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July 22, 2006
Suburban sprawl in California: panoramic photos
For your consideration: panoramic (extra extra wide) photographs of suburban sprawl developments around California: San Ramon 2004 · San Ramon 2006 · Clayton · Antioch · Santa Clarita · Valencia · Tassajara Road and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Technorati Tags: california, clayton, exurban, realestate, residential, sanramon, southerncalifornia, sprawl, suburb, valencia
July 22, 2006 in California // Northern, California // Southern, Ecology + nature, Urbanism + suburbs | Permalink
Comments
nice. love that No Parking sign in San Ramon. they have miles and miles of wide streets! reminds me of where my friend's parents live in San Ramon, a gated community that does not allow guests to park on the streets overnight. ridiculous.
Posted by: kerbot2000 | Jul 27, 2006 4:20:59 PM
I count my blessings I don't live in any of those areas:):)
Posted by: Duncan | Aug 2, 2006 12:35:39 PM
You guys are a**holes...not everyone can be an urban hipster like yourselves. Besides, you wouldnt want the people that buy these homes in your urban neighborhood anyways. You should be glad they're out there in San Ramon; parking's easier for you in the Mission as a result.
Also, keep in mind that San Francisco and Berkely was plants, dirt and trees before it too was paved over. How about a condescending and snide panoramic photo of that.
Posted by: chris | Aug 2, 2006 10:31:43 PM
That is very cool in a deeply horrifying way. The San Ramon 2006 sprawl photo has it all: the sprawl spilling down that valley like a glacier, the hills being scraped and prepared for more development, the power lines bringing in the juice to enable more growth, the green landscaping that will demand yet more nonexistant water.
All of this is doomed, of course. Not only are we running out of the cheap energy and reliable water that makes such inefficient "cities" possible, but the heat to which they contribute will render that area uninhabitable as the energy to cool those big houses dwindles (didn't it hit 116 in nearby Danville last week?)
My friend Bob Walker photographed those hills when the present development was a proposal. It's a good thing that he died before he saw what happened to a place he loved so much.
I look at these things now (since publishing Farewell, Promised Land) with a graveyard chuckle. As George Perkins Marsh said way back in 1864 in his pioneering book Man And Nature, we're burning our wainscotting to simmer our porridge, or something to that effect. I'm supremely glad that I do not have children as the ever growing population and capitalism in tandem wreck the planet's life-support systems and impoverish it of its once extravagant beauty and vitality.
Next time you're down that way, I hope that you can get up on the ridge above Sunol and photograph the new quarrying operations that are scraping some of the finest remaining topsoil off the valley floor so that a mining company can gouge out the underlying aggregate next to the Sunol Water Temple, thus destroying also the aquifer which is why the temple was built there. (It's a parting backroom deal by Willie Brown.) As if California had so much prime topsoil and aquifers that we could endlessly destroy them in order to get gravel to make more concrete for more development that will require more topsoil and water for the people to come....
Posted by: Gray Brechin | Aug 3, 2006 3:18:36 PM
Matt
Nice pics.
Chris,
The point is these communities are a long-term mistake. That is not necessarily the fault of the home buyer.
Are those guys assholes cause they don't like suburban parking ordinances?
Urban hipsters don't have cars.
Panoramic photos can't be condescending and snide, they just show what light bounces off of. How about a picture that shows the beauty of sprawl?
Come on down to the city; the more the merrier.
Posted by: nathan | Aug 3, 2006 4:46:08 PM
What came to mind were some lines from an Emily Dickinson poem:
I LIKE to see it lap the miles,
And lick the valleys up,
And stop to feed itself at tanks;
And then, prodigious, step
Around a pile of mountains ...
Dickinson was writing about railroad locomotives, but the same images apply to today's sprawl!
Posted by: Langdon Winner | Aug 4, 2006 5:06:53 PM
Thanks for the photos...and for the post by Chris who talks about the background of the development, which is enlightening...so, the combination of the comments and photos make it work well...we all know that, in the long run, this way of life is doomed, which makes the pictures poignant and disturbing...however, I don't find anything "cool" about any of this...that's snarky white people talk and really is not a help...
Posted by: nick | Sep 7, 2006 8:17:02 AM
SUBJECT: ENDING THE WORLD'S ADDICTION TO OIL--EMPOWERING THE PEOPLE TO STOP GLOBAL WARMING
Please be advised that there is an important new book available on subject.
The book is: "HOW TO LIVE WELL WITHOUT OWNING A CAR" by Chris Balish.
This book provides a voluntary, step-by-step, plan to empower all people in the fight to reduce the number of cars on the road, to break the world's addiction to oil, and to stop global warming. Car sharing is an important part of this plan.
This is a good plan that could be a great plan if governments would offer a few incentives to further encourage its adoption.
Sincerely,
Tom Balish
Ledyard
Posted by: TOM BALISH | Dec 12, 2006 8:47:13 AM
FIGHT OIL ADDICTION
The State of California is telling Ford, and other car makers, that they need more efficient cars. They are wrong! The State of California, and all other states, need fewer cars on the road, period.
Here are a few ideas which I think will help Ford, et al, to really help all of America:
Ford Motor Company:
"The company is also repositioning itself as a purveyor of mobility. 'The day will come when the notion of car ownership becomes antiquated. If you live in a city, you don't need to own a car.' He sees a future where Ford owns vehicles and makes them available to motorists as and when they need access to transport."
-----William Clay Ford, Jr., CEO, Ford Motor Company—November 12, 2000—The Observer
Based on the above quote, proposing a Car-Sharing Plan, which Ford has failed to pursue to date, I invite your attention to the following:
A FAIR SOLUTION TO AMERICA’S OIL ADDICTION / TRAFFIC CONGESTION / GLOBAL WARMING
Oil is a critical natural resource, a Blessing from God Almighty to the people of the world. Oil is a valuable resource which must be used and conserved wisely!
Are we using oil wisely and fairly when we selfishly indulge in excess consumption?
What is excess consumption of oil?
It is the consumption of oil to provide the basic materials, the heat and electricity, needed for thousands of unnecessary homes.
It is the consumption of oil to provide the basic materials and the fuel for millions of unnecessary cars, trucks, and SUVs.
It is also the consumption of oil to produce and operate a multitude of other materialistic and unnecessary products
Excess consumption has a very high price that all the people pay.
When Americans buy too many extravagant homes, cars, and other products, the demand, and the price, for oil increases exponentially for all.
Let’s just examine the most expensive and most conspicuous consumers of oil—America’s “Big Ticket” items—homes and cars.
Wealthy Americans can afford big homes and many cars. The average American, in terms of wealth, can only afford an average home along with one or two cars.
Wealthy Americans significantly increase the excessive consumption of oil. In addition to more homes, they also operate more cars. There are over 3 million households in the USA that own 5 or more cars—another 30 million households with 3 or more cars.
America consumes 21 million barrels of oil per day. Transportation alone consumes 12.6 million barrels.
This is an extravagance that should be recognized and accounted for in a fair manner.
All people in America are paying high taxes on their homes and on their cars. It is time for people who own more than one home and more than one car to start paying a more fair share of the increased financial burden they are placing on all Americans in terms of oil and other energy demands.
It is time to implement a progressive tax on homes and cars. If a household owns more than one home, that household should pay an increasingly higher tax percentage on each home purchased after the first one. If a household owns more than one car, that household should pay an increasingly higher tax percentage on each car purchased after the first one.
This idea, if adopted, will help to convince many people to reduce the number of cars they own and operate on America’s congested roads, will help provide the additional revenues needed to develop and improve road and local transit systems, will encourage the expansion of Car-Sharing, and will help reduce Global Warming.
Additional steps to reduce Global Warming/Traffic Congestion can be found in the new book, "HOW TO LIVE WELL WITHOUT OWNING A CAR" by Chris Balish.
This book provides a voluntary, step-by-step, plan to empower all people in the fight to reduce the number of cars on the road, to break the world's addiction to oil, and to stop global warming. Car-Sharing is an important part of this plan.
This is a good plan that could be a great plan if governments would offer economic incentives to further encourage its adoption.
Sincerely,
Tom Balish
Ledyard, CT
Posted by: TOM BALISH | Feb 14, 2007 7:29:12 AM
All these panoramas remember me Wisteria lane !!!!
Also thinking of weeds scenes
All these small boxes all the same: some kind of villages of the futur
Looking too similar, too perfect
My little village in southern europe is so nicer
Congratulations to the photographer!!
JJT
Posted by: tautau | May 19, 2007 12:10:57 PM
