Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 10, 1995 TAG: 9504110055
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"Quality of life" isn't necessarily as abstract and difficult to define as it sometimes appears to be. Indeed, there can be remarkable agreement on the essentials: pleasant and safe physical surroundings; economic opportunity; satisfyingly rich cultural, educational and spiritual lives.
But what is meant by "growth"?
Folks say that growth for growth's sake is an empty goal. They're right, if in saying it they mean that a rapidly increasing population is neither a necessary nor sufficient condition for the region's future happiness.
Or folks say that no growth (or slow growth) spells trouble. They, too, are right, if in saying it they mean that growth in economic opportunities is generally accompanied by at least a measure of population growth. While population growth is not necessarily a cause of economic growth, and in some situations can deter it, economic growth tends to bring population growth.
But there's also a sense in which growth is inevitable. As individuals, we cannot avoid "growing" old. As a region, we cannot avoid "growing" different, as the world constantly evolves economically, technologically, socially, politically.
Southwest Virginians have a way of looking at places like the Charlotte or Triangle (Raleigh-Durham) areas of North Carolina as examples of fast growth. Sometimes we exalt them as standards to emulate, other times we hold them up as cautionary tales against the dangers of too much growth.
But Roanoke economically and historically, as an earlier Peril and Promise installment concluded, is part Rustbelt as well as part Sunbelt. Charlotte and the North Carolina Triangle aren't the only models of plausible relevance to the Roanoke region.
Pittsburgh, Pa., is a mid-Appalachian city hit hard by declining employment in the steel and coal industries. The populations of both the central city and the larger region have dropped considerably; between 1970 and 1990, the metro area fell from 10th in the nation to 19th.
Yet, partly because of planning that began 40 years ago, Pittsburgh - once so filthy that it was described as "hell with the lid off" - has become a world-class city with corporate headquarters and major research universities, a city that scores high in most quality-of-living indices.
In one sense, Pittsburgh has not grown at all; in another sense, it is come as far as anyone - has "grown" as fast as anyone - in making the transition from the old industrial economy to the new high-tech and service economy.
If growth is understood this way - as change, transition - then the issue is not whether we want to encourage or discourage it. It's unavoidable. The issue, rather, is how best we today can influence those patterns of growth most apt to lead to the kind of tomorrow that we want.
by CNB