A Theory of Community Change

How did we get here?

Like many topics in this handbook, this is a big one that could and has filled entire books. However, it is helpful for advocates to understand the forces and context that led us to have places oriented around cars, as opposed to oriented around people.

Until the mid 1900s, humans around the world largely followed two patterns of development, which we would now consider rural and urban. Rural areas were largely unpopulated except for those devoted to agricultural use. Urban areas were densely populated, walkable places in various states of permanency. This was the case in the United States as well. In Vermont, we can see this historic development pattern in many of the state’s historic downtowns, such as Montpelier, Brattleboro, Burlington, and others. If we had continued this development pattern, these areas and others would have continued to grow incrementally over time, and would likely be larger and more densely populated than they are today, with less sprawl in the surrounding rural areas.

Following World War II and the popularization of the automobile, development across the United States shifted to undeveloped areas outside of the historic population centers. This shift was caused by a combination of factors including local zoning, federal spending on highway projects, engineering practices, the financialization of housing, and the popularity and subsidization of the automobile.

Where are we going?

The answer to this question is different in every community. Generally speaking, though, in order to make our places sustainable, resilient, and healthy, we need to move them back towards being either rural or urban.