TIME POLLUTION

Paolo Soleri condemned commuting as “TIME POLLUTION” because TIME is a finite and very valuable commodity – so it is a crime to waste it in such a needless, unproductive, and pollution-rich practice as commuting..! 

Is it not absolute insanity to spend 2, 3, or even 4 hrs a day commuting to work – in gridlocked traffic or over-crowded trains and often in awful weather conditions..?  And, after the long tiring slog back home, having to rush about on other errands, shops, kids, etc.?   

Everyone hates commuting but, since almost everyone is in the same boat, it has come to be accepted as a normal and necessary part of life if one wants a “good job” (read: more money).  If you have ever wondered why British public transport is the most expensive in Europe, it is due to a combination of over-population and low density housing resulting in high land costs. It is the price we pay for of our fixation with houses (rather than purpose-built apartments) and our manic obsession with the accursed “Property Ladder” which you must clamber onto at any cost, lest you be sneered-at as a permanent “renter”, i.e., a “loser”.  

So, should Britain copy the high-density pattern of Paris or Milan or many other European cities by building ugly soul-less estates of concrete high-rise? 

Could there possibly be a far better alternative which nobody is even thinking about…?  

OASIS-CITIES – CAR-FREE, COMMUTE-FREE, CARE-FREE, & CRIME-FREE