1. The Popsicle Test
From The Atlantic (8.23.2011): Sometimes complicated metrics aren't necessary. There are easy ways to know if a neighborhood is well-designed. If an 8-year-old kid can safely go somewhere to buy a popsicle, and get back home before it melts, chances are it's a neighborhood that works. Note that there's no planning jargon in there: nothing explicitly about mixed uses, or connected streets, or sidewalks, or traffic calming, or enough density to put eyes on the street. But, if you think about it, it's all there. Quoting blogger Scott Doyon in PlacesShakers and NewsMakers: “For a child, having increasing opportunities to navigate the world around them, explore, invent, fall down, scrape knees, make decisions, screw up, get into -- and solve -- conflicts and, ultimately, achieve a sense of personal identity and self-sufficiency is a good thing. The right thing. But you can't do it easily just anywhere. Place matters. It matters in the design of the streets and the things they connect to. It matters in the variety of uses, opportunities and activities. It even matters in the diversity of housing types. After all, smaller homes or accessory units end up housing people who appreciate, and want to be able to afford, the prospect of being a stay-at-home parent. Or seniors offering options for drop-off babysitting... Talk of how it takes a village to raise a child sounds -- and feels -- good but, to make it work, you need a village to start with. Which means you need politicos willing to push it, and developers willing to build it.”
2. Neighbors
People who live in rural locations tend to know their neighbors, and rely upon them. These interactions bring about friendships, rivalries, love affairs, marriages, shared child (and animal) care responsibilities, and authentic community. In the cities, and the suburbs, most people know just a few neighbors, and tend to be self-sustaining, or reliant upon friends or relatives who may or may not live nearby. We move frequently—each year, about 1 in 8 Americans changes his or her residence. As a rule, we choose our neighborhoods, but not our neighbors. And yet, if you slip on the ice, or run out of flour, or your car won’t start, your best bet is your neighbor. And their best bet is you. So why don’t we cultivate relationships with everyone who lives nearby? (Perhaps excluding those who may be troublesome.) Are we reluctant to engage in new relationships? Do we lack the time to engage with people we see every day, or at least, every few days? Are we afraid, lazy, self-sufficient, unfriendly? As we watch our 60-inch screens and prepare food on granite kitchen countertops, should we, at least, invite the neighbors over for a snack, just to get to know their names? What is the 21st century meaning of “Love Thy Neighbor?”
3. Trust
Defining the word with synonyms or related terms—integrity, honesty—doesn’t get to the heart of the matter. We cannot do it alone—we need other people. We rely upon short- and long-term trusting relationships to survive, to feel as though we are alive, to maintain our money and other resources, to live safely at home and to drive safely among other drivers, to seek protection from government or the legal system. We rely upon others to cook the food, maintain the roads, drive the ambulance, treat the infection, take care of the dog, watch the baby, pay the salary on time and without unfair deductions. We define good friends and family as people who deserve our trust, and do not fail to deliver as promised. To share 50/50, no matter what. To show up on time, without excuses. To tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. From Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations: “Man has almost constant occasion for the help of his brethren, and it is in vain for him to expect it from their benevolence only. He will be more likely to prevail if he can interest their self-love in his favour…” Who should you trust? How do you “know?” Is the answer biological, or is something else going on?
4. Shared Values
Every community develops and administers its own standards, norms that differ those of a larger society. In a college town, it’s not unusual to find people hard at work at three in the morning, seriously drunk on a weeknight, enjoying casual sex, or going to class in pajamas. In a quiet suburban community, none of these behaviors would be smiled upon. Each of us likes to believe that our values are the ones that everybody shares, but we’re often misguided, especially when we’re on unfamiliar terrain. Fiction authors and screenwriters make good use of the “fish out of water” motif, exposing pieces of a larger puzzle. Those caught in the maze most confront the foundation of their beliefs, and make serious decisions about who they are and where they belong. The family background is coarse, dining room table language is profane, promiscuity is a family joke, and excessive alcohol use is family tradition: do I want to be that person, to follow that path? The community believes deeply in God and the Church, but I’m a lesbian, and I disagree with so many things that I see and hear. I knew I needed more discipline, but I couldn’t find it in my neighborhood; when I joined the Navy, I found other people who cared about duty to one another and duty to God and country. I want to be with people who share my world view and my values.
5. When (not if) Grandma Baby Boomer can't pay for her retirement, do we pick up the difference or let her starve to death?
When the U.S.’s New Deal established lifetime benefits for the aged, disabled and survivors, it followed the lead of other nations. Nearly a century later, many Americans struggle with personal debt, profligate spending, inadequate savings and sadly inadequate retirement resources. Social Security and other public programs never contemplated our promiscuous relationship with money, 21st century struggles with income inequality, or the extraordinary costs of modern medical care, education, housing, and transportation. Grandma may live to 100, and never expected her lifetime earnings to last so long. As we migrate from long-term employment and its juicy pension benefits, individuals are left to manage on their own, and for many, there’s a gap. Some people simply work longer, but that places an undue burden on others in the workforce. Do we again look to other nations for better solutions? Do we pass laws, change our income tax system, or encourage everyone to fend for themselves? Or are 21st century seniors magically different from their predecessors?
6. Traffic & Commuting
According to The Atlantic (2.6.2013), the average American commuter spends the equivalent of a full work week (38 hours) each year, commuting to and from work. The cost: just over $800 per year. The situation is improving, but only a bit: the average is down from 43 hours in 2005. Most (86 percent) commuting is by car. Only 5 percent commute via bus or train. An equal number work at home, avoiding the hassle, lost productivity, and the expense. Over a lifetime—say, 40 years of work—here’s the math: 40 hours commuting per year x 40 years would be 1,600 hours spent commuting. If we assume 16 waking hours per day, that’s 100 days of our lives gazing at the backs of cars and trucks. The arithmetic is simple, but the impact is not easy to calculate: that’s 1,600 hours not spent with friends, not getting to know neighbors, not coaching Little League or pursuing one of life’s dreams, not doing one’s best to reduce a carbon footprint, not being present for the important things in life. Commuting is the emblem of a design flaw in urban evolution: instead of improving cities and making them work for everyone, we’ve built places that are far from one another, less interesting, less productive. One result: the busy commuter requires a great deal of time for himself or herself, less for others.
7. Commitment to Community
Most of all, we don’t want to die. I don’t want your cold, and you don’t want me to fill your front yard with poisonous snakes. So we come to a basic agreement. We will take care of ourselves, and not share our illnesses with others. No dangerous pets, no dogs off leash, no dogs unsupervised running around the neighborhood. If you’re running late, I’ll meet your children at the bus so they’re not standing outside in the rain. We’ll keep the neighborhood clean, and keep an eye out for anything suspicious. We’ll participate in Neighborhood Watch, encourage our children to participate in D.A.R.E., and pay a sufficient taxes so we can hire the best local law enforcement. We’ll build a hospital nearby, and obey the traffic laws to minimize injury. When an ambulance sounds its siren, we’ll get the heck out of the way. When a school bus stops and flashes its lights, we’ll stop until the children are safely on the curb. We’ll watch out for fires and ice, for bad guys trolling the neighborhood. We do that, and assume everyone in the community will do the same. It’s more than common courtesy: it’s the way that communities behave. Look closely at a wealthy suburb or a shantytown, a county of farmers or high-density apartment complex. The behavior is the same. Humans watch out for one another, especially the people who live and work nearby, especially the people we see almost every day, even if we don’t know their names.
8. Heroes
From Rob Cipriano of The AllHumanity Group, writing in Huffington Post: “What is a hero? Someone who inspires us by their example… Since the beginning of time many of our heroes were warriors who over-powered those who would try to harm or take from us the things that we cherished. A strong defender of us as a society or culture gets hero status. Our great military soldiers who sacrifice everything to defend our borders, or cultures or our freedoms are indeed heroes to us. He or she places their very lives on the line in order that our way of life is protected from the influences or domination of others who wish to bring evil to us… Heroes come in many ages shapes and sizes. Many of our heroes are everyday folks like you and me. It is the mother who chooses to stand up and protect her children with courage and inner strength when the cards are stack against he… There is the hero child who stands up for a disabled child in a play ground and does not permit the challenged wee one to be hurt. There is the school bus driver who protects their children passengers against any invader. There is the father who faces an invader into a home and places his life before all. There is parent who adopts a child who has been abused and patiently holds their hand as they navigate childhood. There is the mother or father of a veteran who's taken his or her own life who finds the strength to help other parents who face similar tragedies.”
These are the people in your neighborhood, the people you know by name or by the way they look. As a result of observation or casual conversation, or joint participation in an activity, you may know something about them. But, what you don’t know far exceeds what you do. This is the woman who favors plaid when she takes her poodle for a morning walk, the bus driver, the couple who own the dry cleaner, perhaps members of the congregation, parents of neighborhood children, volunteers who unload the marching band truck beside you. The people who vote where you vote, who work where you work, who shop where you shop. The people who are part of your life, but without a three-dimensional relationship.