There are six stories on the front page of Wapo today.
Every one of them is a human settlement pattern issue or has a human settlement pattern aspect and there is not one word about the human settlement patterns in any of the stories.
Let us start with “As Dulles Rail Staggers, Players Share in Blame.” Lots of talk about blame but not one word about how station-area settlement patterns would solve the “tunnel” issue or the “cost” issue. If there was a clear understanding of what is needed in the Dulles corridor (See “Rail to Dulles Realities,” 4 Jan 2004, “Rethinking METRO,” 18 Oct 2004 and “All Aboard,” 16 April 2007) then the Virginia Governor / Sec of Transportation, FTA and No-Bid Contract problems would be gone as well.
“METRO Blames Mechanical Failures” spotlights the need for system wide Balance between capacity and demand. With an understanding of this reality, demand would be down (due to station area Balance) and support would be up allowing for rational investment in infrastructure. See Backgrounder “Time to Fundamentally Rethink METRO” recent post “It Will Take More Than Lint.”
“Japan’s Warp-speed Ride to Internet Future” highlights “the last mile problem” that is a direct result of dysfunctional settlement patterns. While the Internet will not assure a sustainable trajectory for civilization, good access would help a lot. Instead of focusing on Japan, take a look at Sweden (nine times the average US of A speed) and Canada (four times the average US of A speed). Search for Shape of the Future use of the settlement patterns in both these nation-states as examples of how US of A settlement patterns could improve with a better understanding of what democracy and a free market require to flourish.
“Bush Wants $50 Billion More for the Iraq War” is another paving stone on the road to entropy that is the result of dependence on Large, Private vehicles for Mobility and Access. See our recent post “Three Questions Encore” and the “Whale on the Beach,” 28 August 2006 column and “The Problem With Cars,” coming soon.
The front page color picture adds another dimension to the settlement pattern issue: Opening the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge a week early will help commuters. The only real assistance available for commuters is to help them become non-commuters by evolving functional human settlement patterns. (See Balance under METRO story above.)
How do the stories about the VA Tech shootings and the Elephant Clan senator from Idaho relate to human settlement patterns? Those who need to ask, have not been reading The Shape of the Future very carefully. We hope to make these connection more clear in TRILO-G.
Have a Nice Day.
EMR
