"Yes in my Backyard" Encourages Sustainable Efforts in Neighborhoods
If you've heard the phrase "no in my backyard," get ready to learn about this spinoff phrase, which is being used to promote affordable and sustainable housing.
Photo Source: Hackaday
A new spin has been put on a well-known phrase originating in the 1970s.
The phrase “not in my backyard” has typically been used in reference to neighborhoods rejecting new, undesired construction. While this mentality can sometimes be a fair reaction to proposals of dangerous or invasive projects, it often includes the rejection of environmental efforts or affordable housing that brings low-income or minority groups into more affluent neighborhoods.
In opposition to that often exclusionary mindset grew the “yes in my backyard” movement.
According to yesinmybackyard.org, the “yes in my backyard” movement, shortened to YIMBY, reverses this narrative by encouraging construction, hoping to “end the housing shortage and achieve affordable, sustainable and equitable housing for all.”
This model is based on the economic principles of supply and demand, believing that if more housing opportunities exist, the increased supply will lead to lower housing prices across the board and provide more affordable housing opportunities for low-income people.
This movement grew out of California in the mid-2010s and has gained significant traction since. Now, the YIMBY movement has spread all the way across the country to New York and many states in between.
However, the movement has drawn some critics who believe YIMBY is a flawed model, reminiscent of a trickle-down effect, that results in reliance on construction companies who are incentivized to build and profit off of more expensive housing.
While its primary focus is on housing, the “yes in my backyard” expression has been adapted to progress environmental efforts as well.
This adaptation challenges people to say yes to the implementation of sustainable measures, such as solar panels or wind turbines, in their backyards. While solar panels might be more directly applicable in a backyard, the idea is meant to be less literal, encouraging people to embrace environmentally-focused construction instead of opposing it.
Even people who consider themselves to be supporters of environmentally sustainable actions can be wary of sustainable construction within their neighborhood or wider area of familiarity. Although someone might understand the importance of things like dams, large solar panels or windmill farms, people are generally less excited about having them implemented in proximity to their homes.
Although these projects may not fit the desires of a neighborhood, in order for there to be wind power, wind turbines need to be built. The same concept applies for the solar panels that create solar electricity, the nuclear power plants that produce nuclear power and the lithium mines that allow for the creation of lithium batteries that power the majority of electric vehicles.
These methods of sustainability may all come with their own risks and moral dilemmas, but the YIMBY environmental movement suggests that in order to reap the benefits of sustainable actions, people must be willing to embrace the creation of these projects not just in some distant, seemingly far-off place, but in their own communities.
Photo Source: Popular Science
Especially in suburban areas with strict homeowners associations or ideas of the ideal white picket fence neighborhood, it can be difficult for people to prioritize sustainable efforts.
The idea of suburbia itself is critiqued by YIMBY supporters who argue that ever-expanding suburban neighborhoods are a drain on communities and the environment.
These neighborhoods are critiqued socially as deemphasizing community-building and aiding in class and racial divides by creating exclusionary areas of high wealth concentration. However, they are also critiqued environmentally as being inefficient uses of land that turn natural spaces into environmentally barren areas where monoculture lawns and manicured trees are expected or even sometimes enforced by homeowners associations and social stigma. Also, suburban neighborhoods are typically designed around large, single-family homes that are usually far from town centers, decreasing the walkability of neighborhoods and increasing reliance on having multiple cars per household.
These neighborhoods are also associated with higher levels of pollution and resource drain. According to Britannica, “Exurban low-density neighborhoods consume more energy per capita than their high-density counterparts closer to the city’s core.”
Instead, environmentalists turn to environmentally-conscious housing that prioritizes efficient use of resources and space, often opting to build upward instead of outward to increase housing density. These plans often shift focus away from the normal rockwell-esque neighborhoods and toward walkable cities with efficient public transportation and higher-density housing situated above or near venders.
Although it is hard to make change as large as shifting preferences away from the stereotype neighborhood, it is important to continually reflect on the implicit biases that can hide within seemingly harmless things and to look for ways to create a better, more equitable and sustainable future.
Best,
Stephanie for the Don’t Count Us Out Yet Team