slouching towards urban sprawl
desecration of rural land and abandonment of suburbs
alt. title: the Dollar Generalification of Rural America
What hath beauty to do with progress?
There is much discourse about protecting rural land and whether or not suburbs are a blight on our great nation’s landscape. As one who lives twenty minutes outside of a major metropolitan area yet still in a rural area, it is clear to me that suburbs are far more preferable to the typical march of progress impeding rural land: urban sprawl. The natural beauty of rural spaces, their importance in providing agricultural land1, and pockets of fresh air and light pollution-free starry nights are swept aside in exchange for something better, of course. Are we building suburbs that foster community, provide walkable landscapes, and support the creation of families? No, it’s far better than that; we’re building more and more corporate, late-stage capitalist slop. Dollar General, Wendy’s, Quick Five Oil Changes, etc., etc.
When the view of human flourishing is reduced to numbers in a spreadsheet, we throw out beauty entirely. I am not a fan of suburbs in that I would not want to live in one, but as a young person with a child on the way, I certainly see the appeal of suburbs in their pre- World War II form. Beautiful houses, walkable neighborhoods, and local businesses to patronize. The manifest destiny of fast food chains, dollar stores, and gas stations to spread to all corners of the earth is vulgar and obscene. Human beings not only deserve beauty; we need it.
who needs farms when we can just build more Dollar Generals? they have all the food right there!