollars to come from to take down the old and rebuild the new? Suburbs came into existence after the Railroad infrastructure was deliberately destroyed by who?
These Cheap housing developments sprout up like mushrooms, not because people want to live like this, but it is what the rich developers create to maximize their returns.
They use their money to bribe the zoning board, and building inspector, and create these shoddy Mc. Mansions that the new owners have to spend another 100K just to bring the building up to code. They cut down and sell all the trees on the lot, and they scrape off all the top soil, sell it, and replace it with gravel, sod, and plant invasive species from China, and a lawn that dies over the next six months. And don't forget the shrubs that all die the first winter because they are from Mexico.
Home Depot and Lowes only exist because of these crappy developments. Repairing these homes has become the secondary market for generating wealth.
Then these developments are torn down because the rich want to build a new Walmart or mall. Who loses their house for the new Walmart by imminent domain for the new future? What town has been able to fight off Walmart, and why does Walmart always win?
Are the rich developers, or any of the wealthy who create these environments, actually living in them? No they have their places to live, and we peasants live in the garbage they make for us.
Good grief, Pod....sounds like letters to the editors in my New England neck of the woods. Up our way, we (at least some) fear that beauty will be sacrificed for "progress", an overbearing concept that should be reserved for underachieving areas, not woodland, ocean, or mountains, simply because they are economical options open for the taking by developers riding the "progress" horse. And that's about it for now Share your concern.
On the contrary: Developers and real, skilled tradesmen are anti-"Home Depot/Lowes." It takes important work from their hands and puts it into the hands of rank amateurs and "fly-by-nighters," both using second-rate materials.
syzygy - Exactly my point. These homes are build by Illegal immigrants, without any supervision of building codes. So, hire a contractor and have him send over a illegal immigrant to do the repair. The unskilled homeowner can often do better than these so called skilled professionals, who cannot even speak English. I know there are real professionals out there and I have worked with them, and they are just as upset about the invasion of their profession with unskilled amateurs as I am.
He castigates everyone. Does he not know that "doing everything very differently" means MONEY. No, not "liviing locally" or any of the other crap he pined about...it means MONEY.
talking about how to improve america's suburbian architecture? not very enlightening to 50% of glumberts viewers. sorry but he talked a whole lot of fancy sugar coated bs.
What a blowhard socialist. "Allocation of resources" to him means his pinhead friends deciding where you can live; what your house can look like; etc. He gets to decide how resources are allocated. Get rid of zoning boards...they are the source for corruption and bad decision making.
He wants more of your tax money so he can live in his self-described perfect town. I get a kick out of people like this. They usually have not been very productive or been able to produce anything that people will buy, but they have lots of opinions about how productive people should be able to spend their own money.
ones like him who want things better for a community whether they are smart enough to realize it
and people like the ones he talks about that know stupid people will buy anything--particularly under the guise of 'freedom of choice' because it 'empowers' them or makes them feel better/smarter.
adults don't like people making choices for them. neither do children. consequently, adults don't eat their veggies anymore, cuz no one is telling them to.
Just because you don't eat your veg, does not mean "every" adult does not. I've spent quite a bit of time where all meals are "buffet" style. Most of the people fill their tray with a balanced meal. Those who tend to NOT have a balanced plate of veg/carb/protien/fat are the pimple-faced kids (the twenty-ish years-olds) who are still in the "parents suck" mode. They eventually learn, just as you will.
you fall into neither category because you aren't smart. should you get the point of an argument, you might be granted entrance into one of the categories, but i highly doubt it.
Kunstler expounds further on these points in his book "The Geography of Nowhere". It's hard to take his pessimistic predictions seriously sometimes, but we as a society must come to terms with the fact that we will need to seriously change the way we live, one way (by human achievement) or another (global chaos.)
His observations of the present seemed spot-on, but his message put the blame on YOU, absolving himself of all wrong doing ("consuming"). He sped past the fact that he lives in a "sprawl" area by dropping the f-bomb to distract the listeners' attention. Why can he live in the same area he is blaming YOU for creating? His points are weak, and his solution (if any) is weaker. Just because someone paid someone else to write his book(s) and put his name on it does not mean the book is "the truth." Read it, but verify the points. Half-truths sound good, but then fall short of "sound thinking" if played at full volume.
I think some are missing the point. The message is more to designers, architects and city planners. Of course WE as citizens cannot do these things. We just live, we "consume". We are unaware of such "depression" because we are happy to just be able to purchase homes. But think about it, where in your neighborhood do you go to congregate w/ your neighbors? Nowhere. You don't want to go to the park because the "undesirables" are playing soccer there. Admit it! So we keep our selves in our houses all weekend. His pictures of public squares in Europe serve as models for what the possibilities are. I see this in L.A. all the time. Look closely. There is an obvious segregation of classes and races that can be seen through architecture. In West L.A. there are countless public areas that are pleasing to the eyes and bustle with people. In East L.A. it's a different story. Is it a socio economic issue. Of course. What to do? ... shit if i know. Just realize it and hope your local leaders catch on too. It also would help if the "citizens" of such less pleasing areas would band together and demand it from city hall. But that's unlikely since non of them vote anyways. (btw:Im not white)
In the south, the whole problem is race related. It started with integration in the late 50's. White middle class folks moved to the suburbs to escape having to socially mix with blacks. In doing so, white middle class folks abandoned the best downtown housing and shopping districts close to work, in favor of cookie cutter made housing and ugly malls. Now they are moving back to reclaim what is left and pushing the blacks out to the suburbs. The price of gasoline is not the least of the motivating factors....I think that is what this guy is talking about but he's PC enough not to mention the race card. Just my thoughts.
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