Germany should take over the world...

The movement to live locally is growing stronger everyday, but here in midwestern America, it isn't as easy as it could or should be. Enter the community of Vauban, Germany. In Vauban, life is local because it is designed to be. Car ownership is heavily discouraged. There are no roads within the community wide enough for automobiles and a parking space in the community's parking garage must be purchased like any other form of real estate and will run you around $40,000. Have no fear, however, you don't need a car to live here. A local grocery shop is right down the street and everything you need is within walking distance due to a beautiful mixed zoning policy. Now you may say, "What if I need to visit Ma Suntken in Berlin?" Once again, the urban planners were using their thinking caps. The train station is right on the edge of the community, walkable from any home.

Indeed, the pictures of Vauban in a recent New York Times article make the community look positively utopian. But despite the clear quality of life perks of living in Vauban, the success of the designed community has not spurred a worldwide revolution in which we transform suburbia from a place where our lawns stretch endlessly to the horizon into a place where our children can play in the streets without fear of being hit by a driver filled with road rage.

In fact, here in the U.S., there continues to be substantial resistance to what should be a simple choice when one weighs the pros and cons. The standard answers I receive when I passionately discuss local eating, bicycle commuting, organic gardening, making my own cheese, etc. with my friends and family center around the cost and inconvenience of actually taking up any of these earth-saving habits. But Vauban puts both of those concerns to rest. It isn't inconvenient to bike to the grocery store when the store is a few blocks away. It isn't more expensive to ride the bus or train when owning a car requires a significant additional investment.

With Vauban leading German planning into the 21st century, I say, let the Germans rule!