taking the train today made me think of some of the many differences between urban and unurbanized areas, and even many of the differences between cities. my first thoughts were of the sprawl, a la william gibson’s vision of the near future. for those of you not familiar with gibson’s works (shame on you) such as neuromancer and mona lisa overdrive, he writes of bama, the boston-atlanta metropolitan axis, where the entire east coast has become a thousand mile urban sprawl, inseparable into smaller towns, cities or boroughs, except on a map. as i stood on the platform at the capitol lr station, i can look out over two hills, both of which show new subdivisions and also more housing under construction. one section of new housing, built within the last 18 months is built in the same style as sf housing, units that are only ~25 feet wide, but very deep, and 3-4 split levels, so as to maximize the use of available space. i actually like the shape and look of that housing, i find it quite aesthetically pleasing. then, as i viewed how far san jose is spread out, i started looking at it in a different way… it is quite ugly, when i stop to think about it. poorly planned, a huge, sprawling, choking mass, with very little going for it, except that someone thought it would be a good idea to cut down orange and cherry orchards and build stark, cold, gleaming tech buildings that will no doubt continue to be empty for the foreseeable future. san francisco is quite small, from an area point of view. (i don’t know exactly, but if the city itself comprises more than a dozen or two square miles, i’d be shocked). and nearly eight hundred thousand people live there. that’s about 20-25% less people than live in sj, but when you look at sj, i’m sure that it probably takes up 10 times the amount of area. why? why the waste of space? so then we get to my next thought, and the rambling (even more so than already) will begin. i stood waiting for the train, and wondered what changes there would be if transportation modes had never gotten to the personal level? like if we had transit on large scale (busses, trucks, train, airplanes), but not individual cars? i understand that it would make living in more remote areas difficult, but my main focus was how would our cities, towns and living places differ? no garages needed to store them, so would houses be generally bigger? would our roads be much smaller? i don’t know, i’m just in a wondering mood. i was raised almost entirely in small towns. i’m very much a small town person at heart, and i think to where my parents live. i remember that one time we went away on vacation, and my dad locked the door (probably the first time he locked it since we had moved in) and when we got back, we didn’t have a key to open it. (who needs a key when you leave the door unlocked all the time?) that image to me symbolizes life in a time past, when things were simpler and kindlier, and exemplifies life in a small town to me (however unrealistic this vision might be j) and i definitely yearn for that again. i sincerely hope that when i am ready to move on again in my life (for whatever reason – family, job, etc) that the opportunity is there not just to move to a small town, but to move back east somewhere, because i also miss the leaves turning in the fall, and the smell of a summer storm, and the snow on the trees, and it’s not easy to get those things living in san jose.

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