Workshops

Well we are having a lot of interesting workshops this year - or maybe just workshops that I am more interested in?! Anyhow, I'm really loving school and right now we have a very interesting lecturer talking to us about getting our work published. The assignment yesterday was to write our abstract and since no one really knows what I'm doing (including myself most days) I thought since it was short and sweet I'd put it for you to read.

That's it really. Love you all, miss you all.

Satellite Cities and Suburban Reality Past Peak Oil

Abstract (back cover)

Why do we continue to live on the edges, expanding the periphery of urban centers

forever outward, despite all the documented environmental and social problems which

arise from this form of development and growth? Perhaps it is the sentimentality, that

we long to recreate the childhoods, traditions and memories we had ourselves for the

future generations. Perhaps it is the paradox of loving nature so immensely, as most

Canadians will tell you they do, that you want to forever be closer to it, ironically loving it

to death. Or perhaps, as James Lorimer suggests, it is just the best (or only) housing

option that The Developers have produced for our consumption.

As we enter turbulent economic times, and the world is being politically shaken as a

result, it is time to start thinking long term. The reality, is that our education, healthcare,

trade, food and communication are all heavily supported by the oil industry in some

fashion and if this is a so called “crisis” what will we call it once the system of oil has

collapsed? There are plenty of theories of gloom and doom being spewed by Kunstler

and the likes, but I take a firm stance that satellite cities and suburbs could actually

prosper and be better off than those living in urban centers post peak oil. Mass

production has produced mass consumption, and led us into an era of mass problems.

Is there a mass solution for suburban nations? This book gives perspective into the

cultural and social structure supporting the suburbs, and the little known or accepted

reality of dependence and chain-of-reliance on oil within society. The final proposal is

one which applied locally could be learned from globally, as the next step for suburban

renewal and sustainability and how to work with what we have.