Dark Age Ahead

For those that have read the works of Jane Jacobs, she is not prone to writing about all of the things we are doing extremely well.  Her final literary installment is no different. Jacobs references historic Dark Ages–eras of where large amounts of resilience and cultural capital are lost–and relates them to the present course of Western civilization. The author offers stern words of caution for societies that have grown to think of themselves (ourselves) as beyond the risks of failure or degradation. The book goes on to highlight areas that have already begun to wane in intensity or clarity that have allowed us to migrate away from the path we believe to still be on.  

Jacobs breaks down her analysis into five pillars–five areas of focus to weigh the state of nurturing cultural capital:

1. Community & Family
2. Higher Education
3. The effective practice of Science & science-based technology
4. Taxes and governmental powers directly in touch with needs & possibilities
5. Self-policing by learned professionals

There are other tomes and queries about both the importance of these topics and their capacity to contribute and define a national culture, but here the author brings her distinguished lens of planning and economics to frame her argument in ways readily perceptible by a broad audience. Given that most of the book references aspects of daily life that most of us share, no experience or even avid interest in the fields of design, planning or economics is required to harvest the quality of the book.

I have always found Jacobs to be easy to read. She was consistently a writer who discussed important topics in a smart way rather than writing with text for the goal of sounding smart. Her words are cast in a tone of frank warning, but hers is not a message of hopelessness. While not trying to sugarcoat her assessments, she presents no problem as one we cannot fix.

While each chapter makes a fairly good case why its respective pillar constitutes a valuable, if not vital, part in defining cultural strength, the path that is taken from data, to anecdote, to opinion can be a circuitous one. While the series of points, that can border on tangential, have a way of being tied back together at the close of the chapter, there is a bit of wandering that goes on within the text.

“People get used to losses (fortunately, or life would be unbearable) and take absences for granted.”

One of the most important underlying messages that Jacobs tries to convey is the fragility of systems that we mistakenly believe to be unquestionably resilient. We have a tendency to ascribe a great deal of strength to cultural values and practices, but the truth is that traditions, languages and important events can all be lost within two generations if efforts aren’t proactively taken to preserve them. Historic Dark Ages can be caused by a number of variables, but Jacobs notes that they all involve a mass amnesia, a forgetfulness that stagnates long enough to make the damage irreparable. There are obvious parallels to be drawn to the biosphere as well.

Without a doubt, this book revolves around ideas of sustainability. Though environmental stewardship may not be one of Jacobs’ focal pillars, the topic of our continued destruction of the natural world makes its way into her musings multiple times. Books like these are also great examples of why it is important to remember the breadth of what encapsulated within the term “sustainability.” While the dearth of ecological stewardship may be one of our biggest deficiencies in propagating a sustainable culture, that alone will not spell success for humanity. The loss of our cultural strengths and a descent into a true age of forgotten value could also challenge the ability of humanity to sustain itself.

The book may not leave readers with specific revolutionary conclusions for what solutions need to be enacted, but the value rests in the exercise of how problems are assessed and how this critical thinking can be used to question realities against what we are trying to achieve versus bundling them into the given of “the way it is.”