Ways of Thinking

´Key Concepts in Urban Studies´ is easy to read and the author obviously likes to make generalizations. Some concepts were intresting (Green Belt Policy) and allowed me to draw parallels. Some concepts were bold (Environmental Racism) and some were unconventional and allogeneous (Roland Barthes, City center as a kind of eroticism).

Muuga Aedlinn has its own so called ´Green Belt´, but in a twisted, ironc way. There are naphtha tanks besieging this small suburb. So, this ´Black Gold Belt´ limits the outward growth of the suburb area and most defenitely prevents regional sprawl. Lucky suburbanites!

Environmental Racism is also present in this suburb of Maardu. Naphtha smell fills the streets and houses on daily bases. During the day time it is not so recognizable but when the darkness falls the smell gets stronger. This air pollution is the most obvious, but not the only one. In order to bridle and control the inhabitants of Muuga there is a consolation phonenumber - 1313 - where you can report about the disturbing conditions. And that is the ´cure´ for this problem?!

In general i agree with authors writings about ´Environmental Racism´ but there is something that is confusing. He claims that rich and powerful people are guilty of polluting the earth. So being powerful is a premis to this kind of activity??
There is an old tunnel (probably a bomb shelter) on the very beginning of Laagna Tee in Lasnamäe . It is a place where people (probably not powerful and rich, but the very same people who live near-by in these massive, monotonous panel houses) occasionally storage their houshold waste. Or in Maardu where is a summerhouse district, people have ´garnished´ the road sides with household waste, especially massive loads of baby dipers?!. Dipers dry-rot approximately 75 years and that means – this kind of waste will outlive the user. Is that a legacy that someone really would like to leave to their child or even to their grand-child?
It is not comparable to the pollution of hazardous waste in New York, where people suffered of cancer and birth defects, but the way of thinking of the people who dumped household waste or hazardous waste is similar. They just do not care. The difference is in the scale of pollution, possibilites and in the consequences!
In order to prevent this kind of fatal/mortal errors there has to be a change in thinking.
´The Anarchist Roots of the Planning Movement´ made me think, maybe we should in a way return to these roots. The purpouse is not rebellion but a burning need of change, change in the way of thinking and obviously the action should be in correlation with thinking.