IS IT NECESSARY FOR A SMART GROWTH MOVEMENT TO BE POLITICAL? 

 

Marguerite de Larrard

First, let us define what a Smart Growth Movement (SGM) is, although this isn’t an easy task. Let’s assume it is a citizen’s movement advocating and experimenting alternative ways of life, with a special focus on environmental and urban-quality-of-life questions. 

Then: what does “political” mean? An opinion is “political” when it is a choice based on non-technical criteria. A scientist can give you several options, detailing the costs and benefits of each one: then you have to choose, according to your preference or priorities. Thus, when a small amount of people choose (or decide) for the majority, they are engaged in politics. That is the reason why they communicate so much. They must convince others that their choice is the best. 

So we have two questions. Is the Smart Growth Movement a purely objective, scientific, neutral movement, whose proposals may be disconnected from any kind of individual preferences? Certainly not! The SMG is the expression of a special “vision of life”, defending some interests (a better quality of life, preservation of nature, etc.) against others interests (such as the profits of companies that are harmful to the environment or to life itself). The second question is: is the SGM a purely individual choice? When it starts to deal with urbanism and local politics, it starts to go beyond a merely individual point of view. It begins to deal with politics.  

Although some groups might claim they are apolitical, the Smart Growth Movement is, by its very essence, a political movement. It deals with collective issues and through its actions expresses a specific and particular vision of society.