A Placemaking Journal

Not so long ago I was reminded of a book my Mom used to read me as a child: “Fortunately,” by Remy Charlip (briefly renamed “What Good Luck! What Bad Luck!” for a few years as well). It tells the tale of a young boy invited to a party and the series of misfortunes he experiences on his way there.

For example:

Fortunately…
Ned got a letter that said,
“Please come to a surprise party.”
But unfortunately…
The party was in Florida and he was in New York.
Fortunately…
A friend lent him an airplane.
Unfortunately…
The motor exploded.

Here’s a video where a nice woman will read it to you:

It came to mind as I was pondering yet again the many challenges we presently face that are rooted in our urban renaissance, and how vexing it is that something generally perceived as a net-positive can still carry with it no shortage of downsides and externalities.

In short, no scheme, no policy, no market trend, no infrastructure deployed will correct everything absolutely. They all contribute. Hopefully positively, but always incrementally. And always, it seems, with some element of negative consequence or concurrence caught up in their wake.

To demonstrate, I present an updated version of “Fortunately,” offering the young and young-at-heart everywhere a simplified snapshot of our urban evolution since World War II.

Enjoy:

Fortunately…
Victory! We crushed the AXIS and our boys came home!

Unfortunately…
They were ready to settle down and raise families, and our cities had dwindling places to put them.

Fortunately…
We could retool our military manufacturing to create new housing!

Unfortunately…
These young men had no resources to purchase homes of their own.

Fortunately…
We could reward them for their service with easy mortgages!

Unfortunately…
They didn’t have the jobs required to pay them.

Fortunately…
Making the stuff to fill those homes and raise those families created plenty of jobs in an all new, growth and consumption-based economy!

Unfortunately…
Fixing up our tired old cities was just too hard! And people didn’t want to be reminded of all we’d been through. They wanted a fresh start.

Fortunately…
We could expand outward! Glorious greenfields awaited!

Unfortunately…
That land was far from everyone’s job. And friends. And stores. And churches. No one wanted to be so far away.

Fortunately…
We created majestic freeways to whisk our young men and their families around, as easy as those short walks and trolley rides of yesteryear!

Unfortunately…
Every new resident and the car they brought with them made that experience incrementally worse for everyone.

Fortunately…
With all our newfound prosperity, we could finally clean up our slummy cities with new, public housing!

Unfortunately…
Urban renewal’s destruction of struggling but functioning neighborhoods also destroyed functioning micro economies, severed social support networks, and further concentrated poverty.

Fortunately…
There were undervalued, middle class neighborhoods elsewhere in the city where many displaced residents relocated!

Unfortunately…
Irrational fears rooted in racial and cultural change sent the predominantly white residents of those neighborhoods heading for the shiny new suburbs.

Fortunately…
The disinvestment that resulted created an enormous inventory of affordable in-town housing near transit and jobs!

Unfortunately…
It also created a dearth of services, opportunity and, ultimately, hope for those who remained.

Fortunately…
Not everyone was willing to throw in the towel on our cities! Residents of struggling neighborhoods organized, energized, and stabilized!

Unfortunately…
Many efforts still lacked the capital to overcome the social and economic challenges of pervasive poverty.

Fortunately…
With our idyllic bedroom communities ultimately becoming stagnant and our majestic freeways clogged, city living began looking attractive again!

Unfortunately…
NIMBY, anti-density activists prevented the development of more housing in thriving and desirable in-town areas to serve the growing demand.

Fortunately…
Those energizing, disadvantaged neighborhoods — now looking just good enough to warrant the risks of real estate development — could work instead!

Unfortunately…
Such neighborhoods, and the governments that represented them, were often unprepared to deal with the rapid change.

Fortunately…
New development in these previously disinvested areas created wealth and increased options for many of the long-time residents!

Unfortunately…
The benefits that emerged (and are emerging) were not a cure-all by any means. Rising taxes and cost of living that came with them made (and are making) it difficult for long-time residents — particularly renters — to remain in their neighborhoods.

Fortunately…
We can take on these new challenges! We can employ affordability mandates, tax strategies, and other initiatives to prevent or mitigate the exact same monocultures that ultimately sucked life out of the suburbs!

Unfortunately…
Many municipalities lack the political will to do so.

Fortunately…

Where the story of our cities goes from here is a matter of speculation. But it’s worth noting that the children’s book that inspired this post ends on a positive, fortunate note (a party no less!) — and in doing so, conveys a message I believe critical to our work with cities. That is: Keep going, even as circumstances change and new challenges emerge. Our obligation is to try. To do something rather than nothing. To persevere to the best of our understanding and abilities, despite the inevitable downsides and difficulties.

Unfortunate circumstances, as daunting as they can be at times, are not an excuse to give up. To roll over and accept environmental destruction, or inequity, or growth that fails to pay for itself, or the fracturing of community.

They present no acceptable rationale for abandoning efforts towards the highest quality of life for all.

For children. Or for anyone.

–Scott Doyon

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