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Not that we have an award for something like this but this one from a few days ago would win it for sure.

William Burg on Presenting: LJ Urban’s Open Mic 8-28-08

You want to know how I sum up the difference between neighborhood activists in Citrus Heights and neighborhood activists in downtown Sacramento? The Citrus Heights variety want the city to require a citywide public vote to approve any development denser than 4 units an acre. Meanwhile, we’re pushing for mixed use and housing diversity, and get a bit weirded out at lot sizes bigger than a seventh of an acre.

People’s ideas of what constitutes good planning and good architecture varies in space as well as time. Remember that the folks on the Citrus Heights councils and boards are also residents of that city, and thus think more like the residents do in terms of what constitutes good architecture and good planning.

In a suburb, less is more: the primary appeal of suburban life is (comparatively) wide-open spaces and familiar surroundings. When density increases in a suburb, the primary selling point of the suburb gets lost. This, along with white flight, is why suburbs tend to be disposable products: once a certain density is reached, those who like suburbs the most move on to the next one.

In a city, more is more: city people want to be in a busy, engaging place, so when you add density, a city becomes more city-like, not less. This makes the city more appealing, and brings in more people who want an urban environment.

The fact is, suburban living has a strong appeal to many people. Siince the suburb has been promoted as the ideal living situation for more than a century, and it is not yet economically infeasible to build them, that appeal will take a long time to wane. And those who do find more comfort in a “less is more” housing environment will fight to protect that environment, including from city hall.

(Incidentally, have you seen the Citrus Heights city hall? It’s a mansard-roofed one-story office building stuck in between a multiplex theater and a strip mall.)

Thanks William for preaching it!

Levi