We are finally nearing the end of our discussion about the four requirements for developing and implementing a sustainable site plan. As we have found with nearly all of our discussions, everything is connected to everything else, and today's topic is no different. So let us consider the final requirement;
...the proposed project provides for enhanced human well being, enhanced cultural diversity and enhances the natural and social environment...
Once again, the common sense sign is most likely beginning to flash in your mind. But as we have found throughout our explorations, common sense rarely goes hand-in-hand with the ideals and goals of Hyper-Capitalism.
As we begin to dissect the meaning of this requirement, we find the ammunition Hyper-Capitalists use to claim their project meets the requirements for a sustainable site plan.
Magic Bullet #1:
enhance: 1. to raise to a higher degree 2. to raise the value or price of
Uh-oh, Hyper-Capitalists everywhere are rejoicing. Does their site plan destroy and disturb the soils on a site? Probably. Does their site plan make the water a little dirtier as it moves towards it destination? Most likely. Does their site plan rely on the practice of clear-cutting the existing vegetation? You bet.
Yet in this Hyper-Capitalist driven world, changing the use of a site from undeveloped to developed enhances the overall value of the property.
Magic Bullet #2:
well-being: the state of being healthy, happy or prosperous
Yikes. Prosperity, there's a Hyper-Capitalist ideological word if we've ever seen one. Sure, their site plan may call for the mass grading of a site, increase traffic in surrounding neighborhoods and promote architecture that looks as if a third-grader designed it, but are they providing opportunities for everyone to be prosperous?
A resounding YES is being shouted from an armada of Hyper-Capitalist gas-guzzling SUVs as they claim wonderful jobs are being created, tax dollars are flowing into the municipality like wine and humans need places to live, work and eat. But, in reality, they are the only people who are truly prospering from their destructive site planning practices.
Magic Bullet #3:
cultural diversity: the coexistence of different ethnic, gender, racial, and socioeconomic groups within one social unit
Do Hyper-Capitalists truly believe that when they create a site plan which develops a piece of land into a "luxury residential community", that simply because there is daily interaction between the wealthy homeowners and the labor force which trims their water-wasting lawns that they have created a culturally diverse project?
Or that because they are providing a use which will create a handful of minimum-wage jobs for people who can barely afford to travel to their workplace due to the lack of affordable housing in the area, they are providing an opportunity for the interaction between different socioeconomic groups?
Hyper-Capitalists will generally begin to talk about how they are filling a need for some sort of use when this subject is raised. We provide a diverse mix of housing types in our community...is a statement often uttered from the mouths of Hyper-Capitalists. There is a multi-family component to our project...that the average worker couldn't even dream of owning on a hourly wage of about $11 per hour.
Magic Bullet #4:
natural environment: or simply known as the environment; the collection of all living and non-living things in a given area
This subject is usually handled by a favorite phrase of Hyper-Capitalists; the highest and best use of a property.
Sure, we clear-cut and mass graded our site, but before we came along the property was just sitting there not doing anyone any good. It wasn't making any money for anyone!!
Don't worry about stormwater, we've got control devices that will remove the minimum amount of pollutants from the water as prescribed by law. And don't you worry about those ugly native tress we bull-dozed, we're going to plant some lovely landscaping (although it will most likely be the minimum required by the code or we may just pay some money into a fund so that the city can plant a tree on the other side of town).
Magic Bullet #5:
social environment: society as a whole, especially in its relation to the individual
Is our society a better place now that we have Wal-Mart, Lowe's, sprawl, endless miles of paved roads and have the ability to transform the natural environment into something that benefits humankind (even if it means the extinction of ten other species)?
"Without these things, our economy would collapse and we would all be communists", shout the Hyper-Capitalists.
Call me a cynic, but all I can say is that given the current state of the economy, environment and society as a whole, Hyper-Capitalists have been doing a stand-up job so far!
everything is connected to everything else
We can begin to see how the mask of greenwashing is being used to cloak some of the more unsustainable site planning practices employed by Hyper-Capitalists. Let us keep in mind that the developers are not the only one's to blame in this process, there are designers who are charged with producing these site plans and who are, in essence, failing our environment and our society.
As we move forward, we will take a look at some real life examples of site plans that have been greenwashed in the name of Hyper-Capitalism.
You cannot simply put something new into a place. You have to absorb what you see around you, what exists on the land, and then use that knowledge along with contemporary thinking to interpret what you see. -Tadao Ando
Posts
