In this series of blog posts I will discuss some of the assigned readings for the Sustainable Planning Seminar (Urban Planning/Geography/Landscape Architecture 446) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC).
This week’s readings were:
- A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold (Read: Part 2: The Quality of Landscape)
- “Green Cities, Growing Cities, Just Cities?” by Scott Campbell
Thoughts
Campbell’s article introduces and discusses the important tension among three main goals: economic development, social justice, and environmental conservation. At the center of the triangle formed by these points is “sustainability” (which, I’m keen to call an “unstable equilibrium”). Throughout this course (LA 446 – UIUC) we investigated each of these facets either independently or in its relationship to one of the others. Rarely do we consider all three simultaneously, something that Campbell does well. I particularly liked the author’s critique of looking to the past, from our pre-industrial and indigenous ancestors, for guidance on future sustainability. Modern society will never be forced into sustainable practices because the feedback mechanisms are too distant or too diffuse. Thus, seeking to return to the holism of our indigenous past is impractical. The author also criticizes the optimism of technological salvation.
Aldo Leopold’s essays in A Sand County Almanac read like descriptive diary entries. The author delves into the personality of a landscape and its inhabitants. In the first part, for example, Leopold describes the awakening of a Wisconsin marsh after a long night. In another section, he describes what he sees while on a bus ride through Illinois. This section was especially relevant because, having lived in Illinois my whole life, have considerable experience driving up and down its long interstates. I tried mapping my experiences onto the ones described in Sand County and realized that I am only obtusely aware of the countryside and have no imagination about what Illinois looked like before it was 76 percent cropland. On a recent drive from Chicago, I stopped at a rest area and noticed a sign that read:
“The rest area is built on this rich prairie soil which allowed a vast grassland to develop and occupy the area in pre-settlement times. A portion of grassland was created on the grounds along the back border of the property.”
I’m embarrassed to say now that I didn’t take a look.