A recent paper by Richard Bender and John Parman focuses on growth in the San Francisco Bay Region and tries to strike a balance between “Slow” (making reference to the Slow Food movement, and its focus on value and regional difference) and “Smart” (a reference to Smart Growth, and in particular its emphasis on density in urban areas). The population of Bay Region is projected to grow by 1.5 million people, from 7.2 million in 2007 to 8.7 million in 2030. Currently, planning organizations like the Greenbelt Alliance are approaching the problem from a Smart Growth perspective, hoping to accommodate the growth within the already developed areas of the region. But they are making their analysis in abstract terms, calculating the required growth county-by-county, without considering what density means in human and experiential terms.

So the problem as they define it is “how to accommodate future growth in ways that preserve and if possible reclaim open space . . . in ways that are not just ’sound’ in terms of current planning dogma (e.g., ‘dense, compact, and transit-served’), but also create appropriate settings for a humans and enjoyable life as broadly understood by those who live and work in its cities, towns, and neighborhoods.”

Good question.

I’ve made connections between the Slow Food movement and a “Slow Growth” form of responsible development before, and I think its an interesting comparison. Its exciting to see other people drawing those same connections. Here is a quote from the middle of the paper:

We oppose “Fast” in these terms, but equally, we oppose a “slow” that clings without reflection to what exists. If smart growth is too often “speed” by another name, then no-growth is its inevitable twin, locked in a battle that produces mediocrity and sameness. Slow is, in our understanding, not the same as “no”. Growth is desirable if it enables the region to remain “alive,” to “rediscover the flavors and savors” that make it what it is. That this requires pruning and paring has to be faced as part of that active cultivation.

What I appreciate most these days is this refusal to get caught up in a “battle.” I am much more intrigued by the complexity, the shades of grey, between two extremes. Many creative solutions can be found there, including Parman and Bender’s “Slow Bay Manifesto” which looks to be a good first step towards defining a third option for accomodating the region’s growth. I am looking forward to visiting the Bay Area next week for the BALLE conference, and hope that some of these conversations will emerge there.