Saying "no" to Walmart does not remove the wants and needs they exist to serve. If you want a more locally-oriented community, you need a more local-friendly system, says Scott Doyon.
“'I don’t shop at Walmart.' Talk about a loaded phrase. Five simple words, but issue them collectively and you effectively open a Pandora’s Box of suggestion: Where you stand economically. Where you stand politically. How you feel about the environment. Or localism. Or capitalism."
Scott Doyon applies systems thinking to the hard realities that created Walmart, and how we might get more resilient communities via changes in land use regulations, transportation patterns, tax incentives, and other system obstacles.
"The system that fosters Walmart is not part of the natural order. It’s not an eternal and unchanging truth we must contend with. We created it, and we can recreate it if we so choose. For now, we’re in a position to take these matters on by choice. But in a world of depleting energy resources, crazy climate, and polarized politics, that may not always be the case. We may simply wake up one day and find that the system has failed and Walmart’s fleet of rolling inventory will no longer be dropping by."
FULL STORY: Walmart and the Quest for a Better Mousetrap
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Economic & Planning Systems, Inc.
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research