Another aspect that comes to mind based on my experience with being in the same neighborhood/house for 30 years (mostly because we had long standing jobs and like the neighborhood) is that the *people* change around you as fast or faster than the built environment and that can have a profound impact on how you perceive the place. I'm in West Annapolis and while we have a new school and a few new houses, it's more or less been the same built environment as long as I have been here. However, other than a handful of long standing friends (our kids all grew up together) it's been really hard to get to know the new people. And that is from someone who values community and is very civicly involved in the neighborhood and city at large. I realize now that I am "the old dude" that I remember from when I moved here that I didn't interact with then. Much of this is due to different life stages etc and opportunities for multigenerational interaction, but it just *feels* different and it makes me feel a little sad sometimes. I realize what that is and even though I can look the feeling objectively, it is hard to deny that feeling that something is just not the same. Really because it's not; something has changed around me. While I have a very fulfilling third act of life, perhaps getting older is just weighing on me. I think this is something that happens to everyone who stays in the same place for a long time.
I've always wondered how that looked from the other side. Our family has moved homes every few years (marriage, kids, retired parents with travel money), and we've really appreciated the long-timers who welcomed us in and helped us get to know the neighborhood, all of whom we still keep up with as friends. That said, we feel like we've sort of free-rode on the community that people like you have created, since we haven't ever lived anywhere long enough to be the one's who fill in all those spaces that take time to see. It seems like a lot of the benefits of community are front-loaded (e.g., putting out recycling while you're away, "borrowing" your kids so you can have a date night) and come with merely existing, while the costs are back-loaded (organizing alley plowing, helping older friends move away) and come with knowing the cycles of a place. I don't know, maybe that's too transactional of a way to think about it.
Anyway, that's a long way of saying that you're probably far more appreciated than you know!
In postwar Japan they referred to the Three Treasures (a jokey reference to three sacred mythological treasures) that everyone wanted as the country became prosperous - a TV, washing machine, and refrigerator. So no, actually Japanese housewives very much saw the need for a fridge :)
But I really came here to say, your pieces often make me feel old but none more than the reference to a 19th century Moving Day, because we absolutely had one day when everyone moved when I lived in the Boston area and that was definitely the 20th century! This was in the 1980s. It was because there were so many college students and it was the worst day to have to get a moving van if you needed one. Now you make me wonder how much that might have changed because housing is so much more fraught now.
Yeah I thought it was a super interesting article that raised concepts I hadn’t quite thought of. One you didn’t mention here that seemed notable from a YIMBY perspective is the idea of a periodic “shuffling” on “Moving Day”, wherein large numbers of renters moved within the community on the same day, to housing that better matched their needs, desires, income, etc. I feel like that process could be so healthy nowadays to a. prevent accumulation of too much stuff (if you’re moving every year or two you gather less) b. It is a more efficient way of allocating housing to prevent larger units being monopolized by tiny families (or the reverse).
Since it’s within the community, it wouldn’t necessarily disrupt the process of building roots. People would just get to experience different neighborhoods within the community.
Thank you, this was quite interesting--lots of food for thought here. As a long-time conservative with modest communitarian leanings, I have increasingly thought in recent years that we need a more pluralistic conception of community. Yuval Levin's recent book on American constitutionalism is a valuable step in this direction.
First we need to break up the monopolies that keep all houses priced like mansions. The Biden admin was making progress in this area but self-destructively REFUSED to advertise their own success. Instead they just screeched meaningless words like "democracy" and "January6".
Mobile, ever-changing communities can be tighter knit in large part because mobile people in new places have a much greater incentive to support each other.
When I lived in an apartment in Santa Barbara where I didn’t know many people mid pandemic, I grew a guerrilla garden with resident who’d been there a few years. Some of the longtimers would spontaneously bring me food and we’d cook dinner together. I started watching a neighbor’s kids every few weeks. Spontaneous community just happened in a multi-generational multi-family environment.
That sort of thing rarely occurred in the stable but expensive single-family neighborhood I grew up in. We’d do occasional HOA events, but for the most part everyone stuck to their little bubble and support for each other, like babysitting, was transactional. Some of my neighbors became and remain close family friends, we just didn’t have the culture of mutual support for the entire neighborhood that seems easier to create in denser, more mobile places.
We’re lucky the YIMBY movement is growing with tangible policy solutions to restore mobility and community
Plenty of Americans have remained in their hometowns and watched them change beyond recognition without experiencing that as "decline." Not all changes are equal. Arguing that the sense of decline is due to not enough people moving feels uncomfortably like arguments from spreadsheets about how everything is great, actually.
Applebaum has introduced an important new angle to the conversation about housing and the role of housing in the economy. I am curious about his book, which I think is just out.
I agree with what he says about the benefits of mobility, but of course, I've been over-the-top mobile (driver's licenses in a dozen states, significant time spent working in a half dozen more), but hasten to add that the option of staying put works well for some, particularly those who bopped about a bit and got an education before deciding where to stop.
Applebaum undercuts his point by joining in the long line to take a shot at the slow-moving target of single-family zoning. But wait a minute! Single-family zoning was even more prevalent (and taken entirely for granted) during the heyday of American mobility in the 1960s-70s. So may be its something else that has people "stuck?" Something harder to talk about maybe, like rentier capitalism?
In response to your question about being rootless and community, I have no grand answer. And wonder if there is one. But since its topical, I will say that I have found an interesting and somewhat exceptional sense of community among the seasonal public lands workers (rangers, fire fighters, etc) who are now under vicious attack by the oligarchs. These mostly (but not all) young people probably appear to be rootless to people who are "stuck" and unproductive to those who cannot tolerate their relative (though precarious) freedom. But they have a sense of place (a place with big boundaries!), take care of each other as best they can, and generally speaking are not subject to the epidemic of loneliness that seems to affect so many.
Very interesting! I'm going to have to add this perspective to my own thoughts about roots. I grew up as a military brat, living in ten different places in three different countries before I left home to go to university. I have developed a definition of "home" that is: home is the feeling of belonging to a place and time where you felt safe and able to thrive. I think that "home" belongs to both the rootless and the rooted, and we need to acknowledge we can have both kinds of people living in the same town at the same time. How do we make it easier for them to get along, is the next question.
Another aspect that comes to mind based on my experience with being in the same neighborhood/house for 30 years (mostly because we had long standing jobs and like the neighborhood) is that the *people* change around you as fast or faster than the built environment and that can have a profound impact on how you perceive the place. I'm in West Annapolis and while we have a new school and a few new houses, it's more or less been the same built environment as long as I have been here. However, other than a handful of long standing friends (our kids all grew up together) it's been really hard to get to know the new people. And that is from someone who values community and is very civicly involved in the neighborhood and city at large. I realize now that I am "the old dude" that I remember from when I moved here that I didn't interact with then. Much of this is due to different life stages etc and opportunities for multigenerational interaction, but it just *feels* different and it makes me feel a little sad sometimes. I realize what that is and even though I can look the feeling objectively, it is hard to deny that feeling that something is just not the same. Really because it's not; something has changed around me. While I have a very fulfilling third act of life, perhaps getting older is just weighing on me. I think this is something that happens to everyone who stays in the same place for a long time.
I've always wondered how that looked from the other side. Our family has moved homes every few years (marriage, kids, retired parents with travel money), and we've really appreciated the long-timers who welcomed us in and helped us get to know the neighborhood, all of whom we still keep up with as friends. That said, we feel like we've sort of free-rode on the community that people like you have created, since we haven't ever lived anywhere long enough to be the one's who fill in all those spaces that take time to see. It seems like a lot of the benefits of community are front-loaded (e.g., putting out recycling while you're away, "borrowing" your kids so you can have a date night) and come with merely existing, while the costs are back-loaded (organizing alley plowing, helping older friends move away) and come with knowing the cycles of a place. I don't know, maybe that's too transactional of a way to think about it.
Anyway, that's a long way of saying that you're probably far more appreciated than you know!
In postwar Japan they referred to the Three Treasures (a jokey reference to three sacred mythological treasures) that everyone wanted as the country became prosperous - a TV, washing machine, and refrigerator. So no, actually Japanese housewives very much saw the need for a fridge :)
But I really came here to say, your pieces often make me feel old but none more than the reference to a 19th century Moving Day, because we absolutely had one day when everyone moved when I lived in the Boston area and that was definitely the 20th century! This was in the 1980s. It was because there were so many college students and it was the worst day to have to get a moving van if you needed one. Now you make me wonder how much that might have changed because housing is so much more fraught now.
I experienced this in 2015 in Boston!
LOL Allston Christmas!
I remember a certain area in Allston Brighton Moving day. People loved scavenging the furniture left on the curb at the end of school year.
Also feel old
Yeah I thought it was a super interesting article that raised concepts I hadn’t quite thought of. One you didn’t mention here that seemed notable from a YIMBY perspective is the idea of a periodic “shuffling” on “Moving Day”, wherein large numbers of renters moved within the community on the same day, to housing that better matched their needs, desires, income, etc. I feel like that process could be so healthy nowadays to a. prevent accumulation of too much stuff (if you’re moving every year or two you gather less) b. It is a more efficient way of allocating housing to prevent larger units being monopolized by tiny families (or the reverse).
Since it’s within the community, it wouldn’t necessarily disrupt the process of building roots. People would just get to experience different neighborhoods within the community.
Anyways, very interesting!
Thank you, this was quite interesting--lots of food for thought here. As a long-time conservative with modest communitarian leanings, I have increasingly thought in recent years that we need a more pluralistic conception of community. Yuval Levin's recent book on American constitutionalism is a valuable step in this direction.
First we need to break up the monopolies that keep all houses priced like mansions. The Biden admin was making progress in this area but self-destructively REFUSED to advertise their own success. Instead they just screeched meaningless words like "democracy" and "January6".
Mobile, ever-changing communities can be tighter knit in large part because mobile people in new places have a much greater incentive to support each other.
When I lived in an apartment in Santa Barbara where I didn’t know many people mid pandemic, I grew a guerrilla garden with resident who’d been there a few years. Some of the longtimers would spontaneously bring me food and we’d cook dinner together. I started watching a neighbor’s kids every few weeks. Spontaneous community just happened in a multi-generational multi-family environment.
That sort of thing rarely occurred in the stable but expensive single-family neighborhood I grew up in. We’d do occasional HOA events, but for the most part everyone stuck to their little bubble and support for each other, like babysitting, was transactional. Some of my neighbors became and remain close family friends, we just didn’t have the culture of mutual support for the entire neighborhood that seems easier to create in denser, more mobile places.
We’re lucky the YIMBY movement is growing with tangible policy solutions to restore mobility and community
Plenty of Americans have remained in their hometowns and watched them change beyond recognition without experiencing that as "decline." Not all changes are equal. Arguing that the sense of decline is due to not enough people moving feels uncomfortably like arguments from spreadsheets about how everything is great, actually.
Thank you for this post, is making me think
Applebaum has introduced an important new angle to the conversation about housing and the role of housing in the economy. I am curious about his book, which I think is just out.
I agree with what he says about the benefits of mobility, but of course, I've been over-the-top mobile (driver's licenses in a dozen states, significant time spent working in a half dozen more), but hasten to add that the option of staying put works well for some, particularly those who bopped about a bit and got an education before deciding where to stop.
Applebaum undercuts his point by joining in the long line to take a shot at the slow-moving target of single-family zoning. But wait a minute! Single-family zoning was even more prevalent (and taken entirely for granted) during the heyday of American mobility in the 1960s-70s. So may be its something else that has people "stuck?" Something harder to talk about maybe, like rentier capitalism?
In response to your question about being rootless and community, I have no grand answer. And wonder if there is one. But since its topical, I will say that I have found an interesting and somewhat exceptional sense of community among the seasonal public lands workers (rangers, fire fighters, etc) who are now under vicious attack by the oligarchs. These mostly (but not all) young people probably appear to be rootless to people who are "stuck" and unproductive to those who cannot tolerate their relative (though precarious) freedom. But they have a sense of place (a place with big boundaries!), take care of each other as best they can, and generally speaking are not subject to the epidemic of loneliness that seems to affect so many.
Very interesting! I'm going to have to add this perspective to my own thoughts about roots. I grew up as a military brat, living in ten different places in three different countries before I left home to go to university. I have developed a definition of "home" that is: home is the feeling of belonging to a place and time where you felt safe and able to thrive. I think that "home" belongs to both the rootless and the rooted, and we need to acknowledge we can have both kinds of people living in the same town at the same time. How do we make it easier for them to get along, is the next question.