Virginians are so inured to the dysfunctional layout of their physical environment — the separation of land uses; the physical disconnect between houses, offices and stores built in pods; the stringing of those pods along feeder and arterial roads — that they take it forgranted. Like the air they breathe, they cannot see it. If they cannot see it, they cannot question the absurdity of it.
I’ve written about the “disconnected” nature of contemporary development patterns in the abstract, but I’m not sure if readers understood what I was driving at. Therefore, I’ve devoted my latest e-zine column to rendering the abstract in concrete terms, illustrating with words, maps and photos how pod-style development contributes to traffic congestion in western Henrico County. Read “Pod People.”
