This 'living arrangement ... has no future' when cheap gas disappears: Documentary
by CHRISTOPHER HUME in The Toronto Star
Already the cold winds of change have started to blow through the suburbs. Everywhere around us there are signs of looming catastrophe.
But as anyone who watches the upcoming television documentary The End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American Dream will see, that doesn't seem to have caused us even a moment's hesitation. If anything, we are rushing towards oblivion faster than ever.
The one-hour special, which airs Wednesday at 10 p.m. on Vision TV, should be a wake-up call to all those denizens of sprawl. If the talking heads who appear in this compelling and deeply disturbing Canadian-made program are right ? and they most assuredly are ? North America had better figure out new ways of living that don't depend on cheap, plentiful oil.
Perhaps the most compelling expert on hand, Matthew Simmons, chair of the largest energy investment bank in the world, puts the case against suburbia very eloquently.
"Everything in society we cherish ended when the blackout (of August 2003) came," Simmons states. "If that wasn't a fire drill for how important energy actually is ... but people didn't get it. I don't think we actually learned a thing from it."
Indeed, as other speakers make clear, rather than deal with these issues, we simply elect politicians who aid and abet our refusal to get real.
Their argument is simple: suburbia couldn't exist without cars, and people couldn't afford to drive those cars without endless cheap gas. As they also make clear, the amount of oil pumped out of the ground is expected to peak sometime between now and 2010 at the latest. After that, every gallon of gas grows more and more expensive, rendering auto-based sprawl obsolete.
"The whole suburban project can be summarized pretty succinctly as the greatest misallocation of resources in the history of the world," explains author James Howard Kunstler. "America took all its post-war wealth and invested it in a living arrangement that has no future."
What makes the situation even harder to understand is our unwillingness to face up to it while it's still possible. This cultural, intellectual and economic inertia can be seen right here in Ontario where the debate about the greenbelt has only just started. To his credit, Premier Dalton McGuinty has adopted a greenbelt plan, but the development industry and ? God help us ? some farmers will do everything they can to stop it. Groups such as the Fraser Institute and various home builders' associations parade their experts, mostly American, who for a fee explain people actually enjoy commuting, that sprawl is good and global warming isn't happening.
If only. The truth is we will have to learn how to make do with much less. As Kunstler points out, the days where the ingredients of a Caesar salad travel 4,800 kilometres to your table are over, whether we realize it or not. Those farmers busy railing against McGuinty's perfectly sensible, desperately needed scheme to stop sprawl will soon find themselves part of an agricultural system based on proximity to local markets. Future growth based on oil and natural gas is not possible, Simmons warns. Those holding their breath for hydrogen fuel should get serious; it's not going to happen. Instead, we'd rather carry on building suburbs destined to become the slums of tomorrow, McMansions that will be obsolete long before the mortgage has been paid off.
Though there's some discussion on the show about the New Urbanism, a movement that seeks to reform urban planning, it's unlikely to be the answer.
If author Richard Heinberg is correct, we are at the end of an era that stretches back uninterrupted almost 50 years. The question, he says, is whether future generations will look back on the second half of the 20th century as a golden age or a time of unmatched stupidity.
Not surprisingly, he opts for the latter.
Christopher Hume can be reached at chume@thestar.ca
March 10, 2005: 7:30 pm
In preparation for Holy Week, Dr. Esperanca Camara will explore the spiritual and theological issues underlying Michelangelo's continued reflection on the theme of the Pieta. Achatz Hall of Science, Gunderson Auditorium.
February 8, 2005; 7:30pm
Artistic Influences: Robert Anderson and Tom Keesee Lecture
Visiting artists Robert Anderson and Tom Keesee will discuss the evolution of their art in light of historic and contemporary influences. Mimi and Ian Rolland Art and Visual Communication Center, Room 115.
University of Saint Francis School of Creative Arts Lecture Series.
October 28, 2004
7:30-9:00pm
USF, GUNDERSON Auditorium
This wide-ranging discussion of key minimalist figures, such as Hesse, Judd, Morris, Smith and Flavin, will define how Minimalism floats between Modern and Postmodern. Dr. Cliff McMahon of the University of Saint Francis SOCA will be the guest speaker.
In the coming weeks, Parks and Recreation Director Dianne Hoover will attend public meetings throughout the city to solicit ideas on the development of Buckner Park.
Buckner Park, located on the SW side of Fort Wayne on Bass Road, was recently opened to the public and has a 3/4 mile walking track. Buckner is 197.8 acres in size and includes 90 acres of majestic, mature, breathtaking woodlands. It is otherwise rustic and undeveloped.
In the Department?s continuing effort to incorporate public input, Ms. Hoover will meet at all neighborhood area partnerships, as well as Aboite Township at the following dates/times:
Wednesday October 20, 6:30 p.m.
Southwest Area Partnership
Study Elementary School
2414 Brooklyn Avenue
Carolyn Devoe 260-437-9427
Monday November 8, 6:30 p.m.
Aboite Township
Firestation 11321 Aboite Center Road
(parking on west end of building)
Barbara Krisher - 260-432-0970
Wednesday November 10, 6:30 p.m.
Southeast Area Partnership
Calvary Third United Presbyterian Church
4700 S. Anthony Blvd.
Mike Bynum 260-447-2617
Thursday November 11, 6:30 p.m.
Northeast Area Partnership
Good Shepherd United Methodist Church
4700 Vance Avenue
David Kohli - 260-485-8652
Tuesday November 16, 6:30 p.m.
Northwest Area Partnership
Resurrection Lutheran Church
7401 Coldwater Road
Rosie O'Grady - 260-490-7327
By Douglas Kelbaugh FAIA, Dean A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture + Urban Planning University of MichiganAs an architect and educator I am worry about the intellectual and pragmatic challenges that currently bedevil architectural practice and pedagogy. I perceive seven design fallacies that permeate professional practice and studio culture at many schools of architecture. Some are self-imposed and tractable; others are less easily addressed because they are externally driven—by the media, technology, globalization and commodification. Some are more about making form, others about making things equitable and sustainable. All seven are deeply embedded in our psyches and changing them will not be easy; reform, however, will not only ensure the survival of architecture and urbanism but also invigorate them. >Link
From: The News-Sentinel
Mike Dooley at mdooley@news-sentinel.com.
Well, almost. You can get a pair of pantyhose at a convenience store.
There was a time — and it wasn't all that long ago — when you could buy everything from a ham hock to a head of hair in downtown Fort Wayne.
Times have changed.
Fort Wayne's downtown has undergone a shift in the last several years from a retail center to one that focuses almost entirely on professional services and entertainment, similar to what has taken place in other communities. Long gone are the legendary stores like Wolf & Dessauer and the Grand Leader. Memories are all that's left of the Bon Ton, a bakery, and Tapp's Market.
In their places are an assortment of banks and offices occupying downtown's low-and-high-rises. Only 10 years ago, you could still go downtown to buy a car, try on a new pair of shoes, have a doll repaired or get a haircut. Today, if you're doing business there, it's more likely you're preparing a will, opening a bank account or having your taxes done.
The changes downtown have been documented and are a topic for not only newspaper stories, but academics who claim to have discovered the reason behind the changes. The fact that downtown isn't what it once was is well known. But take that reality to its more elemental level: With the shift in purpose, does downtown Fort Wayne still offer some of the goods it once did? Can you still buy a tie downtown? How about a pair of pantyhose?
The answer to both questions is yes, provided you're willing to look long and hard.
Given the absence of stores downtown specializing in women's and men's clothing, the intrepid shopper of 2004 must take his or her search in a different direction. No longer does a woman go to a woman's store to replace the hosiery that suddenly decided an inch-wide snag is a wonderful fashion statement.
Downtown, she goes to one of two convenience stores where she also can fill the car with gas and pick up a loaf of bread before heading back to the office with a fully intact pair of hose.
Men will find no such luck with ties, however. If the office clown decides this is the perfect day to take a pair of scissors and cut your tie in half, you won't find a suitable replacement at a convenience store. You have to head for one of two downtown museums to fix the problem.
Museums? That's right. Gift shops at the Lincoln Museum, 200 E. Berry St., and the Fort Wayne Museum of Art, 311 E. Main St., sell ties.
At the art museum, you'll find creations bearing names such as famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright. At the Lincoln, its wide selection of ties sporting political and historical themes, along with those bearing reminders of the museum's namesake, make it the downtown hub of the men's tie universe.
Be warned, however: Representatives of both shops said their ties are pricier than what you'll find at Wal-Mart.
The reasons behind the shift in downtown are many, including the obvious — customers go where the stores are, and when the stores discovered customers wanted them closer to their homes, they moved. Other reasons are less obvious — when men stopped wearing hats, stores specializing in men's hats went out of business.
The decisions to close or move largely spelled the end of retailing downtown, but while that's been bad news for prospective tie and pantyhose buyers, it hasn't been a total calamity.
No longer, for example, are corsets on sale in downtown Fort Wayne. Meaning everyone can breathe easier.
This column is the commentary of the writer and does not reflect the views or opinions of The News-Sentinel
This is a short, 35 question survey. Our purpose is to help community leaders learn what can be done to bring more talented and educated people to small, medium sized, and rural communities. Often when people leave their home towns, for work or college, they do not return -- hence the "brain drain". You can help us understand why.This survey takes about 5 minutes and no registration is required; take a moment to complete it and have your voice be heard: Link.
A discussion about Fort Wayne's Creative Economy has been started on The Journal Gazette's The Board.
How would you describe the "essence" of Fort Wayne?Read the rest of Leo Morris' editorial here.That question is possibly the most important message conveyed at IPFW Tuesday night during the speech by Carnegie Mellon University professor Richard Florida. The more people who have fun trying to answer it, the brighter the community's future will be.
The engaging pep talk by the economics professor and author Richard Florida on Tuesday won't suddenly change the direction of the city's economy, but his comments should help spur different ways of looking at development.Read Tracy Warner's article here.
by Samantha Teter
I was greatly impressed and empowered by the presentation of Richard Florida's "The Rise of the Creative Class" at IPFW on March 18. But the main question left in my mind was, "Why did he choose Fort Wayne as a creative class economy?" Did Fort Wayne really have the diversity, creative environment and tolerance that is necessary to foster a creative class economy?
At first, my thought was "no." But then our group roundtable discussions started. And what my group realized is that we do have the diversity and the creative environment to succeed, but we're not embracing it. We have the seeds but haven't given them the opportunity to blossom. Our city is diverse in its ethnicity, gender, age, orientation. But we tend to live in our comfortable, segregated colonies and do not like to cross those boundaries as often as we should.
Look at our arts community. We have a variety of excellent community theatres, performance venues, vocal and instrumental organizations, performing musicians, artists, dancers, poets, etc. I'm sure many of us have been to the Children's Zoo, but what about the Museum of Art, the History Center, the Diehm Museum of Natural History, African-American Historical Museum?
We have many initiatives going on right now to develop Fort Wayne and the community. But the changes cannot occur unless the community as a whole participates. What I learned most from last night's discussion is this: We need to change our attitudes about our city. Myself included. There are things going on every day, every night, every weekend in Fort Wayne. People need to search these events out, try something new, embrace the cultural and creative resources our city has. Be proud of what we have to offer.
Yes, we're losing big business opportunities. Yes, our young people are leaving after college to find jobs in bigger, more exciting cities. Yes, our economy is slow. But we, as a community, can change that. We can't expect the city/county governments to do all the work for us. I challenge each of you to find something new and different to do this weekend. Leave your comfort zone. Go see a play, head down to a nightclub for some live music, visit the museums. Until the community itself embraces our wonderful creative resources, we cannot expect potential Fort Wayne citizens or businesses to want to do the same.
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Samantha Teter is the Director of Marketing and Auditorium Events for Scottish Rite Center and a performer in local community theatre.
by Martin Sorge
The people with the greatest wealth of creativity yet to be tapped into in Fort Wayne seems to be its youth. Our youth supplies us with many of the new ideas needed for our community to attract and grow creativity. Being a youth, I find it very necessary to cultivate an environment that is supportive of new, innovative, and creative ideas. To most of us, we do not feel this support from the community. Why is this? More importantly, what can we do to change this? How can the community appeal itself to youth, and other people who think like us youngsters?
Economic development and business officials believe www.creativefortwayne.net is a start toward moving closer to what author Richard Florida calls the Creative Class. [...] He shared his concept of creative communities being key to promoting business and technological communities with a crowd that gathered Tuesday in the Walb Memorial Union at Indiana University-Purdue University, Fort Wayne.Read Rhea Edmonds' article here.
Whether or not Richard Florida is really onto something with his theories about the role of the "creative class" in 21st century economies, you could certainly be forgiven for hoping so. Who wouldn't want to live in these Meccas of coolness, oases of tolerance and ethnic food, not invariably described as "a good place to raise a family," but as "a city to watch"?Read Nancy Nall's column here.
Is Richard Florida just another flavor-of-the-month urban-planning consultant, or is he a visionary whose ideas about luring the "creative class" to town should be part of our economic-development strategy?Read the rest of Bob Caylor's editorial here.
by Karl R. LaPan
The future of our community — its economy, its living patterns, and its priorities — is in our hands, challenging the old assumptions upon which we have built Northeast Indiana. We must be bold about the action required.
A leading scholar on the issue of community vitality, Richard Florida, describes the choice Fort Wayne faces in stark terms: "Places that succeed in attracting and retaining creative class people prosper; those that fail, don't.
''In the post-modern world, the ability to create and innovate gives a person the ability to control his or her destiny. This is equally true of communities like Northeast Indiana. Empowering people and organizations to create their own jobs by tapping into their thinking power can be accomplished through a toolbox of methods, work practices, culture and infrastructure.
Giving creativity and innovation a destination: This is the promise and commitment of the Northeast Indiana Innovation Center, and why we are pleased to support Invent Tomorrow, the Alliance, IPFW and Leadership Fort Wayne as sponsors for Florida's visit to Fort Wayne on March 18.
Florida, a professor of economic development at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, explains how a community can benefit by connecting with creativity as a resource for innovation and growth in his most recent best-seller, "The Rise of the Creative Class."
The most successful regional economies are built around clusters of companies in similar or related technologies. Research suggests that the more entrepreneurs "run in packs,'' the more successful they can be because they can share supply sources and distribution channels, buy and sell to each other, co-venture or contract and attract employees with similar technical skills.
Savvy entrepreneurs are drawn to centers of innovation. High tech clusters offer skilled and experienced workers opportunities for networking and possible sources of venture capital.
Are we prepared to make radical structural changes, take risks and prioritize our resources to attract, grow and retain innovators? Not everyone will benefit from the shift to an innovation-led economy. Can we assist those least prepared to make the transition?
Florida speaks of the importance of communities having "low entry barriers'' — places where newcomers are accepted quickly into all sorts of social and economic arrangements. The places that thrive in today's world tend to be what Florida calls plug-and-play communities where anyone can fit in quickly. Are Fort Wayne and northeast Indiana such communities? If the answer is "no," that is something we can — and should — change immediately. How? By fostering and encouraging a pipeline of good ideas.
The creative class is best at breaking down the barriers of stereotypes to put the excitement of the idea first. We see that everyday at the Innovation Center as entrepreneurs come together to work and collaborate. This strikes at the core purpose of the Innovation Center — to provide nascent and local businesses with the tools they need to grow and nurture the talent within their businesses. Our community has always been rich in creativity — look at the inventions that trace their origins to this area. Our goal is to coordinate efforts to improve the work methods and processes of today's northeast Indiana businesses and tomorrow's good ideas. We are a bridge to the future.
Fort Wayne/Allen County can become a thriving creative destination, but it takes investment, focus and the patience on part of the community as a whole. By focusing on enhancing the creative assets our region possesses, we can become a stronger community that gives voice to the innovators who are designing tomorrow's solutions for business, government, education and the like.
As Florida rightly posits. "It is as important for a modern enterprise to have been born in a garage (or perhaps an Innovation Center) as it was for a 19th-century presidential candidate to have been born in a log cabin.'' Fort Wayne/Allen County is ripe for this kind of paradigm change — our future can be reframed as the crossroads of innovation and imagination. The gap between what can be imagined and what can be accomplished has never been smaller. The same can be true for Fort Wayne/Allen County if we set our minds and resources to it.
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Karl R. LaPan is president and CEO of the Northeast Indiana Innovation Center. He wrote this for CreativeFortWayne.net. It also appeared in The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette.
by Paul Helmke
As mayor of Fort Wayne for 12 years, I spent a lot of time on economic development. One of the things we tried to understand and respond to was how companies make decisions on where to build new facilities; why companies choose to locate here, or expand here or stay here. This helped us shape our economic development programs and approaches.
One of our area's strengths during the 1980s and 1990s was the quality of our workforce. Employers often indicated that workers here give them a good day's work for a good day's pay, have good attendance records, are hard-working and productive. One company even indicated that their research on where to locate their telemarketing center showed that we have the second-highest rating in the country in terms of what they are looking for in their workers.
But the business model from the past - when someone could go straight from their graduation at a local high school to a local manufacturing company and have a job that would give them a good paycheck to support their family until retirement and a good pension after that - is rarer and rarer every year. As times change, the challenge for us is not only to attract and retain the businesses that are likely to do well in the 21st century, but to attract and retain the people that these businesses are looking for as workers.
A recent book, "The Rise of the Creative Class" by Richard Florida, a professor of Regional Economic Development at the Heinz School of Public Policy and Management, Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, argues that cities need to focus on the workers which he identifies as the "creative class" - not just artists and musicians (although they are part of this group), but on workers who create new ideas, new technology and/or new creative content. These are workers who "have considerably more autonomy and flexibility" than those who "are primarily paid to execute according to plan."
Florida concludes that "places that succeed in attracting and retaining creative class people prosper; those that fail don't."
Using some rough job classification numbers, Florida estimates that the share of the U.S. workforce in "creative class" jobs has increased from 10 percent in 1900 to 20 percent in 1980, and approximately 30 percent today. Communities with over 35 percent of their workforce in "creative class" jobs - like Austin, Boston, Raleigh-Durham, East Lansing and Madison - are doing well in the new economy, according to Florida. Areas with lower percents are or will be falling behind.
So, how does the Fort Wayne area measure up under Florida's analysis? Of the 268 metropolitan areas in the country, the six-county Fort Wayne area ranks 171st when measuring the percent of workers in the "creative class." (We are 26th out of 32 for metropolitan regions with between a half-million and one million people.) Florida calculates that we have 25.4 percent of our workforce in "creative class" jobs locally.
Florida also develops a "creativity index," which combines his analysis of the employment data with information on how communities rank on high tech, innovation and diversity factors. These factors are important because of what Florida calls the "3 Ts of economic development: Technology, Talent and Tolerance." According to Florida, in order to "attract creative people, generate innovation and stimulate economic growth, a place must have all three."
The idea of low-entry barriers for people, as well as for businesses, is a crucial part of this analysis. Florida argues for "plug and play" communities, where new people can quickly find others to connect with and groups to join. Communities need to be open to differences and need to celebrate the advantages of immigration. Participatory recreation opportunities are needed in addition to spectator venues for workers who do not physically exert themselves on the job. Street-level culture and opportunities for people to mix help newcomers see and meet and learn about others. Authenticity and uniqueness attracts the creative class more than just another repeat of what can be found in most other communities.
So, is Fort Wayne a "creative" community? Yes, we're "a good place to raise a family," but are there opportunities for singles? Are we open to new people, or is this still a place that you're still considered a transplant after 30 years if you didn't go to school here? Are there multiple job possibilities for workers in new business areas?
These questions and related issues are being discussed by various individuals in our community. To help stimulate these discussions, the group Invent Tomorrow, along with other community sponsors, is bringing Richard Florida to Fort Wayne on March 18. He will speak at the Walb Student Union Ballroom at IPFW at 7 p.m. After a question and answer session, individuals will be encouraged to meet in small groups to discuss how to make our economy and our community more creative. This event is free and is open to the public.
We have a lot going for us as a community, but we'll fall behind unless we're willing to make positive changes. If we focus on people and begin a dialogue on why we're here and what we need to grow in the future, we can only get stronger in the future.
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Paul Helmke was mayor of Fort Wayne from 1988- 2000. He wrote this for CreativeFortWayne.net. It also appeared in The Fort Wayne News Sentinel.