This paper was presented at the `Managing Change in and Era of Scarce Resources' session. This paper discusses the authors approach to suburban road planning in the context of Garret Hardin's "Tragedy of the Commons", arguing the inevitability of the conclusion, whether or not you agree that it is here. The authors explore an alternative road network for suburban areas, proposing a finer grid of streets, that provides an opportunity, not only for better access to and from individual communities, but between communities as well, without the need to access arterial roads. The paper presents an argument for a minimum of two and preferably three streets in each direction forming an internal grid, allowing a better distribution of traffic, more effective use of infrastructure, and the ability to reduce design standards on arterial roads. The solution is also presented in the context of Hardin's proposed solution of mutual coercion, mutually agreed upon, as perhaps the only way to overcome the individual interests that have created the current situation, and threaten to perpetuate it. (A)
Abstract