Organization = Flexibility

This week I focused on Margaret Crawford’s “Little Boxes: High Tech and the Silicon Valley” and was very interested in her analysis of the organization and planning of Silicon Valley. Crawford states that:

“[Urban] scholars have cited its “haphazard planning” and “car dependency” as detriments to its development. However, it might also be argued that the flexible, network-based structure of Silicon Valley life and work found its physical analog in flexible, connected suburban space, with its freeway network and cheap and easily adaptable buildings.”

To humor myself, I thought I would compare this organizational concept to the places I know best: my rural childhood home and newer suburban home. 

(1) Rural Environment

Growing up I lived on a 7 acre piece of land that was 4 miles outside of a small, rural Nebraska town. The organization of the countryside was very simple: the land was divided into square miles of land with major roads forming the grid. These square mile pieces of land were then broken down into 4 smaller pieces  of land sometimes owned by one or more farmers. This organizational structure allowed for land to be divided easily and so farming practices could be carried out most efficiently.

(2) Suburban Environment

When I left my childhood home for college, I moved to a small house in the suburbs of the second-largest city in the state. The organization of this environment was much different. The first organizational structure of the city was its railroad and highway systems. After that, many of the roads attempted to form a grid-like pattern around the curvilinear highways and railroad lines. Taking a closer look, the suburban neighborhoods seem to have no organizational structure whatsoever. The roads seem to meander around pieces of private property in the way that most suburban roads do.

Having lived in both rural and suburban environments, I can safely say that each has their own pros and cons, but in terms of the flexibility that Margaret Crawford was talking about, I think that the gridded organizational structure of the rural environment was much better. Larger urban environments are also planned in this way, and I think that it’s odd that the suburban stepping stone in between the rural and the urban is the most unorganized one. Why is this so? Do we really prefer or need our suburbs to be organized in this way? What quality of life are we gaining, if any?