ABSTRACT
In this essay I look for elements of John Friedmann’s alternative development in an unlikely space: the exurban foothills of northern California. Not only are the foothills a long way from central Brazil, where I did my graduate work in the late 1980s; they are part of a larger cultural region known for anti-state, property rights activism, which seems antithetical to John’s alternative development triad of life space, household and community. How can John’s framework for alternative development in the third world keep me asking the right questions in a context that seems (a) so alien to the international context where I started and (b) antagonistic to planning? In Brazil, my focus on household labor and housing strategies drew on
parts of John’s empowerment model of development, and I produced details about de-peasantization where corporate agriculture (namely, soybeans) was taking hold in central Brazil in the 1980s. I could not claim that the people were practising alternative development, but indeed it was their lack of mobilization in the face of displacement that intrigued me (Chase 1999). After displacement from farms and ranches, households’ labor market strategies required a home front in town, and many of them were swept into “friendly” relations with wealthy farmers and powerful local organizations such as the farmer cooperative, the Lions Club and municipal social services. Cement, vacant lots, food donations and even sterilization operations were traded for votes. The urban periphery sprawled as the new inhabitants maintained their ties to the countryside as workers. The urban citizenship of the poor took shape in this tangled web of interdependence with the countryside. My interest in the ambiguous spaces between city and country has
endured. People’s lives and the actual physical interface between city and countryside in unincorporated areas and small towns call for a less dualistic approach to life space. My current research in northern California looks at people’s desire to maintain a working landscape in foothill areas that have been zoned residential (Chase 2015). My county planning commission work requires that I ask questions and make decisions about land-use conflicts in these spaces.
