The apologists for the sprawl spawned by Los Angeles contend that the city gave its residents exactly what they wanted. Los Angeles made real to millions the dream of owning a detached home with your own patch of green. Unhindered by the geographic limitations imposed on East Coast cities, Los Angeles embraced the new found mobility of the car to quickly carve up an unprecedented blank canvas of open land. Yet, anyone who has peered out the window on the approach to LAX knows that the entire region lacks what is perceived to be the area’s primary attraction: space. Nearly every square foot of land is developed, mostly in a low density patchwork of buildings. The odd mosaic is due largely to the unhealthy mix of residential, commercial and industrial structures that results from a laissez faire approach to zoning and land use control. Traditional planning argues for the benefits of regular breaks from the urban landscape through parks and other public spaces. Still, as you travel around Southern California, any search for open space is in vain. It’s no wonder that so many Angelenos drive on freeways. The freeways actually offer a respite from the dull, uninspiring streetscape prevalent throughout the area.

If we are to believe that Southern California’s great triumph is giving people exactly what they want, then the region is the mirror by which we can view our true selves. Like the drunk who takes a hard, cold look at himself the morning after another night of overindulgence, we can’t like what we see. The crowded, unsightly landscape of Los Angeles is the logical conclusion to the notion that everyone can have room to escape to their own private Eden. Add in the massive inefficiency and destruction caused by congestion, the untenable dependence on other people’s water, and the city’s role in the demise of the ubiquitous streetcars throughout the country, and the triumph of Los Angeles is as hollow as the sappy ending in a Hollywood movie. Maybe this observation is ultimately the region’s lasting contribution to world culture. Without the instructive lessons of Southern California, we might never know the true ending to the Great American Sprawl story.

U.S. automakers are also hoping to rewrite history through a switch to more fuel-efficient vehicles. Trying to make up for years of obstructing efforts to improve fuel economy and develop alternative fuel technologies, the automakers are now investing billions to remake their product lines. General Motors has established an advanced research facility in upstate New York to perfect new hybrid engines and fuel saving technologies. According to the Wall Street Journal:

Until recently, GM kept quiet about its most advanced research. [The facility] has rarely opened its doors to outsiders. But the company recently brought a small group of reporters here as part of a strategy to demonstrate that GM can compete technologically with Toyota Motor Corp. GM hopes it can beat Toyota to market, grabbing an early lead with this technology that will change how consumers think of the company and boost the image of its conventional vehicles.

U.S. automakers may succeed in pulling their heads out of the sand and become leaders in new technologies, but, as with the sprawl that emanated from Los Angeles, we should never forget their role in getting us into this mess.