What!? My Neighborhood Was Sprawl This Whole Time!?

Nicholson, Georgia. The place that saw me mature from a cute little middle school runt to a slightly more confident cute little college runt. The place that I consider my home and the place that brought me to all of my best friends. The place that I can't wait to see again every chance I get. A place that is completely and undeniably dominated by sprawl.

When I first started reading Suburban Nation and the opinions of Duany, Plater-Zyberk, and Speck, I did not want to agree with them at all. Their words seemed unfounded and pretentious. But as I read on, I slowly realized that it wasn't the words that offended me; it was the fact that I knew deep down inside that what they were saying was true and that I was a victim of the march of suburbia. My neighborhood, King's Bridge Crossing, is a giant unsalted nightmare of repetitiveness. All the houses look almost if not entirely the same, it is miles and miles from anywhere even remotely interesting, and no outlet of community activity lies anywhere on the marvelously desolate ocean of monotony that is the King's Bridge subdivision. Middle class white people rule the neighborhood while the occasional African-American owns a home here or there, but don't ask me about their ages or incomes because I don't know many of them personally.

Do I consider the neighborhood that I grew up to have been bad growth? Of course. I visited Key West, the place where my girlfriend grew up, over the summer and it was a complete eye opener for me. Ironically, despite the wild reputation of Key West, it is as traditional a place as you can get. Everything you could ever want sits within walking distance there and therefore, pedestrians and bikers take priority over cars on the road. At one point, while waiting for my girlfriend to get out of the dentist, I had the option of walking a couple feet to spend downtime in a department store, a book store, a movie theater, or her dad's work. I loved it and up until I read Suburban Nation and watched Blueprint America, I blamed my lousy position on living in the country. Sprawl is bad growth, even if it is capable of producing a community of some sort. I have seen things from both sides and I say down with suburbia.

-Andrew (Andy) Van Deventer