This change will likely endure even if oil goes back down below $100/bbl and stays there for a year. It would take them that long to sell their backlog. In rural Arkansas farmers are scrambling to purchase any small aisian mini-trucks and micro-powered vehicles they can find. I suspect that a psychological barrier has been broken and it will be difficult to repair or replace said barrier. As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
I see it where I live. I see many more people on bikes and walking. It's about a mile to the main shopping center in the area from my house, and I ride my bike up to several times a day to get things I need.
The big problem is that there is no sidewalk (pavement) throughout most of the city. My mother went to a meeting yesterday about improving living conditions for the elderly and the biggest complaint was the lack of side walks, and walkable neighborhoods.
I really do think that a psychological barrier has been broken, and that there's a real desire for walkable neighborhoods and mass transit.
The question that I'd like to know the answer to though, is how does this happen.
One way is the revitalization of the urban core.
But a second method involves retrofitting suburbia. Taking larger McMansions and carving them up into multiple unit properties, and turning them into something that looks more like a traditional "town."
Now at 1500-2000 people a sq mile (586-781 per sq km) mass transit doesn't work well with the tendency of suburban planning to cul de sacs and spaghetti streets. But if double the density through carving up empty houses and reselling the unit at a lower cost, then you can start to think of this suburban divisions as residential "towns".
And once you have a decent transit system, you can locate small scale commercial stores that sell the bare essentials like food and household goods at the transit stop. Even pubs, delis, and other small scale business. And I'll give my consent to any government that does not deny a man a living wage-Billy Bragg
The question that I'd like to know the answer to though, is how does this happen. One way is the revitalization of the urban core. But a second method involves retrofitting suburbia. Taking larger McMansions and carving them up into multiple unit properties, and turning them into something that looks more like a traditional "town."
To some extent it may occur naturally. If McMansions are foreclosed and there are no new buyers for these properties as single residence dwellings, they will sit vacant unless they can be rezoned and remodeled as boarding houses or apartments or torn down and turned into neighborhood markets and services. Vandals may accelerate the process. As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
