Running Aground on the Shoals of the Right

This month American Enterprise Magazine (not something I normally read, but pointed out by Veritas et Venustas, which I’ve mentioned before) has a most of an issue devoted to the phenomonon of New Urbanism. Who knew it was so popular? I think the proximate cause was the Congress for the New Urbanism’s proposal to rebuild cities, make that towns, on the Gulf Coast. (For my opinion, see Not Going to Happen) Theirs (AEM’s) is a totally different take on the whole urban issue. The cover is “Attack of the Snobs,” which gives a pretty good idea of their opinion of the whole movement. Rather than approaching it from a by-the-numbers standpoint, the unifying position is “the suburbs make people happy,” which, I suppose, is an argument. There’s lots of defense of Wal-Mart (favorite line from the editor: “while I don’t frequent there myself . . . “,) and a raft of unattributed statistical claims (footnotes, please?,) but all things considered a reasonable overview of the issue from a countervailing political perspective. Anyone that interviews Witold Rybczynski can’t be all bad.

The most compelling issue covered is the perception / aspiration that the Dallas poll [The Big D below] gave a glimpse of. A sample:

New Urbanism will remain a niche phenomenon unless and until its advocates break out of their cocoon and better comprehend what they’re up against. At present, they refuse to acknowledge that suburbia’s growth and the decline of core cities could stem from anything other than misguided zoning, federal mortgage guarantees biased towards suburban development, and nasty racial politics. They overlook the fact that suburbia as satisfied the aspiration of countless Americans to ownership of a freestanding house on a spacious green patch outside the increasingly ill-governed city. This aspiration is deeply ingrained in the nation’s DNA – the DNA of American individualism. - Catesby Leigh, “The Sins of Shady Lane” The American Enterprise, June 2006

On that note, an apropos comment from one of our readers:

. . . a reason why a car based culture is better for some: A woman alone in a car at night is a lot safer than a woman alone on the street at night.

A valid point. Jane Jacobs (and anyone that’s been in Manhattan lately) had an answer for the security issue, but a valid point nonetheless.