Love/Hate, Born Again

I'm reviving the "Why I Love and Hate Salt Lake City" series, partly just because it gives me something to talk about once a week or so. Today we're going to be discussing the suburbs, in no small part because we recently moved there. For more details about recent changes, talk to my wife.

Utah, in general, is primarily rural. Some 70% of the land is completely and totally undeveloped, for a variety of reasons, including National Parks and Forests, State Parks and Forests, intentionally undeveloped "green" space, Reservations, and a less that hospitable climate that makes some places absolutely unlivable no matter what. From there, about a third of the population lives in small towns, nothing over about 10,000 people. The rest is all crammed into one of two places: St. George (100k or so, mostly old retired people with a few college students mixed in), and the "Wasatch Front." Now, the Wasatch Front is HUGE. It encompasses five different valleys, as many counties, and about a hundred various cities and townships.

95% of which are Suburban. The deep city center is Urban, and you have a few distinct walkable Districts, but for the bulk of the populated area... it is pure suburbs.

UTA tries to accommodate, but when you are dealing with suburbs, mass transit fails. Miserably. There just aren't enough people within a particular zone to support the structure. it sucks. It's horrible. Worse, it means everyone drives. The idea of a family like mine going without a car is entirely foreign to just about everyone we meet. The pollution levels, the smog, the sheer expense of supporting an average of three cars per family...

In addition, it causes an insulated society, each individual distinct yet uniform, a group where many people don't even know their neighbors names. It is a significant portion of what caused the rampant consumerism of the last half century or so, and why we have declines in family values and moral guidance. Not to claim the high ground or anything. Cities are not even remotely close to perfect, but... they are a step closer to creating genuine community, which is one of the primary building blocks of society.