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James Howard Kuntsler and Asphalt Nation by Jane Holtz Kaye. I highly recommend both these books on this topic.
I think there is much to be said for rejecting, not change and development per se, but that sort which makes every place like every other place. Both rural and urban communities have their advantages. However, we seem to be heading toward something, a culture of sprawl, that is neither country nor city, that lacks that which both have traditionally offered.
There is a loss of community, a lack of integration of workplace, living space, shopping, and recreation in the culture of suburban sprawl. At the same time farmland is shrinking, and even the very essence of the rural life comes under attack from an encroaching suburban culture that views the countryside as some sort of unsullied paradise.
On the other, those coming to rural communities from this culture all too often expect the same amenities offered in a densely populated urban area. They do not see that this is not possible or desirable, or that there are unfamiliar and not always pleasant conditions to adjust to. The complaints from new arrivals from cities to rural areas over noise and smells from agricultural operations that crop up all too often in the news is an example of this.
One cannot have both the culture of the shopping mall, asphalt and concrete, the Wal-Marts and fast food strips, and at the same time have the quiet peace of the countryside. It is commendable that people ion Rappahannock are addressing these issues while there is still time to save all that is valuable and beautiful in the community, finding a way to direct the inevitable change, that will not destroy it.
Patrick Alther
Charlottesville
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