Peak Oil and the Fall of Suburbia

…One aspect of Kunstler’s work, and the one where he is on strongest ground, is the argument that the coming explosion in crude oil prices, as we pass peak oil and start descending down from the peak, is the end of Suburbia.

Of course, one reason I was so quickly persuaded by this argument is that I had already come to the same view. The 1950’s to 1970’s were Suburban Spring, the 1980’s to the Naughties have been Suburban Summer, and now we can look forward to Suburban Autumn.

Or, since I come from a northern climes with deciduous trees, the Fall of Suburbia.



Car Suburbs Came from Rail Cities and Will Give Way To … ???

I mean by “Suburbia” the Car Suburbia that has come to dominate the development of US settlement, and to a slightly lesser extent Western Europe and Australasia since the end of World War II.

I come at this with two premises:

● Any new dominant settlement system will, of course, emerge from an already existing pattern of settlement; and,

● Any new dominant settlement system will, of course, have to be able to grow into a dominant position within the context of the previous dominant system.

These two general premises will be required twice … once to understand the supplanting of the Rail City with the Car Suburb, and a next to understand what settlement systems might come to replace the Car Suburb, which is the process that creates the decline, and eventual collapse, of Car Suburbia.

Docudharma