Race-Related Sprawl
In this interview, civil rights leader and environmentalist Van Jones talks about the interconnections between urban sprawl, racism and the "prison-industrial complex".
"Sprawl is a response to racial fear and anxiety on the part of white elites. The 'burbs were designed as a vehicle to get away from people of color, investing more in the white infrastructure as they moved away from the city, and the neighborhoods where people of color live. The other side of that is the disinvestment for the communities that remain behind; the money follows the new suburban development. Those that remain in the inner city continue to lose in this scenario."
"People don't want to talk about why people call this a "good" neighborhood or that one a "bad" neighborhood, but often it has to do with the race of the people that live there. White people divorce themselves from the bad neighborhoods and move to the suburbs."
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oversimplified is an understatement.
Suburbs date back to the early 18th century and then it was rich europeans trying to get away from poor europeans and the general filth & squalor of the city. In the US the start of the suburbs (going back to the late 18th century) were no different. The black populations of most cities in the north was relatively small until WWI and grew vastly again during WWII. Again, it was and always has been a class issue that got dressed up in the language of race after WWII. Whites moved to the suburbs in the 50's and 60's for a lot of reasons. Their families were too big for an 800 sq. ft. rowhome might have had more than a little to do with it. When new housing was built within the city limits white people moved there too. It also might have to do wtih the fact that federal loan guarantees only applied to new construction and one couldn't use it or the GI Bill to do work on an existing structure. Perhaps it was because the existing industry in most cities was already obsolete by the 50's and space for new sprawling facilities was limited and land in the suburbs was cheap. Maybe the process accelerated because rural townships were willing to provide similar services for next to nothing in taxes. People follow jobs and money.
To say that racism was THE reason or even just the main reason for the hollowing out of american cities is, to put it politely, misinformed.
Urban sprawl and the profit motive
And don’t forget the profit motive to get Americans to move to the suburbs. Real estate developers, car companies, and oil companies, just to name a few major players, all profited from urban (suburban) sprawl. We all know how General Motors bought up street car lines in Los Angeles sixty years ago only to dismantle them in order to force more people into driving cars, perhaps the most egregious example of corporate complicity in connection with urban sprawl.
Conspiracy theory
There was a conspiracy of sorts but it was for GM to sell its buses not to promote its cars. There's more to the story here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_conspiracy
I don't want to get into a debate on conspiracy theories but there was great show on the History Channel on the issue from both sides which is something I haven't seen before.
Why didn't I think of it?
"If we train former prisoners and guards to put up solar panels, they are already on their way to becoming electrical engineers. If we train them to double pane glass, they are on their way to be a glazer: a good union job and green path out of poverty."
I hate to see the waste of human potential wasting away in prisons but if the author thinks this will happen with current high recidivism rate he's mistaken. Tying this into a "green" angle is pc think.
Why not hire the homeless as babysitters since affordable child care is a problem in some places?
The reasons for urban sprawl
The reasons for urban sprawl in America are much more complex. This is a classic example of seeing everything in life through the prism of whatever obsesses oneself, in this case “racism.” It’s much like how Bush, Cheney et al. see the world through their obsession with “terrorism.”