Consumer approaches to space and community

Its funny how many residents of houses-with-icy-bits-of-pavement-right-outside have not cleared up the hazard on their front door yet. I wonder how many have even considered taking a shovel to it. No, just enjoy the snow, leave clearance to the government, because they can protect you.

One of the things id like to do is to create a collaborative map of spatial witness statements to investigate gritting last sunday night, when the snow was falling. The maps of which and where councils bothered to grit would speak volumes about the comparative value given to this kind of public safety. Cascading shirking from economistically motivated transport and government entities has been noticed by those with an eye out.

My angst is that we have become ionised out of a sense of local and community commitment. Whether by mass transit systems, distraction, hatred of politics or self love. If theres a problem, the significant and responsible person should not run away from or ignore it so easily, they must be expected to dig in and solve it. Becoming aloof (socially) and distant (spatially) causes harm, but this is what happens most of the time. Apparently it is called 'social mobility'.

Extreme examples are cowardly corrupt third world politicians running away from their electorates to the west and white flight from western capitals. Normal examples I guess are some of the economic migrations of non powerful people of the third world. The difference between the extreme and normal cases is not clear but has something to do with the ability to transform situations. In either case the underlying matters are not addresses, merely postponed and perhaps multiplied

The anticonsumer approach I'm looking for is not contained simply caused by migration patterns. The truth is that if everybody is on the run and in transit, we must spend efforts repairing fissures in local social space and reduce reliance on government.