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Show Kemp, Roger L. 1995. America's Cities, Avebury, Aldershot. Chapter 3: Creating Community and Chapter 13: America's new city: Megalopolis unbound Key Words: Suburbia, Loss of Center & Edge, Personal ' time' cities Kemp explains his understanding of the " new city" as one of uncontrollable sprawl, a loss of center, lack of edges, and environmental and aesthetic degradation. He claims the endless pursuit of the American dream as the cause for missing the destination as a whole. As expansion continues, there is an incremental annihilation of the ' natural environment,' which was precisely what the American dreamers sought access to. Kemp proposes a unique idea: That the new city is measured in Time, not Space. The " pattern formed by... destinations" which are x- minutes away form one's own city... an overlay of household, consumption, and production networks. He explains that " instead of the logical division of functions of the old metropolis, one finds a post- modern, post- urban collage" ( 131). My Observations: I enjoyed the seemingly original thought of considering ' time cities' instead of spatial ones. I began to think about the city as a construct in everyone's own mind... a compilation of ritualistic experiences that form the whole of one's meaningful life. My project will seek to increase and protect the holistic societal dream of open space and access to nature, a dream whose realization is rapidly extinguishing. This reading made me question the impact my project may have on creating or diminishing existing ritualistic sites. How will these sites change with popularity or crowdedness? This helped me think about the importance of an urban growth boundary to provide a ' societal backyard' for any and all to enjoy without too much difficulty. I propose that due to NIMBY- ism anyone that is not at the very outside edge of growth still feels a lack of connection to nature that is so inherently part of the American dream. Even a large fenced back yard doesn't separate oneself from knowing exactly what artificiality lies just beyond the vinyl shield. The fence becomes a cheap lie, an introverting and degrading device; a blatant imitation in our pursuit of nature's connection. We are all within the fence and never outside. And because most have and continue to seek their own piece of nature's past, the effort to get outside becomes increasingly difficult, and sometimes impractical. We continue to construct these lies around us, containing and isolating our spirits whose nature is freedom. Forcing increased isolation as we commute in our SOV for hours, both husband and wife, sacrificing in search for the American dream that was lost in order to pursue it, and which remains further and further beyond our reach and behind the endless maze of barriers. Ironically, after obtaining a piece of nature and flooding the thirsty grass with preciously cheap water, most don't have time or desire to maintain their own ' dream' and long for an elderly return to the center. Reisner, Marc 1993. Cadillac Desert. Penguin Books USA Inc., New York, New York. Chapter Four: The American Nile. Key Words: Colorado River, Modern Expansionist Era, CUP Marc explains the Colorado River's importance to the Western United States. He shows how the river allowed the modern expansionist society to exist and thrive. He also presents the Colorado River as a metaphor for modern society's rise and fall. Finally he explains the political issues surrounding the river's use today and in the future. In explaining how the river is a metaphor for today's society, Marc first draws a parallel between the Hoover Dam and the rising beginning of modern expansionist thought. The Hoover Dam, he explains, promoted and represented the modern mentality of human power over nature and limitless potential. As the salinity continued to rise and the available supply of water fell from countless human intervention, he alludes to the fall of modernism, or at least the limit of progress and the costs of the same. I was most impressed in this reading by the parallels Marc drew between the use of the Colorado River and the Modern expansionist era. I better understand how and why the river is so important, and how it has played a pivotal role in allowing the western expansion to occur. It is interesting to also see the effects of unbridled growth and modernization reflected by the same Colorado River. The political issues surrounding the river, and its history were also interesting, but the ties of the river with modernization will help me most in my thesis. Wiley, Peter & Gottlieb, Robert 1982. Empires in the Sun. The Rise of the New American West. University of Arizona Press. Tucson, AZ: Chapter 6 Salt Lake City: Zion at the Crossroads. Key Words: Regional History, Water Appropriations, Conservation, CUP " Immediately upon arriving in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847, the Mormon settlers realized that the proper development of water was the key" to sustaining life and economy. ( 146) Seeing the fundamental significance of water and the potential of dominion or wasteful use, Brigham Young abandoned the Eastern model of riparian rights in favor of cooperative appropriations, a model which would revolutionize water use in the arid West ( 146). On water conservation, Brigham Young explained, " No man has the right to waste one drop of water that another man can turn into bread" ( 146). The mouth of every canyon soon saw settlements centered on irrigation systems. As decades of development continued and spread, the prospect of tapping into the Colorado River arose, which fostered proposing the Central Utah Project ( CUP). Eventually in 1948 the upper basin agreement entitled Utah to 23% of the upper basin total. ( 147) Transporting the water into Utah's great basin was to be a mammoth undertaking which has found both wide support and opposition. There has seemingly been a ' use it or loose it' mentality on the project, yet with a $ 1 Billion price tag in 1950, its chief opposition becomes economic justification. After threats of reducing or eliminating the project all together, the scope of the CUP changed to include a nearly 100 acre- foot supply to the urban Wasatch front. Though this change garnered support for the project, it also sparked further moral debate. In 1979 Alan Merson, then EPA administrator, claimed the project " would defer the need for water conservation measures for several decades ... in a metropolitan area with one of the highest per capita water use rates in the nation" ( 150). ( About 40% of residential and municipal water use is for nonconsumptive uses such as watering lawns, trees, and flower gardens) ( 149). The history of Salt Lake City shows necessary cooperation in conserving and using water. Irregardless of individual opinions about the possible CUP, a moral obligation of wise and conservative water use in our desert environment is paramount. The early example of cooperation in water conservation and use is a model for our city today. 26 |
