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- Info
The two rural Americas need more, not less planning
| Author: |
Daniels, T.L.; Lapping, M.B. |
| Date: |
1996 |
| Periodical: |
Journal of the American Planning Association |
| Abstract: |
Over 140 years ago, the father of American design, Horatio Greenough, set down the main tenet of design: "Form follows function." In remote rural areas, small towns have essentially lost their former function as service centers and are withering away. In the rural-urban fringe, the sprawling form of development follows two functions: (1) escape from the inner city of the metropolitan region; and (2) dependence on the automobile. At both ends of the spectrum of rural America, government policies and programs are needed to create and promote sustainable communities. Opinion polls have repeatedly shown that most Americans would prefer to live in small towns. What Americans consider to be a small town is unclear-shrouded as the notion is in neoJeffersonian sentimentality-but it is unlikely to be a place of 500 people in a remote section of the Great Plains. The small town idyll is the New England village. But just as Will Rogers once said about land, "they ain't makin' any more of it." In the future, planners and developers will have to work together, rather than simply fight over regulations, in order to create good communities. Developers typically fear that planners will raise their costs of development and thereby reduce profits; planners, on the other hand, suspect developers of being short-sighted and greedy. Planners can offer streamlined development approvals and bonus densities in return for well designed development located in appropriate places. Moreover, planning in fringe areas will require true regional planning, an undertaking that has not yet been demonstrated. Instead, a plethora of small, inadequate town and county governments have been left to struggle with development problems that are too big for them to handle. The danger in the fringe is that population growth will exceed environmental carrying capacity and render many communities unsustainable. And, ultimately, both auto-dependent fringe areas and remote rural places are threatened by the rising price and dwindling availability of energy supplies, especially oil. |
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