Here’s an interesting concept. Tearing down entire subdivisions so that a municipality may carry on. It’s not some crazy concept that may or may not occur, but in fact is happening in places like Flint Michigan.
Flint, of course, is dying economically. And while we may begin to see rotting neighborhoods in other areas, in the near future it may be a side effect of dying suburbia. Not necessarily from economic hardship, but perhaps from energy realities.
There has always been the concept that re-urbanization would occur with any energy pandemic even slightly more moderate than what we have seen in recent years. No doubt that people simply would not be able to afford to continue living lives ever outward. So much so that the suburban areas may become a rotting peripher, as opposed to inner urban turmoil we have seen in the last few decades.
Luckily this is not yet widespread. I think there would inevitably be some property rights issues at hand. Still, it is interesting to think that these are things which are occurring, and not some distant probability.
June 23rd, 2009 at
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June 24th, 2009 at
This is a problem in Detroit itself, where the city no longer has the tax base to support the infrastructure required in sparsely inhabited sections of the city. They literally can’t keep the street lights on in areas. It’s a tough problem to face. It almost requires relocating remaining residents in order to allow for the bulldozing of entire neighborhoods and returning them to grassland. The other difficulty is tracking down the owners of abandoned houses.