The Economist - UK (2022-05-28)

The Economist May 28th 2022 United States 35

Bentonville’slessons

Live better

I

nhisprime, SamWalton,thefounderof

Walmart,lovedtofly.Inthe1970sand

1980s,beforeanyonecouldstareatsatellite

picturesonGoogleMaps,hewouldtakea

Cessna 414 andbankovertowns,tryingto

judgewheretoopennewstores.Thebest

locationswouldbeattheedgeoftowns,

where America’s expanding network of

highways could bring customers to the

firm’s“discountcities”,eachwithatleast

fiveacresofland,mostofitgivenoverto

carparking.The storesthrived,growing

withthesuburbanisationofAmerica,and

madetheWaltonfamilyrich.Thoughpoli­

ticiansandresidentsattackedthefirmfor

leavingdowntownsdesolate,Waltonhard­

lycared.Ifthecustomerlikedtodriveout

oftowninsearchoflowprices,sobeit.

FlyoverBentonville,innorth­westAr­

kansas, where Walton opened his first

storeandwherethefirmhasitsheadquar­

ters,anditlooksmuchlikemanysmall

Americantowns,withtractsofsingle­fam­

ilyhomes,highwaysandcarparks.Yetvisit

onfootandyouwillseesomethingelse.

Downtown,a clutchofcafes,yogastudios

and a farmer’s market occupy an area

smallerthana Walmartcarpark.A ten­mi­

nutewalkalonga tree­linedtrailleadsto

an astonishingly good art museum, the

Crystal Bridges,builtonstilts amidthe

Ozarkforest.Familiesroamaroundonbi­

cycles.Itis,inshort,a modelofurbanism.

MuchofthisisthankstotheWaltons.

Manyofthemstillliveinthetown,and

takeaclose interestinitsdevelopment.

Having made their money from urban

sprawl,America’srichestdynastyseemsto

wanttobuildsomethingdifferent.

Bentonvilleisaboomtown.Between

2010 and 2020 itspopulationgrewbyover

50%,to54,000. Thewiderregionisthe

13th­fastest­growinginAmerica.Muchof

thisisbecauseofWalmart,whichemploys

14,000peopleinthearea,aswellasTyson

Foods,a bigmeatsupplier,andJ.B.Hunt,a

logisticsfirm.Butthetownalsowantsto

attractpeoplewithitslifestyle.“Wearenot

embarrassed to say we are borrowing

heavilyfromAustin’splaybook,”saysOli­

via Walton,the museum’s chairwoman.

The idea is that by sponsoring music

events,buildingbiketrailsandinvesting

inart,peoplewillbedrawntoBentonville

justastheyhavebeentoTexas’scapital.

Austin’s growth, however, has come

withtrafficcongestion,costlyhousingand

longcommutes.Bentonvillewouldliketo

dodge that. To do so, while still growing, it

will  have  to  persuade  people  to  live  more

densely. The city has grandly trademarked

itself  “Mountain  Biking  Capital  of  the

World”,  and  built  miles  of  trails.  Walmart

notesthathalfofitsemployees in the city

livewithinafive­mile  commute,  and  it

wantstoget10%ofthem cycling to work;

itsnewheadquarters  has  fancy  showers

andbikeparking.Tom  Walton,  who  is  a

grandsonofSam(and  Olivia’s  husband),

cycles around townon  an  electric  bike

witha childseatattached.

“Wearetryingtoprevent...the suburbi­

ficationofnorthwest Arkansas,” says Nel­

sonPeacock,president of a “regional coun­

cil”setupbytheWalton, Hunt and Tyson

families in 1990 to bolster  growth.  His

councilhasbeentrying to persuade the lo­

calgovernmentstoapprove  the  develop­

mentofflats,insteadof just tract housing,

close tojobs.Someare  to  be  offered  to

workersforthecitygovernment at below­

marketrates.Theidea is not only that flats

arecheaperandenable people to live closer

totheirjobs.Theyalso  ought  to  make  it

more plausibleto develop  public  trans­

port.“Wedon’thavea really robust bus sys­

tem,” saysMrPeacock.  Tom  Walton  has

proposedbuildinga block  of  flats  down­

townwithnocar­parking spaces at all.

Densifyingistricky.  Bentonville  alrea­

dyhasalot ofsuburbia.  Its  population

densityishalfofAustin’s, and around 6%

ofNewYork’s.Itszoning  laws  decree,  for

example,thatbowling alleys must have six

parkingspacesforevery  lane.  Developers

like building suburbs  of  single­family

homes;whilelandat the edge of town re­

mainscheap,it istricky to persuade people

tobuyapartments.Still, when Mr Peacock

talkstoofficialsfrombigger cities, he says,

“mostofthemsay,‘we  wish  we’d  started

whenyoudid’.”Somebody has to try—even

if it is afamily that  has  profited from

sprawlperhapsmorethan any other.n

B ENTONVILLE, ARKANSAS

The home of Walmart wants to beat,

of all things, sprawl

No sprawl, please 

greater champion of the conservative
agenda [than Mr Kemp],” said Mr Pence at
an  election­eve  rally  held  in  Kennesaw,
carefully avoiding criticism of his ex­boss.
That  reticence  is  perhaps  more  telling
than Mr Trump’s endorsement win­loss re­
cord  (which  remains  very  high).  Aside
from  pursuing  his  personal  vendettas,  Mr
Trump  has  been  careful  in  most  cases  to
endorse  candidates  with  little  chance  of
losing. He has been so mindful of ensuring
that his position as party kingmaker not be
challenged that he unendorsed one candi­
date for senator from Alabama, Mo Brooks,
who was trailing in the polls—allegedly be­
cause  his  zealotry  for  “stopping  the  steal”
had cooled too much.
It is not hard to find signs of Mr Trump’s
continuing  power.  On  the  same  night  as
the Georgia primary, Republican voters in
Texas chose to keep Ken Paxton, a scandal­
tarred, Trump­endorsed culture warrior, as
their  attorney­general  candidate.  That  Mr
Paxton handily beat George P. Bush, the sci­
on of the family that produced two Repub­
lican presidents, is a microcosm of the par­
ty’s continued evolution. And Republicans
in  Arkansas  voted  overwhelmingly  to  re­
ward Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Mr Trump’s
pugnacious  former  press  secretary,  by
making her the likely next governor of the
state.
The  American  primary  season  is  long,
stretching  all  the  way  from  March  to  Sep­
tember.  But  the  results  so  far  suggest  that
the  Republican  Party  that  emerges  at  the
end  of  this  marathon  will  be  fashioned
more in the image of Mr Trump—not less.
And  given  the  national  environment  that
Democrats face, which includes painful in­
flation  and  a  feeling  of  malaise  towards  a
flagging  Biden  administration,  it  is  likely
that  general­election  voters  in  November
will  elect  a  good  number  of  hardened
Trumpists. Those who wish that MrTrump
would fade away still face a long wait.n

Raffensperger, a win for democracy