Of course. And it's a calibration that goes on and on and on through the ages.Wayno wrote: Much of the zeal for new development shown by 20-30yo people can be put down to two main reasons:Is there an overreaction due to 1) & 2) above? probably a bit, but not excessive by any means, and definitely not putting Adelaide's distinct character at risk. This is just an exercise in generational calibration.
- 1) a comparative lack of development compared to just about all other australian states (too many years of plans, rejection, inaction), and
2) the pure desire to wrestle control away from those who have held Adelaide back in so many respects.
I personally have never had a strong desire to see Adelaide follow the lead of other cities, but then, I prefer my large open spaces, green grass, gumtrees and sparse population. And I certainly have fewer problems with radicals like Murray Bookchin and some of the ideas of Deep Ecology than a lot of people have. I come from a camp of anti centralisation, rather than a camp of anti development..although the effect can be much the same.
Having been to quite a number of dense cities in different countries, I am never impressed by them and frankly, have never seen a single city that compares to Adelaide. With a denser population comes a great price. As the urban footprint grows so does environmental impact and for those of us who are sensitive to it, the social impact of having to live in a much denser living space with many thousands of other people.
I would also argue that part of Adelaide's distinct character is the green space, comparatively sparse population, lower density housing and possibly even a certain unwillingness to develop along the lines of bigger cities. Disadvantages do come with that and I would guess that if we had an internet discussion forum like this functioning in 1985, you would have heard many of the same ideas from the 20-30 years olds at the time.
Having said all of that, I'm all for developmental evolution, so long as we carefully design infrastructure and open up the development process transparently instead of cheap deals to private companies behind closed doors. Part of my cynicism (and not just mine) comes from seeing successive weak and feeble selfish Governments build too many monuments to their own power. But, that's as human as growing old.
