‘We need better places in America’

Like most travelers I have a complicated relationship with my native country. When you’re traveling it’s sometimes hard to escape the feeling that everything is somehow much better everywhere else. This in turn means that, of course, everything at home must suck.

For many travelers this translates into a kind of national self-hatred or at least a tendency to be overly-critical of one’s own country. I try to temper that feeling as much as possible, but one thing I keep coming back to is that, as outspoken critic James H. Kunstler says, “we need better places in America.”

Over the years I’ve come realize that at least some of my desire to travel is a desire to escape the awful urban design and architecture that has infected the U.S. for the last sixty years. We have, as Kunstler says, “created a nation of places not worth caring about.” When traveling all you do is encounter places that are worth caring about (subjectively speaking) and the contrast can be stark and, frankly, depressing.

Nowhere is it more apparent to me than when I return home. The drive home from the airport takes me past endless strip malls, big box stores and cookie cutter house — typical suburban sprawl. It’s a tough transition from the colorful cities of Central America, the beautiful architecture of Europe or the glittering skyscrapers of Asia.

Here’s Kunstler’s TED talk from a few years back. I don’t agree with all of his solutions, but he definitely strikes a cord with the very simple idea that we need better places in America:

[via Jim Benning]

Posted by | Comments (7)  | February 1, 2011
Category: Vagabonding Life


7 Responses to “‘We need better places in America’”

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  2. GypsyGirl Says:

    It’s not always the need for better places, but better attitudes. Many of my travels have been through my own home country of the United States. Many wonderful places exist, if you only look. Dark and light sides exist in all places. It’s personal choice to be observant of them. I lived in a small Swedish city and was fond of the hundreds of candles someone took time to light each evening near the holidays along the walking street. “To make the city beautiful.” my friend would say. But this city was also the hub for human trafficking from Iran.