Conscious Choice: Americentrism

October 2000 | Citizen at Large

Americentrism

by Jay Walljasper

One of the peculiarities of life in the United States is the overwhelming insistence that everything in our culture represents a dress rehearsal for the future. This belief is surprisingly widespread, even among ardent advocates of social change, many of whom assume that anything that happens in the world — good, bad, or indifferent — was sparked by some action right here at home.

Now, this was probably the case in the years after World War II, when the United States possessed half of the world’s intact manufacturing capacity and eagerly foisted modern "miracles" like junk food and nuclear power on the rest of the planet. To be fair, we also shared our jazz, blues, folk, and rock music along with new ideas on environmental protection and women’s rights.

By the 1970s and‘80s, however, our lock on tomorrow’s trends had loosened considerably. Ill-conceived projects like supersonic jetliners were being forwarded by British and French hands while hopeful signs like Green political parties were gaining recognition in Belgium and West Germany. Many of the newest breakthroughs in the field of health and wellness (indeed, the whole notion of wellness) were borrowed from China and India. Even important innovations conceived in the United States, like solar energy, were being incubated in Japan.

All this has not yet sunk in for most Americans, especially in the journalism profession. In the U.S., there’s little sense that we have anything to learn from the rest of the world. International coverage in our press consists mainly of bad news — reports on the latest war, riot, diplomatic crisis, or earthquake.

If a plane crashes in Bulgaria, we hear all about it. And if any Americans were aboard, then it becomes the occasion for in-depth investigative inquiries into "The Safety of Eastern European Air Travel." But if Sweden installs innovative high-speed rail service between its two largest cities (which it did, using a new tilt train that can travel on conventional railway track thus eliminating the need for costly new construction), it doesn’t rate a mention — even though increased air safety and a cleaner environment are two immediate consequences of the fact that many Swedish travellers now choose rail over planes.

I have been particularly reminded of the narrowly provincial perspective of the mainstream American media during several trips to Denmark, where I’ve researched stories on urban policy for Utne Reader and The Nation magazines.

Many American cities face challenges, as many middle-class families continue to move to the suburban fringes of our metropolitan areas. Inner city neighborhoods are still depicted as tough spots where no one would live if they had any other choice. This is reported in the media as a blunt fact, with no recognition that a different model of urban life exists anywhere else. There’s never an intimation that there are lessons to be learned from lively and livable Danish cities like Copenhagen and Aalborg, where the problems are similar but the solutions vastly different.

Like the United States, Denmark is a nation heavily invested in the dream of single-family homes with neat yards. Copenhagen has a growing chain of wealthy suburbs surrounding a poorer central city. But rather than chalking this up as a sign of the city’s demise, Danish officials look at urban problems in a broader context. They understand that cities are favored by students and other young people as well as immigrants (both from the Danish countryside and other lands), all of whom are making a start in their careers. As many of these inner city dwellers prosper and decide to have children, some of them will naturally opt for the slower life and tidy lawns of outlying city neighborhoods and the suburbs. This does not reflect the failure of inner city life so much as its success; the inner city provided people with the means to afford a more expensive single-family home or two-flat.

In a holistic view, the inner city and suburbs are all part of the same community, one a place where people live during the exciting time when they are starting out in the world and the other a spot they move upon securing a higher income and settling down. Cities also harbor a higher percentage of poor and disabled people. When you recognize all this, it seems very unfair to expect the inner city and richer suburbs to compete as economic equals. It’s like expecting a youngster to pay an even share of rent and household expenses from an after-school job even though adults in the family earn much more money with full-time jobs.

Yet that’s precisely the attitude toward cities in the United States. They are expected to pay their own way, even though urban taxpayers generally earn far less than their suburban counterparts.

Danish urban policy, on the other hand, recognizes the special economic disadvantages faced by cities and remedies the situation by transferring some tax money from the wealthier suburbs to the central cities. At the same time they work to enhance urban neighborhoods as a place to live by renovating old apartment buildings and adding amenties. I’ve never seen a place with more playgrounds than Copenhagen or Aalborg, and the downtown sections of both cities sport lively public places and cultural attractions that draw visitors from all over the region. People fond of the pizazz of city life are encouraged to stay in town to raise their families and parents whose children have grown up are lured back to the center to live.

These are ideas that the American public deserves to know about as we ponder the future of our own cities. For America and the world to overcome its mounting social and environmental problems, we need to draw on the wisdom and experience of everyone, Brazilian shamans and Egyptian sociologists, Tibetan lamas and Prague philosophers. If the phrase "think globally, act locally" is to mean anything more than the paper (or bumper stickers or T-shirts) it is written on, then Americans are going to need to let go of the belief that we still hold some kind of special key that unlocks the passageway to tomorrow.

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