Talk:Kunstler, James H.
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Reactions to Home from Nowhere: Remaking Our Everyday World for the 21st Century
Chapter 1 'Who we are'
James Howard Kunstler states some bold acquisitions in this book, especially in the first chapter of the book when he claims America is unhappy. Why would he go to such an extreme to say why the entire country is unhappy and in other words living a fake life? Because all of it makes sense. Our country does have certain aspects that try make reality a fantasy; like Disney World or “theme parks.” Our country does know what to care about and what not to. People want things that look nice, feel pleasant and require no care what so ever. People in our country are still looking for the “American Dream,” as Kunstler states it. The American Dream is a farfetched fantasy world that everyone looks forward to achieving one day. -Brennan Laudal
James H. Kunstler makes a lot of negative comments about the world and where it came from and where it is headed. The American dream speaks about is nothing as he describes. American are self motivated and that’s what makes us a unique Country. He describes our dwellings as either a cabin in the woods or a manor in the park. i feel that there is many other options today, really he oversimplified an important aspect of our culture as a whole. -aaron traxler
Kunstler first states his definition of unhappiness, then states that the United States is in this clown-filled state. He thinks that we have grown to hate the things that are suppose to make our life happy. For example, the way people percieve cities is grotesque and lacks substance in history. He goes on to state that we as Americans are living in a false sense of reality, and we all are blinded by it. He also states that we are too blinded by the prestige of the American dream to realize that we are not living it. My reaction to this chapter is that he does make some very valid points, but he doesn't remember all the facts. His perception of happiness and a perfect world is a world full of people who just do fine arts, build magnificent buildings, and do it at the expence of nothing. If this is so true than why as a country do we have people climbing fences to get in? He states equality and the "American Dream" as being a hoax. He forgets that the people that came over, all started from nothing, but their knowledge of their own profession. That is almost the definition of equality. He also forgets that his dream of publishing a book that ridicules his own nation, isn't legal in many other countries. In conclusion, I think he makes very good small points, then blows them up so the reader forgets about the other perspective. Another side note is that I thought his name seemed really familiar somehow, so I researched his name. Where I remember him is from an artice he wrote that said that Y2K was going to happen and he predicted the stock marketing crashing when it reached a record high. He's obviously very credible to be reading his works. -Kyle Finneman
I was very surprised to see the book take a turn so fast as to make us Americans as never happy. He has a way of looking at things through pessimistic eyes. It made me really think when he was describing Disney Land and how it was affected in the United States versus what happened in areas such as Paris. It seems that we are viewed and belittled by the shear amount of happiness. I think things that we do and traditions that we create make us a fun nation. We know what pleases us and we have created these places to entertain us. I believe that we are living the American Dream and that it is not fake and something that we are still striving for. Now tell me why so many of us are successful and have so much faith in the country??? And also why would we be people who would start the constitution, "We the people of the United States....." --Emily Wangstad--
James Kunstler begins the chapter by explaining how we live in an artificial, cartoon, clown-like world and we’re not even aware of it. He believes people want their fantasies to become a reality and will not be happy until they do. There are fantasy worlds around America, such as Disneyland, that people enjoy going to escape the confinements of their everyday life. He makes it sound like we live in a type of zombie nation with the same old routine. No one person can change this stuff overnight. This author likes to jump back and forth and not always stick to his facts. Although he makes some decent points, I don’t see him doing much of anything about the problem. I think he's looking too much at individual points and not integrating them together. -matt kaczmarek
Although the U.S. is the wealthiest nation in the history of the world, us indviduals are still very uhappy according to James Kunstler. Kunstler portraits the human population as clowns in the way that we dress, move, design, and the activities that we partake in. This is interesting insight and I believe his accusations to be amusing and have some truth. We try to be happy people but in the end we are just living to die, "Bang You're dead!" as Kunstler has said. James Thell
If we really are just living in a clownlike, unreal environment, then why doesn't the author try to do something about it instead of just writing about how America is so terrible? I can bet that he dresses and acts the same as everyone else, but then goes on to write this book about how we are all unhappy in America and are living in a false reality created by us because we don't really know what we want and can't make ourselves happy. If there really was no American Dream, then why does everyone talk to much about it and why do so many people risk their lives to come to America, both then and now, in hopes of living that American Dream? I know for one my ancestors came to live this American Dream and thought they succeeded at it. They did not create a fantasy that they never saw come true and didn't spend their whole lives in complete unhappiness. -Charisse Narragon
This chapter is a serious literary hook filled with bold, and sometimes scathing, remarks about history, the American economy, and the post-modernist society in which we live. The first important point to remember about this book is Kunstler’s depiction of history. “History doesn’t care whether nations rise or fall. History is merciless and life is tragic,” (p.21). Delving into this topic further, the author points out that America seems to have bucked the trend of history that all other major civilizations have followed and promulgated its own unique societal trends. Our history, according to Kunstler, is a history that progressing towards creating a more and more imaginary environment, devoid of real, life-sustaining content. This chapter probably produces the most controversy in the book, but it also sets the stage for learning because thought is wrapped around societal problems with an entirely new arsenal of logic and “reason.” -D.S.
Chapter 2 'The public realm and the common good'
The second chapter, “The Public Realm and The Common Good,” exemplifies how we as landscape architects can satisfy people by substituting their own public realm, such as the Disney Corporation successfully did. As designers, we have the opportunity to communicate with the public realm more effectively with processes such as a decorative wall or column. Traditionally designers use a blank brick wall which incorporates that the person who built it, didn’t care about what was on the outside of the building. Basically what chapter two boils down to is that overall, our cities or better yet, the country’s common good is out of whack and until it is reunited to its proper state, the public realm will continue to suffer. -Brennan Laudal
The author describes the public realm as an entity that every one can use. Everyone follows the same rules and gets treated equally. His comments and in depth discussion of the race and politics section was a waste of time. It is almost as if the author blames every design flaw and social flaw on our countries past wars. Designers will continue to design in a way that reflets the ecomomy. I don't think that the author has a real concept on how the economy works. -Aaron Traxler
The public realm I believe is what we make it to be. He says that the United States has a poor public realm and countries like France have high ones, so France doesn't need to make false realms like Walt Disney World. I think that public realm is what you make of it. If you want to experience a higher puclic realm, you can drive through a rich neighborhood or take stroll on the countryside. I believe that yes we can improve some already existing things, and I believe it is already happening, but it takes time and money, which a lot of people don't have. He blames drugs, violence, and noise for the lack of people living in the cities, but I blame reasons like privacy and not being able to play catch in you backyard. I believe you have to make your public realm what you want it to be... If you want to look at all the negative aspects your view of the public realm will be negative. -Kyle Finneman
The public realm to me is a way of communicating back to your country as to how the civilization works. It takes a full community to commmunicate and discuss things for others to happen. It seems more helpful when you have more brains thinking together than a bunch thinking alone. I think that the false areas that we have created give us the imagination that it takes to make a country think about what they have and what they can create. If you think of all the things that have been created by man and alone in the country and where we started at Columbus time till now, through our false realms we have become successful. There was also an understatement of how the architecture and land affect our places and lives. I think that this is more important into our life as we can communicate upon these terms. Beyond all of this, it is important to our country that we have provided fake realms of the like and I believe that these realms have created what we would like them to be. It seems that there is more controversy on the poor opinions of these realms, but you always will find bad in good and good in bad. This creates the viscious circle. --Emily Wangstad--
Chapter two describes how the public realm is supposed to belong to everybody as well as treat them equally. Just because everyone should be treated equally doesn’t give me the impression that they want to live the same lives. A blank brick wall on a building doesn’t necessarily give off the impression that pedestrians outside of it are not cared about. There could possibly be the issue of cost and time. Not everyone has the ability to change things overnight. If you look at where this country started back with the settlers, it took a lot of time and patience to get to where we are today. -matt kaczmarek
In chapter two, the author talks about the public realm and how it belongs to everyone and that each person has an equal right to that public realm. The author talks about how the public realm in the cities isn't good enough and that prevents people from living in the city. I personally don't have any desire to live in the city and that is because I enjoy my open space and privacy. I live to go visit the cities and explore their public realm and wouldn't if they were such horrible places like the author says, but I don't live in the city because I don't want my neighbor's yard 10 feet way from mine. The author also talks about how the public realm is so horrible and that a blank wall isn't good enough. Someone should remind the author that people do not always have the time and money to put up a nice, fancy wall and that that blank wall might actually be an improvement to the public realm by blocking the horrible view behind it. -Charisse Narragon
The opening story of this chapter explains why EuroDisney has failed, as opposed to its American counterparts that are incredibly successful. I think this a great opening line of thought because whole new avenues of thinking and questioning can be derived from this circumstance. The first question that came to my mind was: “what other things do we find exciting here in America that the rest of the world would find shameful or contrived?” Unfortunately Kunstler does not continue down this track of thinking for much longer, which I feel damages the book. Regardless, the next progression of ideas comes from a sociological analysis of the Civil War and its effect on our cities today. I found the history lesson exhaustive, because I understood the history well previously, but it was necessary to tie the history into today’s effects. Also it must be kept in mind that many Americans don’t pay attention to U.S. History while in high school. If this non-historically educated sect of Americans is expected to participate in a social-architectural movement to improve our cities, then increasing their social-historical knowledge is a must. -D.S.
Kunstler goes on to say that our everyday places in which we live and go about daily activity is so mediocre that Disney World seems to splendid. Highway strips, malls, offices, parks, and the automobiles we rely on are subpar in design and architecture. Kunstler's negative attitude towards the world in general is becoming know, and his opinions on design aspects and the environments we live in are very negative. "Our task is to make them(American Cities) worthy, to reconstruct them in a physical form that is worth caring about, and to reinhabit them." (57) Change is needed in the future, etc etc James Thell
Chapter 3 'Car crazy'
Chapter three is a biased chapter which basically states that we should not have cars and just like everyone else, they claim that pollution is going to eventually destroy the U.S. Personally, without cars and transportation, we wouldn’t be nearly where we are today in our economy. Electric cars are here today but will have no impact on the U.S. for several years to come. Because like Kunstler states it, “no one cares!” I am not saying I want to pollute the landscapes I design or the nature that surrounds the earth, but there is no life without cars. Besides the point, as Kunstler says, “how are cars going to change the public realm and the common good, no person will pay the heavy price!” -Brennan Laudal
In this chapter he says how no one like to hear numbers and statistics, including himself about the polluion in the world. yet he goes on to exsplain them all. He lost credibility there from me. Come on Aaron spell check is a very easy tool to use. -Aaron Traxler
One thing that stood our to me firstmost was the facts on what a car represented to people around the depression. It showed them hope that they could make another start. It still stands to be a status today. You can tell when someone drives a nicer vehicle that they have more room in their paycheck to afford it, where as other vehicles are hardly passed as driveable. If we did not have this diversity, where would we be. Being as different as we are from one another, this extreme is surpassed by the author. We like to try new things and be the first to do so. This is a field in which we can advance. We have many opportunities to make life better and create a nicer and better noticed public realm. This seems to be an overall concept of the book is creating the places that we want from the ones that are needed and already created. It is how we created what we need and then worked to create what we want. --Emily Wangstad--
Chapter three tries to mainly point out that once the automobile was invented, which is brought up in the first three chapters, the city life in America deteriorated and became unpleasant. After finding out the pollution effects it can have the environment there have been and still are many improvements being made to lower the impact on the atmosphere. Here’s just another guy who didn’t get enough attention as a child and has to let everyone know what he thinks. Everything he says is wrong, but he doesn’t have a whole lot of positives to bring to the table. -matt kaczmarek
In chapter 3, the author only decides to state one side. I agree that cars produce alot of pollution and other negative impacts on the earth, but they have also brought about many positive changes. Without cars, people wouldn't be able to live anywhere they want, in better public realms, and still be able to get to work everyday. If people couldn't get to work everyday, then they wouldn't have enough money to improve their public realms. So, a little reminder to the author, if you are going to start and argument, then you better address both sides and come up with some good reasons that the other side is wrong, not just get on your soapbox and declare to the world that cars are horrible things that pollute the environment and destroy the earth. Since we have learned that cars pollute the environment, there have been many changes to improve cars and if he really wants to know who causes the most pollution in the world, then he should look somewhere other than at cars. -Charisse Narragon
What this chapter exposes is the degree at which Americans lack foresight. The emergence of the car is also a satirical look at how Americans no longer clearly distinguish wants from needs. Maybe the car would be looked at more romantically the way it is in Europe, as opposed to being looked at as a necessity here in America if affordability was never achieved with the production process. But what also is addressed, which I think is necessary in a debate about cars and fuel, is that electric cars are not necessarily feasible, cost-efficient, or environmentally friendly. This is mostly because they still need fossil fuels to be burned in order for their batteries to be charged. But the other most important fact why electric cars will not help the environment is that they still require roads and they still produce sprawl. This should be seen as a larger threat to habitat deterioration than air quality issues, now that recent Clear-Air movements have started to address emissions problems. -D.S.
I believe that Kunster is once again one sided on how he views automobiles. If he feels that they are so unnecessary and demeaning, than why does he drive one. He knows all the stats and "numbers" yet I'd like it for him to give up this "nuisance". Also I believe to think that automobiles are to have a durastic decline in use in twenty years is crazy because even though gas has tripled in price the last 10 years, people have felt that it is a necessity to have, so they still spend the money to drive their vehicles. Kyle Finneman
"Auto Age" cars are everywhere and in the future there will continue to be more and more of them. The way that we rely on the automobile to do everyday tasks leads to the belief that aliens or robots will soon take over the world. Today freedom is viewed as whatever makes you happy is okay. When is too much freedom too much? Statistics and the number game is present but it is apparent that the majority of americans dont care. An example being pollution with everyone driving gas guzzlers and large vehicles that produce large amounts of pollution. Americans are taking the turn your head the other way philosophy and don't care about a certain problem until it affects them. James Thell
Chapter 4 'Charm'
Basically (only Brennan would say Basically, yeah that's basically brennan for you), I am getting the feeling that America can be viewed by spoiled rich kids and strip malls. Americans are mostly lazy, trashy and do whatever seems the easiest and quickest. I will agree with his comments on why we like to go out into the country. The country being the fresh air, the nature surrounding you, the pleasant views and not having a care in the world. He does make in interesting point in that the places we live and work are composed of dead patterns. Those places that connect us with the rest of the world not allowing us to break apart from the norm. The main aspect I learned from this chapter is that people have to learn to care in order to change our habits around. Dreadful looking buildings, trashy cities and lazy people can still be changed around to make our world a better place. -Brennan Laudal
My general reaction to Kunstler chapter is that he makes some really good points, but he again takes it too far. Name-calling and over-generalization I believe is very unnecessary. We as Americans have a problem with over-indulging ourselves in things that morale, physically, and mentally are hurting us, but he makes it sound like everyone has all of the problems he listed. Another smaller point, but a point I like is when he talks about a typical house. I think more thought should be put into the dimensions and placement of things on houses, and some of the older techniques once used. --Kyle Finneman
As in the first three chapters, there are many things that I enjoyed reading about and many that I did not enjoy. Kunstler always seems to relate everything back to us as people living in a fantasy world. He claims that we don't think about what we do and how we are polluting. Pollution in his mind is not just cars and paper plants, but even down to the pesticide that we put on our roses and other plant life. I feel as if he is trying to simplify our lives and help us to learn how to better our life through efficientcy. The claim is that we used to be charming and beautiful. I think that we are similiar to this now as well. I think people just don't see what we have. Of course we have overdone some things, but other places in the landscape show this charm. Emily Wangstad
An important point this chapter explains is that when we were a “less wealthy” nation things were built to last and everything held a significant meaning. Many of today’s houses are just thrown up together as fast as possible with two-by-fours and sheetrock and are usually not built to last, which would have seemed wrong back in the day. By doing this to other buildings such as strip malls or community areas we take away the connection from the inside and outside. There are no windows that link things to create a whole and do not generate elements and activities that attract people. –matt kaczmarek
As Brennan says, if all James Kunstler thinks is that America is a place of rich kids and strip malls, then I believe that he needs to look at America again. Someone should tell him to visit small town America, not just Hollywood and the places we see on television shows. Small town America will show Kunstler that the things he says are missing and wrong about America still exist if he looks for them. Things are built to last and people take pride in what they do in small towns. Not all of America is what he claims it is, so the overgeneralization he states constantly is offending to most people and he should look again before writing such things or at least say that not everyone in America is like this. -Charisse Narragon
Once again, I am disappointed with many of the claims this author makes in this first chapter. Kunsler speaks of design life as if he as it all figured out. Ripping of American cultural history will not solve the problems. As designers, constructors and consumers we are at the mercy of the materials available as well as nature. Later he proceeds to talk about how American editors depict certain societies in our social classes. His references to American contemporary style kitchens, I thought was way off. I personally think that the kitchen that he describes is great and if you work hard you should be able to have what ever you want. That is what living in America is all about. We are our individual selves. Aaron Traxler
The chapter covers the topic of charm, but not in a way that one would normally think. When people outside the sphere of design thought talk about charm the words used are usually cute, quaint, picturesque, and endearing. But when put into the jargon of architecture we translate the adjectives into the words contextual, proportionate, warm, and inviting. But why is this? Kunstler tries to point out to us that there is a systematic governing system that helps bring out the charm in places. In terms of proportioning the governing principle, or measurement for that matter, is the golden section. This ratio is observed often in nature, and especially in things that have been universally accepted as “beautiful.” But other types of proportioning are included as well, such as the psychological effect the orientation of housing windows have on people. Lastly, I will say that I am grateful this chapter did not dwell any more on cars in America than it had to. -Derek Seifert
"Much of what we esteem as life-enhancing and pleasure-giving tends toward the childishly self-destructive: fast cars, goopy microwaved cheese snacks, prolonged television viewing, compulsive shoping, playing with guns, heaving drinking, kinky sex, to name a few." This quote sums up my life perfectly, but to stereotype a culture such as ours like this is wrong. There is a very diverse culture in America and us Americans can be viewed in many different ways. The author, Kuntsler, has his mind set that the nation consists of overfed clowns, crybabies, slackers, deadbeats, whores, crooks, and sadists, which is true through his eyes as well as others. I think this can be shown everywhere throughout the world, but this stereotype of a human being good or bad leads me to believe that sometimes the truth does hurt. James Thell
Chapter 5 'Creating Someplace'
I like his discussion with zoning. Many people do not understand zoning and those that do disagree with it. Kunstler’s short lesson in civic art is a great perspective on planning or designing neighborhoods. The six areas he explains tend to be the main factors when designing neighborhoods. They all play important roles in the correct design decisions that need to be made. Basically, today’s zoning laws and restrictions are more complex yet give properties larger lots and restrictions. -Brennan Laudal
Since I am going to be a designer, I think his viewes on zoning are good ones... they need to be thrown out. That gives the world more of a need of designers to build the houses and businesses they want. A lot of times city code and zoning prohibits people to do what they want to do. Logically though, zoning and codes help the infrastructure of a city. It also prevents small houses to be "pollutioned" out by large industrial buildings. It helps the safety of pedestrians and drivers. --Kyle Finneman
I really enjoy how unconventional Kunster is. He wants to throw out zoning codes and master plans. A result to all of the zoning that is going on is suburban sprawl. Or you can call it Cookie Cutter Houses. They all look the same. There are many streets throughout the US that show historical value. This is one thing that I am more interested in. It is really neat to find out more about how a city came to be, than to see a skyscraper world. Even when the highway systems are installed, it cuts into peoples yards and forces them out only to creat more commercial businesses. We are slowly losing all of our beautiful places and historical values by all of our zoning codes. The title of the chapter says Creating Someplace. We want to design and create places that people will want to visit, not just pass through. Emily Wangstad
Zoning can have its advantages and disadvantages. They can set a real restriction on how a community functions such as placing a supermarket where residents are out of walking distance. It is almost as if the city has given you a set of Lincoln logs and you are only able to construct the buildings using the instructions in the box. Although some zoning laws are not always functional, there are some that can create a safe environment. One important point is that new zoning laws do not allow alleys, which is able to hide the dominating garage door and allow the house to be the more distinguished feature. –matt kaczmarek
Yup, great idea, lets just throw out all the zoning laws, they aren't doing anything useful anyways! (yes, I'm being sarcastic) I guess maybe I have a different perspective since my Dad works in zoning and building inspecting, but there are a reasons for zoning laws. Some of the laws may be outdated and need to be revised, but without zoning laws, you could be living right next to a huge, noisy, polluting factory that was built after you bought your beautiful residential lot. So much for residential neighborhoods anymore without zoning laws! Yup, lets just throw them out and let anyone build anything and everything where ever they want. All that would lead to would be cities that no one would want to live in because of neighborhood sprawl, uncontained industrial areas, and no green space for anyone to enjoy. Sounds like a wonderful place to live to me. -Charisse Narragon
Wow! Kunstler finally made a notable statement about planning and zoning. Yes I agree with him on certain things about our current thinking and strategies on zoning. Not all developments truly meet their max potential. Like wise, the zoning that some city planner, who has no real concept on design, may miss the whole zoning concept how we, as designers see it. One major fact that we all forget, it is not us, the designers that control the economies logic. There are certain tested practices that have taken hundreds of years to develop, that simply put, just work. You would be a fool to place any low-income housing project next to a luxury development. I have seen it done a few times and the developers nearly went broke. Aaron Traxler
How do we create somewhere? This is the question that is apparently answered by this chapter. Although I agree that certain ways of organizing cities will always work, what I am afraid of is that too many places will end up looking the same according to New Urbanism. New Urbanism by itself is not a problem, for it seeks to address many of the problems our current cities have, but the problem lies in the fact that its precepts appear to imply standardization is needed. I know true New Urbanists seek to build their communities contextually. However, in order to convince many people to adopt the ideas about restructuring our cities, the aim of New Urbanism has to be a very regionally specific way of solving problems, as opposed to a “system” that is based off of the successes of other places. -Derek Seifert
Zoning laws are not needed. Most have been in place since WW II. I believe, as with anything, zoning laws and regulations can be both benefical as well as frustrating and stupid. Example being mowing the lawn, sure you have all done it before, I want to know where my yard ends and the neighbors starts, there is no need to mow his lawn! Zoning! Kunstler believes that as a society we should agree on a model of good development. This is a valid point as these communities that are to be designed will grow and change, and the input of the people could be benefical to a point. This being said not everyone is a designer and the idea of many people working together and formulating ideas that don't deal with design can tend to be very kaotic and unorganized and a headache for the developer and those involved. James Thell
Chapter 6 'Beyond Seaside'
Kunstler states, “Buildings must be used to define public space, and that a public realm of quality makes the difference between a real town and a mere housing development.” I feel that this statement summarizes this entire chapter because there is supporting evidence on why cities and towns are the way they are. He gives several good examples from Ohio to New York, but they all fall in same distinction as the statement listed above. -Brennan Laudal
Kunstler first goes over one good example, then a bunch of bad examples of places. I agree with him for the most part. He seems to be well traveled, and knows what works in a development. The place called "Seaside" which was relevantly cheap until it was established as a successful develop. I think what he is trying to prove is that if we do build establishments like this, even though they may be cheap and undesirable at first they will become successful. --Kyle Finneman
Within this chapter, the author starts out communicating to us about a town that was produced called Seaside. It ties along with Chapter 5 on historical places and suburban sprawl. What was interesting was his view on how cities were developed poorly versus his example which was a smooth operation. He has many bold arguments on how development is supposed to be run. As usual we are out of order in Kunstler's eyes. We need to be simple, therefore successful. Emily Wangstad
This chapter is looking at the fact that even though there have been some cheap and non-desirable developments being developed they can, over time, become very successful. Some of these basic developments might not be extraordinary, but if they are built to human scale and have a defined function then it might just take time and nature to turn it into a real community. –matt kaczmarek
This chapter to me sounds like a recipe on how to take bad developments and make them good. I guess we should just find the mayors of these "bad" places and call them up and give them Kunstler's book and tell them to read chapter 5 and than follow his orders, and poof, they will have a wonderful place to live! Just a thought, has he ever tried to turn a development around himself? He has some really good arguments, but I would like to see an example of what he did himself and see just how easy it is and then, sure, lets all just follow his example. Before you preach, show me you have done it yourself and know what you are talking about, teach me your experience, not your thoughts. -Charisse Narragon
Current trends to digress from a suburban environment are commendable, in that we do need to conceive some notion of environmentally sound inhabitance. The market however will not just change over night. I agree with kunstler on the ingenious of the Short North infill development. Yet, that was just one example. Yes there may be many knock offs but these so-called knock offs are driven once again, by the markets. So to say everyone that is designing similar developments is wrong, you just aren’t seeing the financial feasibility of the big picture. Not to mention with modern mobility and job circumstances, people are not likely to stay in one place like past generations. Therefore places need to change and adapt. Aaron Traxler
This chapter does not appear to have an over-arching theme to it, and maybe that is a good thing since the last few chapters were so heavily focused on one particular idea. Here Kunstler tries to introduce success stories from around the country. These success stories are meant to show that changing the landscape of our urban monstrosities is possible, and to show that as with anything worth while, it will take time and a lot of effort. The redevelopment of Providence is a perfect example for designers, concerned citizens, and Americans in general to read about. This city once had the prominence of Boston and New Haven, Connecticut, at least to those from the East Coast who have likely experienced Providence. However, years of neglect and the detrimental effects of a car culture totally interrupted the flow of the functioning downtown. We as Americans need to acknowledge that this type of detrimental effect that cars have on out cities could grow worse if we let it. As Fargo grows, the city should learn a lot about how to keep the influence of cars in downtown from growing. -Derek Seifert
Urban sprawl is no good in Kunstler's eyes as it does not bring people together, instead it leaves them isolated. With small communities being replaced with "atuomobile suburbs" lots of money has been wasted in transit, the many miles driven to get from one place to another, and the hours spent in traffic, goes to show that vehicular transportation is the main focus throughout many of our american communities. This notion that americans are conformists and followers is displayed at the end of the chapter, when Kunstler says "Americans are so lost when it comes to the real issues of community and place that it seems they can be gulled by just about any lame come-on. This shows the lack of diversity and general knowledge as americans that when anything good or bad comes along there are many, many people jumping on the bandwagon. Rant & Rave I am Kunstler. James Thell
Chapter 7 A Mercifully Brief Chapter on a Frightening, Tedious, But Important Subject
I read the name of this chapter countless times and had yet to read the chapter. Once I found what is was all about, it is a tedious subject. However, in many peoples eyes it is extremely important. I agree totally with Kunstler this time in that when taxing a house they don't tax the property, only the built environment. This can be frusterating for some people who would have a lower tax on their property, but their house is viewed as being more valuable. The more valuable the house is, the higher the taxes. I am partial on property tax because I live on a lake, which is really high taxes for the area we are in. Kunstler brings up many interesting parts of the taxes, and coming up with a solution that was invented many many years ago. I think we all complain about it, yet no one has done what Henry George did so long ago. Finding a way to lower taxes is a problem with all presidential candidates and we should pay more attention to this when selecting a new president or any other politician. ~Emily Wangstad
Well, as this chapter was briefer than his other chapters, I do not know that it was actually a "mercifully brief" chapter on a "frightenng, tedious, but important subject". I do happen to agree with Kunstler for the first time since I started reading his book. Property taxes should be based on the value of your house, not the value of the land, which should be uniform throughout the whole area. If you have enough money to build a really expensive and large house, then you have enough money to pay for higher taxes and vice versa. Also, if Kunstler really wants anyone to listen on his ideas about how our current property tax system rewards the people who let their buildings become rundown and vacant and hurts those who want to build deciently, then maybe he should put a positive spin on what he says so people actually want to listen to him instead of just shutting his book. -Charisse Narragn
This chapter of Kunstler's I agree to the most. He states the reason why many old buildings, in much need of care, are not rebuilt, because of taxes. Taxes reward decay, not rebuilding. I think that is the simpliest way to put it. I believe increasing tax on property would be good. I think it would help decrease sprawl, and houses with huge unnecessary back or front yards. In Fargo, for instance, a person could make more money with a parking lot then restoring a four story tall building, and putting a business in it. Even though Kunstler says that we should install the Georgian tax system into our government, I think it would never happen, because their would be chaos for years and years to come. -Kyle Finneman
The topic in this chapter that we seem to discuss all of the time with guilt is taxes. Although I thought this would be the worst chapter in this book, it was actually very interesting. Kunstler brings up several good discussions such as he states, “A rational person has every reason to put up crappy buildings that will not be highly assessed, or he has every reason to let his property run down, or build nothing at all. This is the major reason for the current desolation of American towns and cities.” The most important statement I have read in this book thus far is his idea to simply tax the land itself and not the buildings on it. I have had several experiences on projects where people have backed down due to this issue. It is a topic that could be comprised in today’s society, but what is the proper way to do it? That’s the question everyone seems to get stuck on. -Brennan Laudal
This section of reading follows one recurring theme: our government is hell-bent on making life miserably for the peons. Even if we the citizens try to take control of our country back, the government has built up very strategic hindrances. The first assault upon logical design that Kunstler speaks about is property taxation. To be quite blunt, and perfectly honest, this chapter finally opened my eyes to the crap that the society we live in is portraying. I always knew there was something wrong about our cities, and that there was something wrong which was preventing correct growth. Now I know what that thing is. Why do we continue to tax buildings in addition to the land itself? Why are the taxes for the building so much higher than the raw undeveloped land? The situation that is created by the current property tax system is that many investors are able to acquire land, however, very few times are there enough funds in order to pay for the development of the idealistic buildings that could be put on that site. If we want to succeed as a society, we need to remove the barriers for quality development, but still maintain the barriers for acquiring the locations to develop. -Derek Seifert
Property taxes suck! The system is very confusing, and this subject is one many property owners despise/dont understand. The thing that comes to mind for me is lakefront property. Everyone is building large new "cabins" and the property tax on the lake is skyrocketing. whereas a family that owns a small cabin with minimal lakeshore property, the increase is sure to be very noticeable. Although the value of the land and property goes up who cares, in most cases its been a family cabin in the family for years and its main purpose is self enjoyement, not a mansion get-a-way one time a year. So Kunstler's idea of taxing the land instead of the building seems to come into play here. It will force those with large properties to accomidate these buildings to be taxed appropriately and the same as the burger joint with a large parking lot and small building. This will discourage "holding cost" and free up certain areas for redevelopment that werent previously available. James Thell
Chapter 8 Remodeling Hell
Our distressed cities are the consequence of out poor design in urban sprawl. Kunstler makes many complaints on how nothing was built that was of any value during the sprawl of cities. He would rather see the revitalization of historical entities rather than newer things. Bringing back the old and enhancing what was there to make it a well thought out design. I realize that many things that are being designed have no significance to the originality that makes America unique. Kunstler states that we do as we are told. This makes me think of the shoe box neighborhoods that any architect SHOULD hate. If we change these plans and create integrated cities that move together and smooth out problems, then we have create the unity needed to create a place whether it be a town or a city or even a home in the country. ~Emily Wangstad~
So, maybe Kunstler should do like his idol in this chapter and start traveling the world shouting his ideas from the rooftops on how to make America "nice" again. Maybe people would get used to the way he puts down everything and get past his negative attitude and listen to what he has to say. Andres Duany's "great insight" on how to revitalize America was to "change the instructions" on how people should build because they don't think for themselves anyway, they just do whatever people tell them to do. Well, then we will just all do what Kunstler tells us to do and the cities and all of America will be a great place to live (I hope everyone is catching the sarcasm). -Charisse Narragon
I like the basic conception that business is a big jungle and sometimes people do get really lost. Until you make that plunge into the real world, you business experiences are wild and usually not beneficial. With that in mind, he gives a great example of his friend Dan Cary and how was lost in the jungle and after some more schooling and several different experiences, he came up with a perfect solution of an “Eco-village.” -Brennan Laudal
The second barrier to development comes from the insurance industry. The story of Dan Cary is a tragic one in the history of development in Florida. Here was a man that sincerely cared about his state and did everything in his power to be a force that prevented poor design from continuing. As tragic as Hurricane Andrew was, it did present an opportunity replenish South Florida, but what happened? The insurance companies came in and decided that insuring new development wasn’t worth their time. Essentially all that happened was that the previous infrastructure was rebuilt, in the exact same locations, and the same arrangements. Also Dan Cary’s Treasure Coast Planning Council was stripped of all of its power by the Florida legislature, preventing all future power by the government to advise and forcibly direct development. Does our society/government truly wish to kill itself? Do we have no hope for the future? I am starting to wonder whether the generations above us want their way of life to pass on or not. It’s possible that they don’t. -Derek Seifert
There is a big difference between well designed towns that have a good mix of churches, buisness, parks, and restaurantes VS. a town where activity isnt encouraged, people dont move around, there isnt a very close knit community, and it has the feeling that you arent suppose to live their for long periods of time. James Thell
Chapter 9 A City in the Country
The first thing that I wrote when summarizing this chapter is building a park across from a park. I see no problem with this and proceed to get aggravated while reading this chapter. Personally being green oriented, I would rather see a place to interact with nature and with other people, rather than to build a structure that has no significance. I do however feel that if this area used to have historical artifact buildings, that they should try to capture the views and feelings from that time. It is always an arguement within the urban sprawl that there is nothing to do with the city. It is as if the city has grown into the country and lost its identity. The identity of a city is what makes it a city. You can remeber and reminese the area and what made it different. If we build the same thing over and over, all of our cities will be the same without feeling and without identity. ~Emily Wangstad~
Well, according to Kunstler, building a park isn't a good idea either. Pretty sure this guy thinks that anything that anyone else does is all wrong and that he is the only one who has any idea on how to build a city. Hey, I guess all we need to do is pave over all the parks that are in a close vacinity to other parks and create great libraries and museums instead because that will solve all of the problems in the city. I never was able to figure out what the title of the chapter, "a city in the country" had to d with what Kunstler was writing about because he spent most of this chapter telling us how they triumphed over a guy who wanted to build an office park and got a mayor fired in the process. Hey, I guess this book is also a handbook on how to guy polititions and small town mayors fired. I agree with not needing to build office parks everywhere, but people also need offices and there has to be a better compromise than to get the town and court involved and get someone fired. -Charisse Narragon
This was another great chapter; something is wrong because I have said that about the two prior chapters also. I enjoyed reading this chapter because everything Kunstler states is actually true about how urban design or city planning is conducted today. If you were to take aerial photographs of pretty much any city, you would see a lot of open spaces or blank spaces. They usually tend to be huge parking lots or small parks. Why aren’t some or if not all of these capitalized to make the city more sustainable or perhaps usable. One great example is our Winnipeg project. There is so much open and usable spaces that are simply parking lots or dirt areas. We have the chance to enhance Winnipeg by efficiently designing the site so it’s more sustainable and usable. -Brennan Laudal
The final way that society has been structured to prevent logical design solutions is through the courts. Thankfully, in the case of Saratoga Springs, New York, a poor design initiative was prevented by a City Council decision. However, excruciating pain, strife, and effort on the part of the citizens, as well as an Act of God, was required to produce the 2-3 decision that failed to approve the project. This is one instance where the citizens succeeded, but how many other times do communities fight and the City Council caves in to the monetary coffers of the developers? I can think of at least 1 major situation, the building of the World Headquarters of Best Buy in Bloomington, Minnesota. If we continue to let the government, the courts, and the insurance companies gang up as one unit that is self-serving, then we will no longer be citizens of a great country, but rather hamsters in a cage that government uses for testing all of its insipid ideas upon. -Derek Seifert
Chapter 10 Farmer
In chapter nine he mainly discusses on how the rural landscape is turning to dairy farms due to the corruption of the soils in today’s farming culture. I totally disagree with his statements in this chapter. At least where I am from, the farming is still going strong and there are hardly any dairy farms to be found. People say it’s the area we are in due to Lake Agassiz’s rich nutrients. I think it is the farmer’s decision to still chooses to put several different crops in the fields and not turning them into grazing land or CRP fields. On the other hand, I think it is neat on how his friends bought the land and then turned into such a successful farm. We deal a lot with surface and ditch drainage and it’s interesting on how Steve dealt with his drainage problems he faced. -Brennan Laudal
So now Kunstler is a farmer? Does he know anything about farming? I agree with Brennan about the fact that people are not just turnig to dairy farming when the screw up the soil and I am from in South Central Minnesota. Yes, there is dairy farms where I live, but most dairy farmers also plant thousands of acres of crops to go along with their cows, not the other way around. Someone should inform this guy that if proper farming techniques are practiced, then the farmers actually leave the soil better each year than when they first found it and that grazing is usually bad for the land because most people overgraze and then errosion and invasive species happen to the land. Again, maybe he should know what he is talking about before he decides to write down his personal thoughts. Charisse Narragon
What I believe Kunstler is trying to say is that working for your life style choice is more than he wants to do. This mind boggles me in the fact that farmers by nature are usually hard working. He is judging farming as losing its value due to top soil being lost and herbicides becoming a problem. His result is that all the farms are going to become dairy farms. Kunstler makes an appeal to stand his ground and not support it with a real response. If we go to all dairy farming, then vegetables and other crops will go down the tubes. I personnally do not see this as being a good argument. He is from upstate New York and has no arguement over our Midwest. He claims his crops are better than ours, then where did he visit when he came here? ~Emily Wangstad~
Chapter 11 My Hometown: A Reconsideration
I thought this chapter was very interesting due to the fact it was about pedestrian walkability. Without pedestrian friendly towns, the world be in a hurt. I agree with Kunstler’s views on when he was a kid he basically traveled throughout Manhattan with only small change or by foot. How he also had the opportunity to face bigger challenges as far as the shops and stores right at his expense. I feel that all towns in the near future should be more pedestrian friendly and not so car friendly. As a matter of fact, Fargo is starting to be more concerned with walkability. In the new developments they are starting to make the sidewalks larger, have certain interest areas, and have better crosswalk areas for people to safely cross the busy streets. They are trying to get to that city life feeling with better benefits. -Brennan Laudal
Wow, so I think this chapter has the first good ideas in it that Kunstler has written. People knew when they were first developing cities that they had to be walkable, but that was because that was the only mode of transportation. Since horses and buggies and then cars became widely available, walking was seen as not the thing to do and the cities began to cater to them, not the pedestrians. It has taken us a long time, but we are finally begining to realize that walking isn't so bad after all and that more people would walk if it was possible so our cities are starting to change back again into what they once were. Charisse Narragon
When there comes a chance to experience a town that you have not been there before, it is the most fun to walk down their main street. Now, coming from Brainerd, our Main Street is not a place you want to be, but putting that aside, I feel that there are still many towns and cities out there that are well to walk around. I have been to many places recently that are very pleasing to visit. I think that if we enhance those areas that are moving towards car towns, that we need to add more green spaces and make more boulevards that are pedestrian only. Working within Winnipeg, we are willing and able to redesign and propose newer paths to connect areas to another. ~Emily Wangstad~
Chapter 12 Coda: What I Live For
There isn’t much to say about what he lives for because it is his life and what he looks forward to everyday. We all have different things we strive for in life and we will sometimes do everything in our power to achieve them. -Brennan Laudal
Exactly, and I for one have a few different ideas about what is important in my life and what I would like to accomplish. Kunstler has his ideas, everyone else has theirs. Some may be the same, but some are bound to be different and that is what makes the world work together. We can all have our own ideas and ambitions and challenge each other with those ideas.Charisse Narragon
After reading through the short last chapter, I found that Kunstler almost apolagizes in an awkward way for all of his opinions. This is what he likes to do, he likes to stir up a discussion for those reading it. I think that hearing his point of view is not wrong or painful, however, I'm not so sure that I believe in everything that he says. This is what he does, us on the other hand being influenced by this book whether we like it or not, will be Landscape architects and architects. ~Emily Wangstad~
