Peace and Planning

I was recently invited to share my research with a class at the high school I attended. I was really lucky to get a scholarship (perhaps the one pay off for the diligent care my mom took to schlep me to endless soccer tournaments ⚽️) to an all girls private high school where I was part of the 2/3 of students who lived on campus. I had grown up in places where – beyond exploring the neighborhood on foot or two wheels with friends – all other daily needs required a car…in other words, they were typical American suburbs 🏡 Indeed, in prepping for my presentation I realized my first experience with a walkable community was as a boarding student at my high school – an experience most folks become acquainted with if/when they attend a residential college, I just happened to get a head start. This is all to say…I wasn’t born with the radical ideas/ideals I now hold. In fact, for the vast majority of my life, I was trapped in the same car zeitgeist a vast majority of Americans are stuck in (maybe I’ll share more about my path to enlightenment in a future post…) 🤯

Anywho, during the Q&A, a student asked a question I’ve heard in some form or fashion before – “While your car-free city lifestyle sounds dreamy and all, I don’t live in an urban area where walking or biking or taking public transit is a reasonable, safe, or accessible option. What’s a girl to do? 🤷🏼‍♀️” I so appreciated her thoughtful question and the opportunity to continue to hone my response because at first blush, it’s not an easy answer. In most of the country, this is the reality – poorly maintained sidewalks that suddenly stop, a patchwork of bike lanes that leave cyclers unprotected from speeding cars, abysmal bus service that comes late and/or infrequently (if at all) along a handful of nonsensical routes, daily needs spread out over an expansive landscape, longer distance trips to see loved ones or go on a weekend adventure connected by high-ways rather than high-speed rail, etc. 😩

My short answer: There is a place for you (yes, 🫵) in this movement, and it doesn’t require you to move to a city and give up your car. My longer answer focused on the fact that we also live in a society where our relationship to cars extends beyond our transportation needs. As I began to unpack in previous posts, car culture infiltrates every nook and cranny of our structures, speech, and symbols. While this makes it seem like a daunting system to change, it also means there are countless opportunities to challenge ingrained notions, narratives, and norms. In fact, folks should challenge car supremacy *especially* if they live in places of total car dominance. If you live in the ‘burbs (or even in the hinterlands), fear not – there are myriad ways you can help chip away at the issue (some of these will be familiar to regular readers but bear repeating):

• Pay attention to how often the topic of cars pops up in your daily life and how it shapes your understanding of the world 🧐 
• See car commercials for what they are – an attempt by a giant industry to increase their profits by using tropes that activate our tribal instincts and speak to our subconscious anti-soci(et)al desires 🫣
• Explain to loved ones how using the word ”accident“ disappears a whole web of interactions that caused a collision and how crash is a more accurate term.
• Take in news reports with a critical eye to see how they talk about crash victims and assign blame, and consider writing to your local reporter with some feedback to improve their writing or change their news outfit’s guidelines 📰
• Correct assumptions about how congestion works when your uncle tries to lecture you about why he’s supporting a highway expansion. 
• Ask your friend who says they drive their kiddos to school because they’re worried about safety what makes it unsafe in the first place (clue: might rhyme with tarents and bardians mriving zeir pids to lool 🥸)…and see if they want to help start a bike or walking bus instead.
• Do not inch up on pedestrians as they are making their way through a crosswalk, don’t get frustrated with cyclers trying to carve out a few feet of road space so they can ride without dying, and don’t get annoyed if you’re stopped behind a bus 🧘‍♀️
• Cringe when you see blatant references on bumper stickers, shirts, and the like to how little car drivers care about the safety or dignity of other road users.
• Appreciate that what currently exists got that way because of political decisions that were influenced by the public, which means that our built environment and transportation policies can be changed, and at risk of sounding cliche, can be changed by YOU: call your representative and tell them you want better bus service and safer active transportation options. Let your elected officials know you support more density and mixed use buildings. Show up to local meetings to voice your opposition to investments that further entrench our reliance on cars. Talk to your friends about how they can get in on the advocacy action 📢

The transformation we are seeking is not going to be easy, simple, or immediate. This (very incomplete) list did suggest, however, that the more people who begin to share a different vision for our transportation system – whether it’s through banal behaviors or more arduous acts – the better our chances are for creating a more peaceful present. If you’ve visited Peace and Planning before, my guess is that you have come up with even more ideas to shift minds, hearts, and souls – what changes do YOU think could be made to enact a more peaceful transportation system? ✌️🚸