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​Even the Pope Hates the Suburbs

In his forthcoming teaching document, the Pope will call out the "social anonymity" of the 'burbs.
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In his tenure so far, Pope Francis has tackled no shortage of controversial subjects. He's come out swinging full bore against climate change and those who deny it's happening, he's lambasted commodity speculation and unfettered capitalism, and he's even kinda, sorta, trumpeted gay rights. Now we can add another unlikely target of the pope's ire: the suburbs.

Urbanists, bored teenagers, Tom Hanks, the Arcade Fire, and the pope all have something in common, turns out: They all bristle at the cookie-cutter spawn of Levittown, and the "social anonymity" that stems from living there.

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This week, a draft of the pope's highly anticipated encyclical on global warming leaked to the press a few days early—revealing in the process that the one group Francis has no tolerance for is embargo breakers—and it's a remarkable, 192-page document that firmly contextualizes environmentalism as a moral issue. It cements climate change as largely manmade, calls for the world to act to address it, and dives pretty deeply into a host of obstacles and solutions.

Francis comments on deforestation, land use issues, the need to aid the poor hit hardest by climate change, and, in one passage flagged by Slate's Eric Holthaus, he inveighs against environments thrown out of harmony and the "social anonymity" of the suburbs. Here's the passage, as translated by Slate's Italian-speaking editorial staff:

"Living in environments deprived of harmony can cause inhuman behavior and leave inhabitants susceptible to corrupt organizations: for instance, the social anonymity of living in the suburbs," the encyclical reads. "However, love is stronger, and once ego and selfishness are overcome, living in crowded conditions can also cause a sense of community and lead to improvements in this area."

The pope is essentially saying that the suburbs are an inharmonious social organization, and that overcrowded cities are, too. But at least the cities can give rise to that "sense of community" and cooperation, while the 'burbs are more of an isolating, stifling affair.

The sentiment tracks with the pope's other ecological and economic views—typically, suburbs are home to the upper-middle class (though that's changing); people tend to be happier not living in them; and they're certainly a larger strain on the environment, both in terms of development and resource consumption.

Over the last few years, slowing suburban sprawl has become a fundamental plank of the modern sustainability and urbanism movements, and the Encyclical elsewhere lavishes praise on environmentalists, who have "already travelled a long, rich road and has given rise to numerous groups of ordinary people that have inspired reflection," according to a Guardian translation of the text.

Now, I'm a pretty casual pope-watcher, but I'd say the sentiment underscores Francis's core message: That there's a greater need than ever to recover a sense of community, to spend more time considering our less fortunate peers, to bridge the wealth and class gaps spreading across the globe, and to treat the environment with a sense of respect and stewardship.

Makes sense, then, that he'd hate the 'burbs.