Design After the Mindframe of Oil | Nov 7th at 3:32pm

Posted by Nate Berg | Tags: oil | 0

Peak oil is the idea that we have passed the point of maximum extraction of oil from the world. Some say this day is coming soon. Others say it has already come. Both agree that oil will not be around forever. The point of this symposium is to figure out a way for cities to react as it runs out. But the problem is not the time frame, its the mindframe.

This is an interesting way to digest the oil issue, and it was mentioned briefly during a presentation by architect Lance Hosey. He is Director at McDonough Partners, a firm well known for its environmental design innovations, and his point is that lifestyles and habits are probably the greater hurdle over which we all must leap to kick the oil habit. Oil running out might help get the shift moving, but at its core, this shift is a personal one—meaning it has to be a shift within people.

Lifestyle changes take a while. We are starting to see some movement along these lines, though, and this movement is surprisingly not solely a result of rising oil prices. Vehicle miles traveled (VMT) actually started to dip before oil prices began to rise in late 2007. That drop continued as oil prices continued to rise above three, four or even five dollars. These prices are falling again, and though there are fears that John and Jane Gastank will now revert to their guzzling ways, many expect the downward trend of VMT to continue.

People seem to have remembered that they like places where they can walk. They’ve also become more sensitive to environmental problems and the behaviors that cause them. These are the sorts of mindframe shifts that are going to be necessary if our culture is going to be able to react to a world in which oil is no longer the rule.

Nate Berg is the assistant editor of the urban planning news website Planetizen, where he reports, blogs and podcasts about urban planning issues. The topic areas he's most interested in right now are the environment, public space and event-based urbanism.

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