Thanks for this piece, it very much resonates with me. While I am not religious, as a political centrist - I refer to myself as the "Alt Middle" - I very much disdain the left/right bundling of topics as well as when people want to put me in any of the associated "boxes". This is really what attracted me to Strong Towns over a decade ago as they provide a framework for discussing urbanism in this unbundled fashion. In a way I see myself very much as a conservative (with a little c) urbanist because I want to see slow, incremental change albeit with very low friction. I am a member of the Annapolis MD Planning Commission and I see all the time how people who do not want this city to undergo any change, end up getting large dislocative change by trying to fight everything.
So interesting. That last line -- you’re saying that as we as a public often ending up getting larger changes (that we may not want) by fighting the small ones, right?
Now that you mention it, I can see how it’s probably very true. Until you mentioned it, I’d never noticed it before on the public scale. Thanks for pointing that out!
I really like to use the earthquake metaphor: if there are lots of small ones, pressure is released in small parts causing less disruption (lots of small incremental change). When pressure builds up and finally releases the disruption is huge (very large scale change/development).
Love this! And very much get it, having grown up in California near the Loma Prieta fault line. Will keep this analogy in mind as I engage with my current community. Thanks so much!
Thanks for this piece, it very much resonates with me. While I am not religious, as a political centrist - I refer to myself as the "Alt Middle" - I very much disdain the left/right bundling of topics as well as when people want to put me in any of the associated "boxes". This is really what attracted me to Strong Towns over a decade ago as they provide a framework for discussing urbanism in this unbundled fashion. In a way I see myself very much as a conservative (with a little c) urbanist because I want to see slow, incremental change albeit with very low friction. I am a member of the Annapolis MD Planning Commission and I see all the time how people who do not want this city to undergo any change, end up getting large dislocative change by trying to fight everything.
So interesting. That last line -- you’re saying that as we as a public often ending up getting larger changes (that we may not want) by fighting the small ones, right?
Now that you mention it, I can see how it’s probably very true. Until you mentioned it, I’d never noticed it before on the public scale. Thanks for pointing that out!
I really like to use the earthquake metaphor: if there are lots of small ones, pressure is released in small parts causing less disruption (lots of small incremental change). When pressure builds up and finally releases the disruption is huge (very large scale change/development).
Love this! And very much get it, having grown up in California near the Loma Prieta fault line. Will keep this analogy in mind as I engage with my current community. Thanks so much!