Lives of Quiet Desperation
Remembrance of Things Past
Hear a series of complaints by exasperated Americans: long hours
in the car; the farmer being squeezed out; the city dweller who sees his neighborhood
collapse.
Tom Hylton follows with his own story. Outraged by the demolition of the old
high school across the street from his house -- a victim of declining enrollments
-- Hylton begins searching for reasons why Americans deserted their towns
and moved into what used to be the countryside.
The Philadelphia Story
Trouble in Paradise
The search includes a visit to once-proud neighborhoods of Philadelphia; to once-rural lands outside the city where even a bond issue couldn't save much farmland; and to newly developed areas whose residents pine for real neighborhoods.
Paved With Good Intentions
A developer explains that walkable neighborhoods are forbidden by America's crazy-quilt zoning systems. By making it easier to build on isolated tracts in the countryside than to re-use vacant land in the cities, state governments almost mandate the decline of cities and the depletion of prime farmland.
Revelation
Made in the USA
Almost by accident during a visit to England, Hylton learns of a planning
system that ensures the protection of both towns and countryside. He discovers
garden cities -- green walkable towns surrounded by rings of protected open
space called green belts.
There are places in America that use a similar system. Hylton visits an Oregon
farmer-legislator who pioneered the growth boundaries that protect Oregon's
farmland and make its cities among the healthiest in the nation.
But growth boundaries alone can't make neighborhoods that are cosy and walkable.
To find those kinds of places, Hylton travels to North Carolina, where several
towns have recently enacted zoning laws that mandate sidewalks, street trees,
parking lots behind buildings, and other design elements that make up traditional
towns.
We see a nearly completed town like this in Celebration, Florida, and visit
with residents there.
Coming Home
Back to the Future
Back in Pennsylvania, Hylton learns three changes that are needed in state
laws to make it possible for America to reclaim its cities and protect its
rural areas.
In Pittsburgh, Hylton discovers a new state land recycling program that encourages
the re-use of abandoned industrial properties. Even a 250-acre abandoned slag
heap can be turned into a thriving neighborhood with enough imagination and
determination.
Back in his home town of Pottstown, Hylton describes recent changes in laws
and development practices, from Maryland to Arizona, that provide hope for
the future. The program concludes with a list of places viewers can go for
more information.
