There’s a series of articles in the Journal Star this week focusing on gas and oil prices. Yesterday’s was pretty good. It talked about the reasons oil prices are going up: increased demand due to China’s industrialization and America’s insatiable consumption, plus the lack of new oil drilling or other measures that could increase supply. It even explained “peak oil.”
One thing it failed to mention about consumption, however, is how city planning contributes to Americans’ need to drive everywhere. As I mentioned in a previous post, Peoria has grown from just over 13 square miles to about 44 square miles in the past fifty years, with very little population growth. If you look at how that new area is organized, you’ll find that it’s split up by type of zoning. For the most part, residential houses are grouped together, office parks are grouped together, and retail is set off by itself, with roads connecting all these pockets.
If you want to get anywhere, you have to drive. If you want to go to the store, it’s a five- to ten-minute drive. Doctor’s office — same thing. Heck, if you’re already at the Shoppes at Grand Prairie — let’s say you’re eating at Famous Dave’s — and you want to see a movie at Rave, you have to get in your car and drive across the parking lot!
If kids want to spend some of their allowance, can they just hop on their bikes and go to the mall? Not without taking their lives in their hands. Nope, Mom or Dad has to drive them. If elderly people who can’t drive anymore, but can walk just fine want to go out to a movie or something, can they get there without someone driving them? No.
Our city is not unique. Sprawl is the rule in America. And it’s a big reason why there’s so much consumption of gasoline. If cities were denser, with more mixed use, we could cut down on a lot of consumption. It’s not something that can be accomplished overnight, but there are steps that can be taken.
In Peoria, the Duany “Heart of Peoria” plan is an excellent example of what can be done to make city life less dependent on automobiles — or at least less dependent on long car rides to basic services like groceries.