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NIMBY (an initialism for Not In My Back Yard) is an acronym for the phenomenon in which residents oppose a development as being inappropriate for their local area but, by implication, do not have a blanket opposition to such developments elsewhere. It is therefore used to signify protest by people whose major concern about some development or activity is for it not be associated with or developed within their locale.
Such protesters are often known as NIMBYs or NIMBYists. While they may protest many kinds of development, they are primarily encountered when a developer or local administration attempts to build or expand housing, shopping, office space, or a major road. However this is also used to describe protesters who protest against other forms of developmental activity in their area, such as infrastructure projects (power plants, electrical transmission lines, wastewater treatment plants, quarries, landfills and prisons), new housing developments, cult-like or alternative lifestyle communes, non-traditional religious buildings, and the like. The Oxford English Dictionary describes the phrase as originating in the United States, with the first recorded usage being in 1980 in the Christian Science Monitor.
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NIMBYs advance several arguments against the proposed development. While sometimes acknowledging the need for such development, NIMBYs may claim that new development will increase local traffic, hurt small business, decrease property values, degrade the environment, spoil a community's small-town feel, or generally strain public resources. NIMBYs also often argue that the proposed development will overwhelm public schools; since many fast-growing suburbs already experience crowding in public schools, that argument often carries considerable weight. Other times, if a big-box store or similar development is planned, NIMBYs object that the store will be disproportionately used by non-locals, while degrading the quality of life for locals. In the case of essential infrastructure, although the wider community as a whole may agree to the need for such infrastructure, it is frequently difficult to find a suitable location due to objections of the local community in any location. Frequently, these objections are related to earlier issues discussed as well as issues of safety. Critics claim that the new developments are needed, and they may accuse the NIMBYs of elitism, parochialism, or a drawbridge mentality. In the case of new commercial developments, critics often also claim that the community needs the resulting jobs and tax revenues and that NIMBYs demand expensive local services without regard to how the local government will pay for them. For example, in Alexandria, Virginia, people who opposed the original proposals for high-density development in Potomac Yard were faulted for demanding a Washington Metro station while simultaneously opposing the scale of development that would provide either sufficient funds for the station or sufficient ridership to justify its construction. Moreover, some critics of NIMBYism see it as a cover for opposition to diversity and a desire to preserve neighborhood homogeneity, particularly when the development being opposed is public housing or the like. In the case of essential infrastructure, it may be possible to build the infrastructure in a more isolated location, but critics point out that frequently this will increase the costs and backbone infrastructure required to service the main infrastructure. In the case of power plants, integrated hot water or home heating may be possible in the vicinity surrounding the power plant but not at a distance. Furthermore, many critics point out that there is frequently criticism from the local community even in a fairly isolated location. Ironically, while NIMBYs often claim that they are trying to prevent urban sprawl, NIMBYism can in certain circumstances accelerate rather than reduce such sprawl. Because population grows continuously, new developments must be built somewhere. If suburban NIMBYs demand a reduction in the density of a proposed development, one foreseeable result is that the same amount of development, when built at a lower density, will simply occupy more land. Thus, the same amount of development will sprawl more than under the original proposal. Alternatively, the developer can simply avert lengthy political fights by building in less developed areas on the outskirts of suburbia, where either NIMBY opposition cannot galvanize or the local government welcomes new development. When many developers build large developments on the outskirts, they fuel the pattern of low-density development. Smart Growth has been proposed as a way of addressing NIMBY concerns without halting needed development. However, smart growth itself can face NIMBY opposition in the community for which it is proposed.
Popular Culture
- Sim City - The manuals in the Sim City series repeatedly mention NIMBY effects with structures that help the city overall but also cause negative effects to the area in which they are built.
See also
External links
- "Sprawl Is Like the Weather," Planning Commissioners Journal, discussing the role of opposition to high-density development in promoting sprawl
- Environmentalists: Left, Right or Out in Front?
5-letter acronyms | Urban studies and planning | Sustainability | Environmental sayings | Pejorative political terms
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"NIMBY"