Highrises are a mistake of the 20th century -- James Howard Kunstler

[John Zeger]

James Howard Kunstler is a leading opponent of urban sprawl especially in regards to how much energy is wasted as a result of people commuting long distances to go to and from work. In that regard, one might think that Kunstler would favour the construction of highrises because to some they are the antithesis of sprawl. But here is what Kunstler actually says about highrises from an interview conducted by The Tyee website in 2006:

"The Tyee: Urbanists say that Vancouver is outperforming American mid-sized cities when it comes to focusing growth into dense, walkable neighbourhoods and preserving agricultural land. With dozens of new high-rise condo towers, Vancouver's downtown will house more than 100,000 people by the end of the decade. This is a good thing, right?

James Howard Kunstler: I think we are going to be very surprised and disappointed by our decision to build so many high-rise structures. They are not going to run very well in an energy-scarce society, which may feature less-than-totally reliable electrical service. Skyscrapers -- which I define as any building over seven stories -- were a product of the cheap fossil fuel age, and they may cease to serve us very well as we leave that behind. My own sense of things is that our cities will contract severely in the decades ahead and that we will see a reversal of the 200-year-old trend of people leaving the rural areas and small towns for the big cities."

For the full interview, go to http://thetyee.ca/Books/2006/06/12/Kunstler/