Autonomous Suburbia

Reweb Series No.2
( previously published material from an earlier time and space )

Autonomous Suburbia
( Ross Pederick, Fitzroy 3065 Victoria in 1995 )

While we ride the peak of materialism, accepting two or three cars in the garage, houses full of mass produced consumer goods, fridges, TV's etc. as the norm of life but at what social price. Personal isolation, endemic, one person per vehicle, hours of television and video immersion, neurosis, paranoia, is this residual frustration, and personal dissatisfaction, not to mention environmental degradation, really worth the dubious advantages of our consumer based capitalist infra structure.
So then is capital exploitation, an answer, or a problem, is it the greatest form of generating wealth, yet humanly devised or is it a cankerous growth run wild? Is meaningful existence to be fundamentally found by being in the employ of basically indifferent corporate structures, where the focus of production , the return of economic surplus is not directly connected to each individuals personal well being.
Here is a basic dichotomy , between personal action and individual gain ,it also highlights inherent inefficiencies, where income finances both place of employ and grossly separate place of residence, plus means of interconnection. What economies could be exercised were place of production, and location of residence become one and the same. Ones definition of work would be reshaped, from waged employee to socially concerned coactivator.
For an individual to have active interest in social local deeds , there must be a shared sense of place with perhaps three to ten thousand others. Who say this is the place we give effort to, this is the region we derive sustenance from, these are the skills to be used, these are the returns expected.
So a shift would be seen from consumer isolation where self worth is measured by the dubious satisfaction gained from mass produced possessions to the pleasures of acting with others for common gain. What are the mechanisms by which these paradigm shifts come to be? How is social inertia distinguished from vested interest, after all division underlies consumption, what are the limits of personal ownership, at which individual possessions become absurd?
How can an Autonomous Suburb best be defined ? What is Autonomous Suburbia ? Does it exist ? Is it more then a state of mind, what steps go from the idea to a livable actuality? My guess is that a precursor for the individual is personal dissatisfaction with western capitalism, as it stands in terms of meaningful existence .A next step would be thoughtful reading and inquiry into the way current society functions, in relation for people involved, next would be to establish active social links with persons of like mind, of like locale.

**Autonomous Suburbia**
*( Ross Pederick, Fitzroy 3065 Victoria in 1995 )*
	While we ride the peak of materialism, accepting two or three cars in the garage, houses full of mass produced consumer goods, fridges, TV's etc. as the norm of life but at what social price. Personal isolation, endemic, one person per vehicle, hours of television and video immersion, neurosis, paranoia, is this residual frustration, and personal dissatisfaction, not to mention environmental degradation, really worth the dubious advantages of our consumer based capitalist infra structure. So then is capital exploitation, an answer, or a problem, is it the greatest form of generating wealth, yet humanly devised or is it a cankerous growth run wild? Is meaningful existence to be fundamentally found by being in the employ of basically indifferent corporate structures, where the focus of production , the return of economic surplus is not directly connected to each individuals personal well being. Here is a basic dichotomy , between personal action and individual gain ,it also highlights inherent inefficiencies, where income finances both place of employ and grossly separate place of residence, plus means of interconnection. What economies could be exercised were place of production, and location of residence become one and the same. Ones definition of work would be reshaped, from waged employee to socially concerned coactivator. For an individual to have active interest in social local deeds , there must be a shared sense of place with perhaps three to ten thousand others. Who say this is the place we give effort to, this is the region we derive sustenance from, these are the skills to be used, these are the returns expected. So a shift would be seen from consumer isolation where self worth is measured by the dubious satisfaction gained from mass produced possessions to the pleasures of acting with others for common gain. What are the mechanisms by which these paradigm shifts come to be? How is social inertia distinguished from vested interest, after all division underlies consumption, what are the limits of personal ownership, at which individual possessions become absurd? How can an Autonomous Suburb best be defined ? What is Autonomous Suburbia ? Does it exist ? Is it more then a state of mind, what steps go from the idea to a livable actuality? My guess is that a precursor for the individual is personal dissatisfaction with western capitalism, as it stands in terms of meaningful existence .A next step would be thoughtful reading and inquiry into the way current society functions, in relation for people involved, next would be to establish active social links with persons of like mind, of like locale.

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