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Over the past few weeks, we have received a number of responses to our columns regarding the future of the Richmond New Urban Region
("The Shape of
Richmond's Future," Feb 16, 2004) and the need for a comprehensive new initiative on governance reform in Virginia
("An Open
Letter," March 28, 2004). Both columns focused on the need for Fundamental Change to achieve functional human settlement patterns. These columns generated reactions that fall into three categories:
Response One
"Yes, Risse is right, we need Fundamental Change. But in the meantime,
let's build more roads, hold conferences on
neo-traditional neighborhood design, support
'good' projects regardless of location and work with existing agencies and institutions to support
'best practices.'"
This response identifies those who have not learned to read with care and do not understand what it is they have read.
It is important to note that those who disagree with the need for Fundamental Change are careful not to say a word. They do not want to start a debate. Any discussion would draw attention to the slide toward entropy and chaos that is resulting from
Business As Usual. Under current conditions, a few at the top of the economic food chain are making a lot of money from
Business As Usual. Others are getting rewarded, reappointed and reelected by supporting it.
Business As Usual advocates' short-term interest is not served by rocking the boat. They hope that by the time human settlement patterns get so dysfunctional that the process of civilization starts to stall out, they will be rich enough to avoid the consequences, or they will have passed to their eternal reward. In the later case, we can only hope for a just deity who understands Regional
Metrics.
Response Two
"Yes, Risse is right, Fundamental Change is needed. But Fundamental Change will never happen so we need to continue to try to improve things by advocating incremental
change."
This response often comes from those who read and analyze contemporary issues but are overwhelmed by the prospect of Fundamental Change. They hope incremental improvements will make things better. When pressed, they often agree that by every quantitative
measure -- hours of traffic delay, cost of services,
etc. -- the conditions grow worse in spite of
and sometimes because of, random implementation of incremental
"improvements." While all these good ideas could fit into a comprehensive strategy, without citizens who are informed about the nature of and need for Fundamental Change, there will be no consensus to support intelligent action. In a democracy the absence of this support is fatal for any campaign to achieve complex objectives.
The tragedy is that these nervous Nellys are right:
Fundamental Change will never happen so long as thoughtful citizens, academics and journalists who believe Fundamental Change is the intelligent course for contemporary civilization continue to say "it never will happen."
Response Three
"Risse may be on to something, but that is just government stuff and conservation stuff; we have an enterprise to
run."
This third response comes from entrepreneurs, people who have to meet a payroll. They are people who build, supply and create goods and services. That is why their response is the most dangerous and ill-informed reaction of all.
Functional human settlement patterns are as important to those who do business in the Commonwealth of Virginia as are stable markets or the rule of law.
Dysfunctional human settlement patterns, bankruptcy/depression and chaos/anarchy are interrelated and of equal importance in supporting or impeding the creation and maintenance of economic prosperity. It is not just social stability and environmental sustainability that is at stake but prosperity, health and safety as well.
We hear that "reading is fundamental" in education. Locational literacy and an understanding the need for functional human settlement patterns is just as important in market-based capitalism.
Human settlement patterns control the public and private bottom lines (aka, the cost of doing business and the cost of services). Human settlement patterns determine the potential to achieve mobility and access. They also determine the cost of living for all citizens including the employees and owners of every enterprise.
"Growth" can make human settlement patterns better or worse, but human settlement pattern is not just a "growth" or a "mobility" issue that is the province of municipal and state agencies and conservatives (aka, conservation advocates).
Without Fundamental Change in human settlement patterns, building more transport facilities in most cases makes mobility and access worse on the community, subregional and regional
scales. ("The Shape of
Richmond's Future," Feb 16, 2004.)
Market-based enterprises can best flourish within Balance Communities that make up sustainable
Regions -- both New Urban Regions and Urban Support Regions. Enterprises are able to prosper now only because all Regions are plagued by varying degrees of dysfunctional human settlement patterns.
To achieve interregional and intercontinental competitive advantage, private enterprise must support the evolution of Balanced Communities in sustainable Regions. This is where creative people that are the basis for 21st Century prosperity want to live and work.
Public agencies and private enterprises that support
Business As Usual land-use and transportation policies condemn all Virginians to economic, social and environmental degradation.
The bottom line is that embracing Fundamental Change in human settlement patterns with supporting mobility policies and facilities and demanding the evolution of Balanced Communities will make prosperity and stability in a sustainable civilization achievable.
The cumulative impact of any other response would be unthinkable.
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April 26, 2004
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