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Why is even just driving through suburbia soul crushing? Why are so many cities and towns in the United States so…ugly? All of us here would probably agree that car-centric city planning and corporate development are huge factors to consider when asking these questions. But what exactly about this type of planning and development is it that feels so oppressive? What exactly is it about that strip mall that makes your heart sink? What exactly is it about that suburban lawn that makes you feel so uncannily uncomfortable? These are some of the questions that we explore in this Patreon episode.

In this episode Robert reads and comments on two separate but related pieces: Why even driving through suburbia is soul crushing, by Alex Balashov and Compromise, Hell! by Wendell Berry. These pieces explore the anti-social, barren, and soul-crushing aspects of how we, under late-stage capitalism here in the United States, design the spaces we travel through and live in. From freeway interchanges that jut out like decaying exo-skeletons, to the barren eight-late expressways that cut neighborhoods in half, to the giant lawns, fake porches, and kitschy columns that ornament many suburban homes—this reading not only calls out these monstrosities but explains what they do to us on a psychological, nervous system, and social level.

Further resources:

• Why Even Driving Through Suburbia is Soul Crushing, by Alex Balashov
• Compromise, Hell! by Wendell Berry
• 27:10: Images 1 & 2

• McMansion Hell

Related episodes:

• Upstream: Everyday Utopia and Radical Imagination with Kristen Ghodsee
• Upstream: Capitalist Realism with Carlee Gomes
• Upstream: Dialectical Materialism w/ Josh Sykes
• Grassroots Urban Placemaking with Mark Lakeman

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