~ r m s No
Place
'Non-Places: Introduction anthropology s u p e r m o d e r n i t y ' . V e r s o 1996 *De C a r l o , G. ' C a n n o n - p l a c e s (re)transformed into places' Domus. J u l / A u g 2004 *Auge,
Mega
M.
structures
' M e g a - s t r u c t u r e s : Urban F u t u r e s *Banham, Past.' Hudson. 1 9 7 6 . Thames
urban Highway e n g i n e e r i n g an C o r b u s i e r , ' T o w a r d s a New A r c h i t e c t u r e ' . *L Dover Towns (The Buchanan R e p o r t ) HMSO 1 9 6 3 . *Traffic Th
Fortified
Recent
2000.
City
Hilbersheimer, Defence' 'Cities H a r r i n g t o n , Shadow S p a i t h , D, C h i c a g o 1988 Institute Davis, ' C i t y o f Quartz: Excavating A n g e l e s ' . V e r s o 1990
1945 from Pommer M i e s ' Th
Future
* J e n k s , M,
Design D e m p s e y , N. ' F u t u r e Forms S u s t a i n a b l e C i t i e s . ' A r c h i t e c t u r a l P r e s s 2005
Ecological City * H e n d r i k s , c, D u i j v e s t e i n , c. I m p r e s s i o n s . Aeneas 2002. Th
'The e c o l o g i c a l c i t y -
Post-urban Space *D Posturban 'The Complexity Meyer,D, v e r s l u y s Space' ' T h e Urban C o n d i t i o n : S p a c e Community Self in C o n t e m p o r a r y M e t r o p o l i s . ' 01 P u b l i s h e r 1999. de Haan, 2001. *Graafland,A. ' T h e C r i t i c a l L a n d s c a p e ' 01
Disorganised Space Space' * P o p e A. ' T h e D i s o r g a n i s a t i o n Princeton A r c h i t e c t u r a l Press 1996. P i m l o t t , M. ' T e r r i t o r y interior' w i t h i n . ' Episode Publishers 2007.
'Ladders',
'Without
ix
Preface Peter K a t z
By the surruner of 1991, when I began this pro
crowding, crime an
ject, it seemed evident that a ne
urban design movement was taking shape. Publications as
center cities in the past offered reasons enough
The Atlantic, Trave Leisure, People and Smithsonian had all featured what was then
the
being called "Nee-traditional" planning.
advantages, it also fragmented our society separating us from friends and relatives and breaking down the bonds of community that ha served ou nation so well in earlier times. Despite the increasing sophistication of ou physical and electronic networks (highways, telephones, television, television, etc.), we remain today a fragmented society. Networks, alas, are no substitute for true community In my view, the Ne Urbanism couldn't have come at a better time. There is growing sense that the suburban paradigm, which has dominated since the 1940s and 1950s cannot sustain another generation of growth. Th costs of suburban sprawl are all around us-they're visible in the creeping deterioration of once proud neighborhoods, the increasing alienation of large segments of society, a constantly rising crime rate an widespread environmental degradation. Though gradual, an for that reason by many, these changes have altered our world in ways that we are just no starting to understand.
as
Several television networks had covered it as well. The architectural press was slower to come around; this story didn't fit neatly into their well established established celebrity system. For me, an extensive article in Time A1agazine on the work of Andres Duany, Elizabeth Plater Zyberk and Peter Calthorpe was th clincher. ne architecture an urban design move ment had already gone mainstream, yet few of the architects that knew were even aware o f i ~ . This book had to be done. Th Ne Urbanism is movement that I feel will be of great relevance to future planning efforts in this country. It addresses many of he ills of ou current sprawl development pattern while returning to a cherished American icon: that of a compact, close-knit community. Fo most of human history, people have banded together for mutual security or to be close to critical resources-water, food and, more recently, ports, rail hubs and employment centers. Th advent of he automobile and
disease which plagued
to leave. In the postwar era, suburbia became of
While this ne
most way of living had many
A telecommute telecommute work facility occupies the upper loor of a neighborhood cmter in Southport, West Sacramento, California. A cl!ildcare center, convenience store, cafe and newsstand are on the street level.
suburbs. Kunstler finds no shortage of causes the auto and petroleum interests, the greed of developers and the shortsightedness of civic officials among them. Th "joyride" that he feels we've been on since the 1940s has devas tated ou built environment. No that the ride is over, we must deal with its consequences. addresses that challenge The New Urbanism addresses It may not be the American Dream as it was constituted in ou parents' generation, but it could ultimately offer a better option for those of my own-the baby-boom generation. We've been teased by the promise, yet denied the benefits of his so called "dream." Urbanism, for Th proposals of he Ne ·····- example, -include -include several forms of housing that haven't been built since my grandfather's time. Since then, they've been systematically systematically elimi nated. I' referring to truly high-quality apart ments an townhouses, boarding houses that were respectable places to live; also accessory units, duplexes and quadruplexes of every kind. All of hese proven options from the past seem again suited to the needs of a diverse society. The New Urbanism, though, is not just revivaL While it borrows heavily heavily from tradi tional city planning concepts-particularly those of he years I900-I920 (now corning to be regarded as a watershed era in the history of urban design)-the Ne Urbanists Urbanists acknowledg
with: automobiles an "big-box" stores, to mention just a few. Far from suggesting we tu ou backs on the benefxts of modem living, the return to com munity that they advocate may, in fact, be empowered by new technology. Telecommuting with the aid of computers and modems from home office or neighborhood work center is one such example. Th advantages oftime an money saved by not driving long distances to available fo work and having increased time available family an friends are evident. Where pilot programs have been started fil/ ashington State sponsored on such effort), employees jumped at the chance to work closer to home. In his bookRenturbia, economist Jack Les singer predicts that such changing work patterr1s will make suburbs obsolete an trigger a boom in th rural areas where people no vacation or retire. A recent article in The New York Times suggests suggests th at such a shift ma well be occurring: It cites reports of population growth in some rural areas for th first time in 6o years. While th effects of such rural dispersion could be even more catastrophic than the recent suburban exodus, one hopes that land-efficient Ne Urbanist planning methods could help avert such a fate this point, it is important to note a major philosophical division division among Urbanism that is th practitioners of he Ne
Planners Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater Zyberk proposed several such centers within the town. Drawing by Charles Barrett and Manuel Fernandez-Nova/. Fernandez-Nova/.
Some believe that land at the region's edge shouldn't be developed until all infill possibili
ties have been exhausted; others feel that since current economic and political realities favor edge, is better to mold such growth at new growth into more sustainable develop ment pattern that will not drain the vitality of nearby established established urban centers. These tw approaches are mentioned here, no to promote divisiveness bu rather to illus trate ho the principles of he Ne Urbanism, articulated in the three essays essays which follow, can be applied to a variety of situations-both ne development and infill-at a range of densities and scales and in all regions of he country. Th prospect of new century raises serious concerns about the quality of life that can be expected in a future era of diminished global resources. In that light, al of he strategies in this book should be examined, tested and tested again in relation to prevailing d e ~ e l o p m e n t models. If he Ne Urbanism can indeed be shown to deliver a higher, more sustainable quality of life to a majority of his nation's citi zens, we can only hope that it will be embraced as the next paradigm for the shaping of America's communities.
xi
The Region Peter Calthorpe
he region's edge ttil all inf1ll inf1ll possibili Jthers feel that since itical realities favor -tter to mold such .1stainable develop drain the vitality of enters. re mentioned here, ss bu rather to illusthe Ne Urbanism, 1ys which follow, can
The New Urbanism is concerned with both the pieces and the whole. It applies principles of
urban design to the region in tw ways. First, urbanism-defin ed by its its diversity, pedestrian scale, scale, pu blic space and structure of bounded neighborhoods-should be applied throughout metropolitan region regardless of location: in suburbs and new growth areas as well as within the city. An second, the entire region should be "d esigned" according to similar urban neighborhood, be
ituations-both new
;t,rapge_ E ? £ . d ~ T - J . S i t i ~ ~ > : : : _ of he country. :entury raises serious· of life life that can be ·diminished global of he strategies in .ned, tested and tested ing development 1ism can indeed be more sustainable of his nation's citi at it will be embraced 1e shaping of
= : ·
··=
, _ , ~ , -
.....
_
--·
structured by public space, its circulation system should support the pedestrian, pedestrian, it should be both diverse and hierarchical and it should have . discernible edges. first app lication is a simple but unique Th first contribution of his movement. Urbanism is no well understood in the city, bu rarely applied to the suburb. Although there have transgressions over the post war been many transgressions period, the principles of urbanism have clearly reemerged since since Jane Jacobs, Vincent Scully, A!do Rossi, Leon Krier and many others have articulated the traditions. What is new is the of
in
beyond. To often we think of hese aesthetic, spatial and programmatic principles in terms of density density and the inner-city c ontext. But the
shows that the relationship between architec ture and public space can be "urban" regardless mass; that spatial hierarc hy of building height or mass; and connectedness can be rendered regardless of land-use intensity; and that pedestrian life can exist in single-famil single-family y neighborhood as well as on tenement streets. Applying these principles in the unlikely areas of he modem suburb, while coping with its economic and social imperatives, is one important contribution of the Ne Urbanism. Th second application acknowledges that the city, its suburbs and their natural environ ment should be treated as a whole-socially,. econo!llically and ecologically. Treating them separately is endemic to many of he problems we no face, and ou lack of governance at this scale is a direct manifestation of his disaggrega tion. Seen as whole, the American metropolis should be designed with much the same attitude as we design a neighborhood: There should be defined edges (i.e., Urban Growth Boundaries), the circulation system-should function for the pedestrian (i.e., supported by regional transit systems), public space should be formative rather than residual (i.e., preservation of major open-space networks), civic civic and private do mains should form a complementary hierarchy
created by adequate affordable housing and a jobs/housing balance). Developing such an
architecture of he region creates the context for a healthy urbanism in neighborhoods, dis tricts and at the city center. Th tw forms of urbanism work together. Th
Crisis
of Growth
To understand how the Ne Urbanism works in a regional context, the evolution of he mod ern American metropolis must be understood
(even if n sketch form as it must be here). For the last 40 years growth has been largely direct ed by suburban flight, highway capacity an federal government mortgage policy. Th typical development cycle started with bed room communities pioneering the most remote sectors of he metropolitan region. With federal and state highway investments, such seemingly remote suburbs and smal towns became commute-accessible commute-accessible to the existing major jo centers. They offered low-cost land and affordable housing for the regional work force. Retail, services, recreatio an civic uses followed in proportion to the demand created by the housing. mass, the new When they reac hed critical mass, suburba n areas areas began to attract jobs. "Edge
another layer of sprawl extending out froin the decentralized jo centers. Today, the suburb to-suburb commute represents 40 percent of total commute trips while suburb-to-city comprises only 20 percent. Ou of his evolution of he modern me tropolis there. ha grown profound sense of frustration and p l a c e l e s s n e s s ~ homogeneous quality overlays the unique nature of each place with chain-store architecture, scaleless office parks and monotonous subdivisions. Even these qualities are easily easily blurr ed by the speed at which we move and the isolation we feel in ou cars and in ou dwellings. At their extreme, the new forms seem to have an empty feeling, reinforc ing ou mobile state and the instability of ou families. Moving at a speed which allows only generic symbols to be recognized, we cannot wonder that the man-made environment seems trite and overstated. Americans initially moved to the suburbs for privacy, mobility, security and home owner ship. What we no have is isolation, conges tion, rising crime, pollution and overwhelming costs-costs that ultimately must be paid by taxpayers, businesses and the environment. This sprawling pattern of growth at the edge no produces conditions which frustrate rather than
Ironically, the American Dream is now increasingly ou of sync with today's culture. ur household makeup has changed dramati cally, the workplace and work force have been transformed, family wealth is shrinking and grave environmental concerns have surfaced. But we continue to build post-World War
as if families
II
large and had only one breadwinner, the jobs were all downtown, land and energy were endless an another lane on the freeway would end traffic congestion. Settlement patterns are the physical founda tion of ou society and, like ou society, they are becoming more and more fractured. Devel opment patterns an local zoning laws segre gate age groups, income groups, ethnic groups and family types. They isolate people and activities in an inefficient network of conges tion and pollution, rather than joining them in diverse diverse and human-scaled communities. Ou faith in government and the fundamental sens of commonality at the center of any vital democracy is seeping away in suburbs designed more for cars than people, more for market segments than real communities. Special interest groups no replace the larger commu nity within ou political landscape, just as gated subdivisions subdivisions have replaced neighborhoods.
the community. Lo
harbors and ridge Ia qualities of every m smog, pavement, to habitats and pollute destruction of neigt largest sense. We threaten nat1 us in return: sunligt ou lungs, rain burr luted and soils are t< qualities of nature i1 the design of corn.rr, ou towns and resp( to making the hu spiritually nourishir Taxonomy of Th problems of gr limiting the scope, • development. The) thinking the nature in every context. p, growth: where, ho· density and if is bad, infill is good (i hood), new towns ' planned communit
HE
)ream is now
today's culture. changed dramati rk force have been shrinking and ns have surfaced. st- odd War II :ge and had only ·ere all downtown, s and another lane affic congestion. .e physical founda ::mr society, they ·e-fracture.d. Qevel ;n1ng l ~ ~ s w s . ~ g r e ups, ethnic groups eople and . :work of conges mjoining them in 1mmunities. Ou fundamental sense of any vital suburbs designed tOre for market tties. Special the larger commu lscape,just as gated eighborhoods.
the community. Local climate, plants, vistas, harbors and ridge lands once defmed the special qualities of every memorable place Today, smog, pavement, toxic soil, soil, receding natural habitats and polluted water contribute to the destruction of neighborhood and home in the largest sense. We threaten nature and nature no threatens us in return: sunlight causes cancer, air threatens ou lungs, rain bums the trees, streams are pol luted and soils are toxic. Understanding the qualities of nature in each place, expressing it in the design of communities, integrating it within critical ou towns and respectin g its balance are critical to making the human place sustainable and spiritually nourishing.
Ill
REGION
z) let the towns and suburbs surrounding the metropolitan center grow uncontrollably until they become a continuous mass; mass; 3) attempt to accommodate growth in redevelopment and in.filllocations; or 4) plan new towns and new growth areas within reasonable transit proxim ity of he city center. Every region needs to find an appropriate mix of hese very different options. Each strategy has inherent advantages and problems, which need to be understood. Limiting growth on a local level without the appropriate regional controls often spreads d e ~ c : : l o p m e n t into remote areas that are more receptive to sprawl. This increases commuting distances and creates ou well known hop. scotch land- use pa tterns. Growth Taxonomy Sometimes called "managed" or "slow" growth, this strategy is often used by a jurisdic Th problems of growth are no to be solved by tion se eking to avoid its fair fair share of affordable limiting the scope, program or location of development. They must be resolved by re housing or the expansion of transit. Unless there is a strategy for limiting growth at a thinking the nature and quality of growth itself, in every context. People argue heatedly about regional level, local attempts will only extend and displace the problem. growth: where, how much, what type, what At the other extreme, allowing the uncon density and if is really necessary at all. Sprawl is trolled growth of existing suburbs and towns is bad, infill is good (if t is no in our neighbor ou most common growth strategy. It has the hood), new towns destroy open space, master most familiar results: sprawl, traffic and a loss of planned communities are sterile sterile and urban the identity for what historically may have been redevelopment fine for "other people." Any
to powerful citizens' no-growth movements and growth limitations, thus fueling the cycle of regional sprawl. Infill an
Redevelopment
best utilization of existing infrastructure and the best opportunity to preserve ou open space will come from infill and redevelopment. Therefore it should always be a central part of a region's growth policy. Bu to expect infill sites to absorb all or even most new develop ment is unrealistic. This is sometimes because there are not enough sites to accommodate the demand, and partly because because no-growth neigh resist such infill. Once. borhood groups often resist again, without a political force to ba lance the larger e"conomic and environmental needs of a region against the anti-infill tendency of individual communities, there is little hope such its limited poten tial. growth will reach even its Both urban and subu rban infill sites sites have special concerns and constraint beyond the generic and widespread political problems of NIMBYism (not in my backyard syndrome). Over the last 30 years, urban infill and rede velopment has been a prime objective for most cities. There have been some successes successes but many failures. Th list of problems and con straints is long: racial tension, gentrification, Th
xiv
There are many ways to resolve or reduce the
magnitude of hese constraints, and they all need to be considered in future urban infill infill ef forts. Bu it is clear that su ch strategies are falling short and additional means to advance-urban. infill are needed. Portland, Oregon, is an example of a city and region which has gone beyond the traditional programs for urban infill and revitalization. It has successfully supported infill in two progres sive ways: an Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) and zoning that supports a transit system that is focused on the central city. Th UGB is a state mandated limit to growth around the metro politan politan region which was established in 1972. strategies are centra l to the thesis of Ne Both strategies Urbanism-that a regional system of open space and transit complemented with pedestrian friendly development patterns can help revital ize an urban center at i:he same time it helps to order suburban growth. Downtown Portland, because of ts light-rail system, sensitive sensitive urba planning and regional limit is no growing in healthy relationship to its suburbs. Both the UGB an Portland's expanding light-rail system have helped to direct new development and eco nomic activity back into its thriving downtown. Suburban infill infill represents a diffe rent set of
NE
URBANISM
cost of suburban development ever upward. existing street systems and zoning codes stand as further blocks to creating walkable communities. Finally, th density and configu rations typical of suburban sprawl make transit a heavily subsidized safety net rather than a real alternative to the car. If we are to have signifi cant growth as suburban infill, much needs to change. Foremost, local citizens must under stand that there are options beyond no-growth or sprawl. Local concerns must be tempered with regional needs-an equitable distribution of affordable housing and jobs, preservation of open space and agriculture lands and a viable transit system. system. Th is calls for policies and gover nance which can both educate and guide the complex interaction of economics, ecology, technology,jurisdiction technology,jurisdiction and social equity. Th
Ne
G r o w t h a n d Satellite T o w n s
When urban and suburban infill cannot accom
modate the quantity or rate of growth of region, new growth areas and satellite towns may be considered. Ne growth areas are the easiest to develop patterns. with transit- and pedestrian-oriented patterns. However there is one caveat: They also may spread the city's size. Satellite towns are typi
oriented, can complement infill and help to structure and revitalize revitalize the metropolitan region. An effective transit system accomplishes many things. It can invigorate downtown, as transit invariably focuses on the central business district. Adding more sprawling suburbs to a metropolitan area only increases pressure for parking and freeways downtown, while com peting with th city for jobs and retail activity. By contrast, transit delivers people to the heart of our cities, reducing the need for park ing an avoiding destructive destructive u rban freewa projects. projects. Adding transit-oriented new growth areas and satellite towns can reinforce the city's role as the region's cultural center. Th transit system that is supported at the edge with new growth can also become the catalyst for redevelopment and infill at the regional center. Recent experiences with "new towns" and new growth areas areas (sometimes called maste r planned communities) have given such devel opments a bad name. In Europe, with some notable exceptions, ne towns are predomi nantly sterile an suburban in character. In America th ey are sterile, suburban and-even worse-economic failures. Bu the questions remain: Are these qualities qualities inherent or products
To answer these qt: understand the histor At the tu of he cen depression the theory several directions. Eb Garden City movem< vision of small towns rouD:ded by ·a-greeiili( city and country. Th< around rail stations ar with
combination
Arts urban traditions: surrounded by villagt the same period on first Modernist appro segregating industry, freeing buildings fror first such vision of the depression Le Cc Wright expanded thi suburban context w} Modernist principles th auto and domina space. In these utopi: II came to guide ou street as the commur ground disintegrated sive of he post-W or
To answer these questions it is useful to understand the history of new town planning. At the tu of he century and during the great depression the theory of ne towns evolved in several several d irections. Ebenezer Howard and the Garden City movement defined a Luddite's vision of small towns built for workers sur r ~ u n d e d by a ~ e e n b e l t , combining the best of city and country. These towns were formed around rail stations and formally conftgured with a combination of th Romantic and Beaux Arts Arts urban traditions: power ful civic spaces surrounded by village-scaled neighborhoods. In the same period Tony Gamier developed the ftrst Modernist approach to town planning, segregating industry, isolating different uses and freeing buildings from the street. His was the ftrst such vision of he zoth century city. During the depression Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright expanded this vision in the urban and suburban context while retaining fundamental Modernist principles: segregation of use, love of the auto and dominance of private over public space. space. [ n these utopias (which after W odd War ll came to guide our development patterns) the street as the community's habitable common ground disintegrated. Even in the most progres sive oCthe post-World W a r n new towns an
into vital communities. Th task of he Ne Urbanism is to learn fro m these failures, avoid ing their sterile sterile and suburban character while defining a form of growth which can help mend
the
I r i . . ~ t r o p _ o l j ~ _ , _ : : : ~ ~ I r i . . ~ - t~ - r · o : p . _ : o . l - j ~ ~ - _ · , : _ . : : . : ~ ~
Urbanism
_____
he Pieces
The_$_p-ecific nature ~ f a metropolitan region will dictate which growth strategies are are nece s sary and useful. Some regions with a very slow growth rate may only need incremental infill. Some regions with fast growth and much undeveloped suburban land may benefit from both infill and new growth area projects. Other regions may req uire all three strategies, includ ing satellite satellite towns to absorb massive growth without destroying th identity of existing places. On thing is certain: With any blend of these forms, it is the quality of development, its locatio or size, that is th principal not just its problem and opportunity of growth. Sprawl is destructive in any growth strategy. Contemporary suburbs have failed because they lack, as do many of he so-called "modern" new towns and edge cities, the fundamental qualities of real towns: pedestrian scale, an identifiable center and edge, integrated diversity of use and population an defined public space. They may
interaction which create vital neighborhoods, quarters or towns. Unless urb an infill sites, sites, suburban ne development areas and satellite towns embody the qualities of he New Urban ism, t h e y _ ~ i ) . l fail too._ In e v e r y _ c o n t e x t , t h e ~ e - _ e v fore, the qualit)T cifnew development in a region should follow town-like principles housing for diverse population, a fuil mix of uses, uses, walkable streets, po sitive public space, integrated civic and commercial centers, transit orientation an accessible open space. Urban infill often succeeds because those urban qualities pre-exist and need only be pre served, no necessarily created. Nevertheless we see many urban inftll projects which succeed in destroying these desirable pre-existing qualities. For smaller parcels in existing urban neighbor hoods th task is to complete the mi of community while honoring the unique quali ties of he place. For suburban sites, even with the political constraints, mixed-use neighbor hoods can be infilled. Far from being blank slates, slates, these subu rban infill infill sites sites sometime s offer rich histories to build on as well as debilitating sprawl to overcome. Satellite towns at the outer edge of he metropolitan region can easily afford features that more expensive areas cannot provide
e r y _ c o n t e x t , t h e ~ e - _
establish permanent edges for the region. Without green belted satellite towns or stable Urban Growth Boundaries , a fast growing
region will continually expand into and threaten close-in natural edges and open space. Ad.clitionally, satellite towns can help manage the growth of older suburbs and towns by absorbing excess development. Urbanism
he Whole
Th way these pieces are woven together into whole is also part of he Ne Urbanism. Beyond resolving the balance between new growth and infill, and controlling the urban qualities of both, there is the challenge of creating a truly truly urban metropolitan form-' o r i c : : n t ~ . c i public rather than private space, diverse, hierarchical an pedestrian-scaled. Clearly, the Urban Growth Boundary is the regional equivalent of a defined neighborhood edge. These boundaries create identity for the whole and express the need to preserve nature as a limit to human habitat. Similarly, major open space within the region can be seen as "village green" at a mega-scale. This internal commons, like the boundaries, establishes the ecological and conservation values which can help form the basi of regional character. Urbanism at the regional scale ha other parallels. Pedestrian scale translates into transit
region in much the same way a street network orders a neighborhood. It supports the life of the pedestrian throughout th region. Diversity is a fundamental component of urbanism at both the neighborhood and re gional scale. At the re gional scale it is too often taken for granted-but diversity without con nections (segregated diversity) is no urban at any scale. Th diverse population and functions within a region should have a connecting fabric which makes the region vital and inclusionary. Ou freeway and arterial networks no seem to privatize and isolate the components of a region more than connect them. Finally, urbanism articulates the hierarchy of public and private, of civic and commerical. At the regional scale this means that the diversity and differences throughout the region should find a complementary and grand order. By this mean that neighborhoods and districts should not just repeat one another but, much like the private and civic buildings of neighborhood, find appropriate locations to express relative focus focus and importance. dimensions-urbanism within These two dimensions-urbanism neighborhoods and urbanism as regional form giver-are meant to inform and direct interven
tions within the existing framework of our cities, suburbs and towns. Infill, new develop ment or reconstruction can and inevitably wil
Th goal is to apply th best of urban design to both the region and the neighborhood applying them to a new context and at a new scale. The New Urbanism is not just about the city or the suburb. It is about the way we con ceive of community an how we form the region-it is about diversity, scale and public space in every context.
xvu
The Neighborhood, Neighborhood, the District an
th Corridor
Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk
:he best of urban design the neighborhoodcontext and at a ne ism is not just about the about the way we con ho we form the :sity, scale and public
fundamental organizing elements of he Urbanism are the neighborhood, the district and the corridor. Neighborhoods are urbanized areas with a balanced mix of human activity; districts are areas dominated by a singl activit activity; y; corridors are connectors and separators districts. of neighborhoods and districts. A single neighborhood standing free in the landscape is a village. village. Cities and towns are made up of multiple neighborhoods and districts, or ganized by corridors of ransportation or open space. Neighborhoods, districts and corridors are urban elements. By contrast, suburbia, which is the result of zoning laws that separate uses, is composed of pods, highways and inter stitial spaces.
Th
Ne
The Neighborhood
nomenclature may vary, bu there gen eral eral agreemen t regarding th e physical composi tion of he neighborhood. Th "neighborhood unit" of he 1929 New York Regional Plan, the "quarrier" identified by Leon Krier, the "tradi tional neighborhood development" (TND) and "transit-oriented development" (TOD) share similar attributes. They all propose a model of urbanism that is limited in area and structured around a defined center. While the population
Th
Like the habitat of any species, the neighbor hood possesses possesses a natural logic tha t can be des
cribed in physical terms. Th following are the principles of an ideal neighborhood design: r) Th neighborhood has a center and an edge; 2) Th optimal size of neighborhood is quar ter mile from center to edge; 3) Th neighbor hood has a balanced mix of activities-dwelling, shopping, working, schooling, worshipping and recreating; 4) Th neighborhood structures building sites and traffic on a fme network of interconnecting streets; 5) Th neighborhood gives priority to public space and to the appro priate location of civic buildings. The neighborhood has center and an edge. Th combination of a focus and a limit contribute to the social identity of he con:imunity. Th cen ter is a necessity, the edge not always so. Th always a public space, which may be center always square, a green or an important street intersec tion. It is near the center of he urban area unless unless compelled by some geographic circum stance to be elsewhere. Eccentric locations locations are justified if here is a shoreline, a transportation corridor or a place with an engaging view. Th center is the locus of he neighborhood's public buildings, ideally a post office, a meeting hall, a day-care center and sometimes religious
xviii
neighborhoods which occur in town or city, retail buildings and workplaces may be at the edge of he neighborhood, where they can combine with others and intensifY commercial and community activity. Neighborhood edges may vary in character: they can be natural, such as a forest, or man made, such as infrastructure. In villages, the edge is usually defined by land designated for cultivation cultivation such as fanns, orchards and nurseries or for conservation in a natural state as wood land, desert, wetland or escarpment. Th edge may also be assigned assigned to very low-density resi dential use with lots of at least 10 acres. W h e n community cannot afford to sustain large tracts of public open land, such large private owner ships are a w ~ y t o maintain a green edge. In cities and towns, edges can be formed by the systematic systematic accretion between the neighbor hoods of recreational open spaces, such as parks, schoolyards and golf courses. It important that golf courses be confmed to the edge of neigh borhoods, because fairwa fairways ys obstruct direct pedestrian ways to the neighborhood center. These continuous green edges can be part of larger network of corridors, connecting urban open space with rural surroundings, as described in the 1920s by Benton McKaye.
TH
NE
URBANISM
that best remain outside the neighborhood.
latter, if generously lined with trees, be come parkways that reinforce the legibility of the edge and, over a long distance, form the corridors connecting urban neighborhoods. The optimal size of neighborhood is quarter mile from center to edge. This distance distance is the equiv alent of a five-minute walk at an easy pace. Th area thus circumscribed is the neighborhood proper, to differentiate differentiate it from the gree n edge, which extends beyond the discipline of he quarter mile Th limited area gathers the population of neighborhood within walking distance of many of their daily needs, such as convenience store, post office, community _polic _policee post, automa tic bank teller, school, daycare center arid transit stop. Th stop's location among other neighbor hood services and within walking distance of home or work makes the transit system conve nient. When an automobile trip is necessary to arrive at a transit stop, most potential users will simply continue driving to their destinations. Bu the neighborhood, which focuses the re quired user population within walking distance distance of he stop, makes transit viable at densities that a suburban pattern cannot sustain. Pedestrian-friendly and transit-oriented Th
the major cultural and social institutions, the variety of shopping and the broad jo base that can only be supported by the larger population of an aggregation of neighborhoods. Tite neighborhood has balanced mix of activities dwelling, shopping, working, schooling, w o r s h i p p i n ~ and recreating. This is particularly important for those wh are unable to drive and thus depend on others for mobility. For instance, the younf are able to walk or bicycle to school and other activities, freeing their parents from the respo sibility and tedium of chauffeuring. Th size o a school should be determined by the number of children wh can walk or bicycle to it from adjacent neighborhoods. And the elderly, wh relinquish their will ingness to drive before they lose their ability ti walk, can age in place with dignity rather than being forced in to specialize retirement com munities, which are the attendant creations of the suburban pattern. Even those for whom driving may not be a advantages. Th pro) burden enjoy secondary advantages. imity of daily destinations and the convenienc of ransit reduces the number and length of trips, decreases the pr ivate stress of time in tral fie and minimizes the public-borne expenses , road construction and atmospheric pollution. ..
TH
ocial institutions, the the broad jo base that •y the larger population ghborhoods. balanced mix of activities'1g, schooling, worshipping ·ticularly important for , drive and thus depend For instance, the young de to school and other Jarents from the respon lauffeuring. Th size of rrn.ined by the number lk ~ ~ - ~ g , c ~ ~ , } , o _ i ~ - ~ o m . _
'·
• relinquish their will t h ~ y lose the1t- ibility to .rith dignity rather than Jized retirement com. attendant creations creations of driving may no be advantages. Th prox ns and the convenience 1mber and length of 1te stress of ime in traf ublic-bome expenses of tmospheric pollution.
owner to the school teacher and the gardener. Suburban areas, areas, which are most commonly segregated by income, do no provide for the full range of society. Th true neighborhood, however, offers a variety of affordable affordable housin choices: garage apartments in conjunction with single-family houses, apartments above shops and apartment buildings adjacent to shopping and workplaces. Th latter's tran sitional sites sites are not provided within the suburban pattern whose rigorous, sanitized segregatio of uses precludes them. Bu the greatest contribution to affordable housing may be. realized by the neighborhood's ability ability to reduce multiple automobile ownership and many of ts associated costs. By en abling households to ow one less the . a v e r a g ~ annual operating cost ofss,ooo can be applied toward an additional additional sso,oo increment of mortgage financing at Io percent. No other action of he designer can achieve an improve ment in the availabilit of housing for the middle class comparable to the sensible organi zation of good neighborhood plan. The neighborhood struaures building sites and trojjic on a ine networ of nterconnecting streets. streets are config ured to create Neighborhood streets blocks of appropriate building site and to
.EIGHBORHOOD,
HE
DISTRICT
TH
CORRIDOI
necting pattern of streets provides multiple routes that diffuse traffic congestion. This contrasts to the easily easily cong ested singl trajectori trajectories es standard to the suburba n pattern: culs-de-sac spil onto collector streets, which connect at single points to arterials, which in tu supply the highways. Th suburban traffic model is more concerned with speeding traffic through a place than with the quality of he place itself; itself; the pedestr ian is assumed to be else where on separate "walkways" or nonexistent. Neighborhood streets of varying types are detailed detailed to provide equitably for pedestrian comfort and for automobile movement. Slow ing the automobile and increasing pedestrian activity encourages the casual meetings that form the bonds of community. . ...... .
XIX
land cost is ineffective. Th
importance of hese civic and community structures is enhanced by suitable siting, without incurring addi tional costs to the infrastructure. The District
district is an urbanized area that is func tionally specialized. Although districts preclude the full range of activities necessary for a com plete neighborhood, they are no the rigorously single activity zones of suburbia: the office parks, housing subdivisions or shopping cen ters. Th specialization of a district still allows multiple activities to suppo rt its its primary iden:: . city. city. Typica l are the ater districts, which have restaurants and bars bars to suppor and intensify districts, which concen their nightlife; touri st districts, The neighborhood gives priority to public space and trate hotels, retail activity and entertainment; and the capitol area and the college campus, to the appropriate location of ivic buildings. Public spaces and buildings buildings repre sent community which are dominated by a large institution identity and foster civic pride. Th neighbor large-scale transportation Others accommodate large-scale hood plan structure s its streets and blocks to or manufacturing, such as airports, container create a hierarchy of public spaces and locations · terminals and refmeries. for public buildings. Square and streets have Although a degree of specialization for cer areas enhances their character and their siz and geometry defined by the intention tain urban areas efficiency, in reality, few pure districts are really to create special places. places. Publi c buildings occupy justified. Thanks to industrial industrial evolution and important sites, overlooking a square or termi environmental regulation, the reasons for nating a str eet vista Th
TH
XX
organizational structure of he district Th organizational parallels that of he neighborhood and similarly, for a good fit within the greater region, relies on its relationship to transit. An identifiable focus encourages the formation of special communi ties: ties: a park for work ers at lun ch, a square for theater-:goers to meet, a mall for civic gather ings. Clear boundaries and dimensions facilitate facilitate the formation of special taxing or management organizations. Interconnected circulation supports the pedestrian, enhances transit viabil ity and ensures security. An like the neighbor hood, attention to the character of he public spaces creates a sense of place for its users, even heir home is elsewhere. .
Th corridor is at once the connector and the separator of neighborhoo ds and districts. districts. Cor ridors include natural and man-made elements, ranging f rom wildlife trails trails to rail lines. Th corridor is not the haphazar dly residual space that remains outside subdivisions and shopping centers in suburbia. Rather, it is an urban element characterized by its its visible continui ty. It is defined by its adjacent districts and neigh borhoods and provides entry to them. Th corridor's location and type is deter
NE
URBANISM
cities. Light rail and trolleys may occur within a boulevard at the neighborhood edge. As such, they are detailed for pedestrian use and to accommodate the frontages of buildings. Bus corridor s can pass through neighborhood cen ters on conventional streets. All of hese should be landscaped landscaped to reinforce their continuity. areas, the corridor may be the In low-density areas, continuous green edge between neighbor hoods, providing long-distance walking and bicycle trails, other recreational amenities and a continuous natural habitat Th corridor is a significant element of he Ne Urbanism because of ts inherently civic nature. In the age of he metropolis, with vil lages, towns, neighborhoods and districts aggre gated in unprecedented- q u ~ t i t } r , the n { o ~ t universally used public spaces are the corridors that serve connection and mobility. he three elements-the neighborhood, the district and the corridor-the latter, in its optimum form, is the most difficult to implement because it requires regional coordination. Conclusion
conventional suburban practice of segre gating use by zones is the legacy of he "dark satanic mills," which were once genuine
Th
nascent planning profession profession and remains institu tionalized in zoning ordinances. The' suburbs and cities of oday continue to separate the naturally naturally integrated human activities of dwell ing, working, shopping, schooling, worship.:. ping and recreating. Th hardship caused by this separation has been mitigated by widespread automobile ownership and use, which in tu has increased the demand for vehicular mobility. Th priority given to road building at the expense of other civic programs during the last four decades has brought ou country to the multiple crises of environmental degradation, economic bankruptcY and social disintegration.The New Urbanism offers an alternative future for the building and re-building of reg{ot!s: .:.:; Neighborhoods that are compact, mixed-use and pedes trian friendly; district of appropriate location and character; character; and corridors that are functional and beautiful can integrate natural environments and man-made communities into a sustainable whole.
XX
Street, he Block nd he Building Elizabeth Moule and Stejanos Polyzoides
;ion and remains institu inances. Th suburbs nue to separate the activities of dwell schooling, )y this separation has ;pread automobile :h in turn has increased tr mobility. Th priority the expense ofother te last four decades has the multiple crises of ion, economic bank gration. )ffers an alternative fue-building of regions. compact, mixed-use districts of appropriate md corridors that are can integrate natural made communities into
form of he Ne Urbanism is realized by the deliberate assembly of streets, blocks and buildings. buildings. In the American urban tradition, the cutting of a grid is the first presence of urban structure in the landscape. In this act of making a place, space is allocated for both public and private use-for buildings and for open spaces. Shaping this void in the city is an act of demo cratic responsibility. A plan is laid down by governing body regulating private and public initiative initiative in the constr uction of ofit itss parts. Public bodies, citizens and entrepreneurs slowly gene rate streets, squares and parks. Single buildings incrementally introduced into blocks eventually determine i:he character of he open spaces. It is at this most elemen tal scale, every day in myriad of fleeting fleeting and poignant moments, that architecture and urbanism define each other. This very simple American city-making model has been virtually virtually abandoned in recen years. For the last half century, the building of the public realm has been handled with little regard for those it serves and for the quality of life that it generates. Increasingly, architecture has become the instrument of excessive self expression. Individual buildings are often con ceived as solely private, self-referential objects incapable of generating the public realm Th
incapable of accurately guiding physical form (especially because everything is negotiable). Zoning conflates issues of use, density and form to such an extent that it has spawned the unpre dictability and visual chaos typical of he Ameri can city. Moreover, transportation-dominated infrastructure engineering has so preferred the accommodation of he car over human beings, that the inte nded users of he public realm have been driven out. What many confuse as an unregulated and unfriendly urban landscape is actually the result of wrongly coded and uncritical design. Because ou current society has become so adept at creating and fetishizing those things which are private, we shall focus on the prob lem of making that which we hold in common. In city-making parlance, thi is called the public realm. It is that shared space in society which brings people to gather together, to relate to one another and/ or to be separate. The New Urbanism seeks a fresh paradigm to guarantee and to order the public realm through individual buildings. Buildings, blocks and streets streets are interdependent. Each one con tains tains to some degree the ingredients of all the others. Any decision to design streets in a particular manner seals the formal fate of blocks
xxviu
TH
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URBANISM
Defense housing projects, such as Linda Vista outside San Diego, set the tone for postwar mass production in the home-building industry.
by creating classification systems that treated hundreds or thousands of properties alike. Usually, Usually, their underlying purpose was to protect land values, foster family environments and maintain a degree of economic and socia exclusion. In practice, zoning often separated commercial and residential uses, sanctified single-family homes by isolating them from apartments and imposed liberal setback rules that required large lots, thereby driving up housing costs. As traffic volume increased, these standards were modifred to make auto travel more safe and efficient while protecting the character of residential areas. Eventually, they called for streets wide enough to accommodate both parking and traffic, turning radii so generous service and emergency vehicles could that service negotiate any cul-de-sac, and T -configured intersections that minimized traffic conflicts. Planners distributed traffic through hierarchical networks of arterial, collector and local streets. Grid systems fell fell out offavor because they al lowed through traffic on residential streets, and culs-de-sac were enshrined in the standards because they prevented through traffic. Ne Deal reforms that promoted horne ownership and stimulated the housi ng industry
more Americans mo11ed i11 tl•e 1950s, shopping and workplaces followed. Southdale neJtJ, near Minneapolis, the first enclosed, climate-controlled shopping mall iTt the U.S. (Victor Gmen Associates, architects; constntcted 1957). As
to the suburbs
terms under which money would be lent, methods by which property was appraised and criteria used to determine whether a loan could be insured. In essence, a set of national criteria determined the worth and bankability of house; these evolved into standards for house · design, lot and yard configurations and street layouts layouts that became patterns for the horne building industry. Again, single-family detached home s had a special advantage-the mechanics oflending for them were much simpler than creating ownership opportunities within multi family buildings.' This standardization was complemented by changes in the home-building industry, which learned mas production techniques while building housing for war workers and had large pool of demobilized Gis eager to step up to suburban living (thanks to Ne Deal and veterans veterans housing programs). Before 1945, the typical typical contract or put up or fewer houses a year; by 1959 the average was 22.'Today, developers typically bring more than ro acres through the approval process at a time and spin of sections to different builders, who rarely undertake projects with fewer than 50 houses or roo apartments because of th economics of planning, building and marketing. To simplify
Since World War
II
Connectiwr Gencrnl Life /nsurarlce Company headq1tarters (boltom) in Bloon!field, Connectiwt (Skidmore, Owings Merrill, architects; wn stmcted 1954-7).
suburbs have taken on a
more diverse character; functions once unique
to center cities began to follow their customers and labor pools outward. Industrial Industrial activitie were lured by the ability to spread out in low slung buildings on large pieces of land and the easy access to the rapidly expanding network of interstate highways. Regional shopping centers began to flourish in the suburbs in th early sos. In the 970s, 970s, white-collar "back-office" functions found ne homes in the suburbs as companies tapped into a new labor market: Suburbs were full of underemployed women, many of whom were well-educated, not union members and eager for a payingjob. Nevertheless, this development occurred piecemeal at best. Bankers, builders an plan-
PLANNING
HE
AMERICAN
EA
onnecticut General Life ·surance Company ·adqrwrters (bottom) i11 loon!field, Conneaiwt :kidnrore, Owings ferrill, architects; co11r11cted 1954-7).
ubs have taken on a · tctions once unique low their customers 1dustrial activities spread ou in low ~ c e s of land and the 'panding network of
nal shopping centers >urbs in the early collar collar "bac k-office" in the suburbs as :w labor market: employed women, educated, not union tyingjob. >pment occurred builders and plan-
..
Downtown urban renewal projects like San Frmteisco 's Golden Gateway tore out historic urban fabric (foun dations of demolished build ings in foreground} and replaced it with superblocks designed in the "Interna tional style.
ners evolved standards that extended the frame work of separated uses and hierarchical, auto
friendly traffic traffic networks to these new types of development. Efficient land-use approval processes encouraged each commercial and residential project to be considered on its own, with little regard to the development that surrounded it. As a result, malls, offices and housing tracts tracts simply leapfrogged to less con gested areas near arterials or freeway inter changes and demonst rated little little visua or spatial connection with their surroundings. Urban renewal programs provided federal funds and legal legal tools for injecting these subur ban approaches into cities, where architects and planners advocated tearing out "blighted" housing and industrial buildings and replacing them with modern apartment and office towers. While the ostensible rationale of hese efforts was to improve urban social and economic conditions, they also cleared the way for massive infusions of capital investment by wiping out complex street, ownership and leasing patterns. Following the ideas of architect-planners like Le Corbusier, urban renewal-buildings dis dained traditional urban forms and stood as isolated objects surrounded by plazas, park-like open spaces or parking lots. Cities also were reconfigured to accommodate auto traffic: Side
streets were widened and straightened to serve arterials. Loop and s pur freeways as high-sp eed arterials. were wrestled through central cities to pump even larger volumes of cars in and out. What has the last century of suburb building and city planning wrought? By and large, these efforts have accomplished what they set out to do. They have liberated many people from crowded, unhealthy living conditions. conditions. They have established a social, social, eco nomic a nd regula tory framework that unleashed enormous amounts of metropolitan development. But the land-use and transportation patterns that emerged have created problems of heir o w n many of which seem even more intractable thari. those posed by industrial cities. cities. Home o w ~ e r s h i p , a cornerstone of suburban life, is out of reach for an increasing number of households. Most do not fit the archetype of working husband, housewife and two children, rendering the traditional single-family, large-lot house increasingly irrelevant. Th infrastructure costs for low-density, single-family develop are staggering; in northern California, S3o,ooo to the where such costs can add almost S3o,ooo cost of new house/ even two-income house holds cannot afford the ideal three-bedroom, two-bathroom, three-car-garage house on quarter-acre lot. Compounding this is the steep
(Wurster, Bernardi and Emmons, architects; constructed 1965.}
Sprawled, low-density suburban develop quality of life ment is compromising the quality suburbs often promise. First, more and more leisure time is being spent on commuting. one-hour commute consumes ten hours a week; congestion and mismatched housing and jo locations force some people to commute two or more hours each way. Second, reliance has a devas tating impact on people wh on cars has cannot drive or afford them: Children cannot travel to school or organized activities unless unless driven by somebody; teenagers, wh need cars to have independent social lives, lives, take afte r schooljobs to pay for their cars, cutting into studying and social time; elderly people wh lose their drivers' licenses can no longer shop, visit or see doctors. Third, while suburbs might have once offered a healthy antidote to grimy industrial cities, cars are now generating tre mendous air pollution, particularly in suburban metropolises like Denver, Los Angeles and Houston. Finally, attractive rural landscapes are being lost in region after region; even john Steinbec k's sto ried Salinas ValJey ValJey is threatened. Most problematic is the effect suburban dispersal and urban renewal have had on civic life. Social scientists debate the extent to which physical design creates or reflects social condi tions. But current metropolitan settlement
XXX
TH
How low-density sprawl compares to traditional development. Diagram by A11dres Dum1y and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk.
importance of common ground on which people of different backgrounds and outlooks might encounter each other. They have height ened, not ameliorated, urban social and eco nomic decline and created vivid ne symbols of urba n distress By isolating people in houses and cars an by segregating households into homo geneous enclaves, the late 2oth century subur ban metropolis ha done little to replace the urban vitality it so aggressivel aggressively y replaced, and little to foster desperately needed civic responsi bility in our increasingly diverse society. Th
II
Ne
Urbanism at Work
deceptively simple responses the Ne Urbanists propose to these problems are based on one; equally simple principle: Comrnuqity planning and design mus t assert th importance values. This principle of public over private values. serves as a reference for making the layers of decisions involved in creating a new commu nity-from how the design of buildings relates to the streets they face to how land-use and density patterns are coordinated with regional transit routes. These planning and design approaches are .being applied with equal vigor to ne communities on the suburban edge, exurban towns and inner-city infill sites: The center of each neighborhood should be dqined Th
EW
URBANISM
SUBURBAN SPRAWL
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be relegated to leftover sites sites at the edge of neighborhoods, and their form and image should be strengthened by surrounding building form, architecture and street patterns. Each neighborhood should accommodate range of neighborhood is household types and land uses. a place for living; shopping and working. It should include building types varied accommodate this this range of activities. and.· flexible enough to be easily easily adapted as different uses for them emerge. Cars should be kept in perspective. Land-use patterns, street layouts and densities should make walking, bicycling and public transit viable alternatives to driving, especially especially for routine , everyday trips. Streets should be safe, interesting and comfortable for pedestrians. Improving traffic flow should be only one of many considerations in platting streets and designing designing neighbor hoods. Architecture should respond to the surrounding
isolated isolated from their surroundings; they should contribute to the spatial definition of streets, parks, greens, yards and other open spaces. Urbanists dra upon a range of de The New Urbanists sign traditions for inspiration. Their ideas about th relationships between planning and archi tecture reach back to the City Beautiful and T o w n Planning movements, which in tu reach back to Renaissance and Classical cities. Their ideas about connections between land use and transit draw on practices that shaped the development of streetcar suburbs and ideas that were advocated by regional planners in the early decades of the century. 920s "c ity On can even find a trace of r 920s efficient" efficient" an "city functional" influence in the Ne Urbanists' thinking. Peter Calthorpe and · - Andres Duany/Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, whose projects and ideas have received the most attention, implicitly implicitly acknowledge that there should be some standard increment of suburban growth an that the proper focal point of any new community should be a public space that provides a locus for civic activities, local com mercial use and a transit stop connecting the neighborhood to the region. This underlying structure, they believe, gives a perceptible sense of order and identity at a range of scales. Th basic template of Peter Calthorpe's
PLANNING
TH
AMERICAN
DREAM
Calthorpe Associate's {transit-oriented deTO uelopmmt) concept combines regional transportation transportation and land-use strategies with detailed plans for proposed transit-oriented communi ties (bottom and right)
lings; lings; they shou ld mition of streets, er open spaces. upon a range of de n. Their ideas about lanning and archi .ty Beautiful an ;, which in turn :nd Classical cities. ms between land use s that shaped th burbs and ideas that planners in the early ~ o f I920S "city ul influence in the 'eter Calthorpe and later-Zyberk, whose ·ived th most ;vledge ;vledge that t here :rement of suburban focal point of any a public space that tivities, local com
)p connecting the
This underlying a perceptible sense nge of scales. 1.
discrete nodes along light-rail and bus net works. A TOD, which is like a streetcar suburb meets-edge city, exploits a basic relationship between transportation and land use Put more origin and destination points within an easy walk of a transit stop and more people will use transit. Each TOD would be a dense, tightly woven community that mixes stores, housing and offices in a compact, walkable area sur station. Calth orpe has written rounding a transit station. that in t heory 2,000 homes, a million square feet of commercial space, parks, schools and day care could fit within a quarter-mile walk of he station, or about 120 acres.Y In the same space a typical typical suburban developer might build just 720 single-family homes. Closest to the station would be space for retail and service businesses, professional offices, offices, restaurants, health clubs, cultural facilities facilities and public uses-makingjobs, goods, entertainment and services easily accessible to TOD residents and transit riders without requiring auto usage. usage. Buildings Buildings near the center could have large floorplates to accommodate back-office and bulk retail uses. They could rise several stories, enabling a mix of commercial, office and even residential uses And they could require less parking because of heir location near transi
Near the commercial area would be a mi of small-lot single-family houses, duplexes, town houses houses and apartments-suitable and affordabl for families, singles, empty-nesters, students and the elderly. Housing be clustered around courtyards or parks that would link with larger public spaces, day care and recreation facilities. A final ring of development, in the quarter mile surrounding the core, would consist of single family detached homes or larger-scale commer cial enterprises. Although this sounds like typi cal cal suburban devel opment, Calthorpe would encourage minimum average densities of 10 to r 5 units per net acre (enough to support a bus line) and focus neighborhoods around shops, day-care facilities and parks. Calthorpe's plans for Portland, Sacramento and San Diego propose a range ofroos: An "urban r o o " is located directly on a main transit route and is suitable for job-generating and high-intensity uses like offices, retail centers and
high-density housing. A "neighborhood TOD," located on a feeder bus line, would have a resi dential and local-serving shopping focus. TODs could be located not only in new growth areas bu also in infill or redevelopment sites, which could evolve from auto-oriented to pedestrian oriented places. Ri Vista West, TOD pro posed for San Diego, incorporates a I2o,ooo square-foot discount retail operation. Th "traditional neighborhood develop ment" (TND) approach conceived by Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk (their firm is known as DPZ) and others operates at a smaller scale, includes more fme-grained regulation and varies more in response to local conditions than Calthorpe's TOD approach, but it is rooted less strongly in convictions about regional regional planning and the importance of ransit. TND-like master plans plans hav been proposed in a range of scenar ios, from resort communities (Seaside and Windsor, Florida) to redeveloping shopping centers (Mashpee, Massachusetts) to mobile
xxxii
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Architects Architects Du any and Plater-Zyberk's TN model proposes a ive minute walk (no more than one-quarter mile) for one's one 's daily needs and a threeminute maximum walk to neighborhood parks.
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Th basic building block ofDPz's community plans is the neighborhood, which is sized (from 40 to 200 acres) and configured (a radius of no more than one-quarter mile) so that most of ts homes are within three-minute walk of neighborhood parks and a five-minute walk of central square or common. There, meeting hall, child-care center, bus stop and conve nience store are located. Each neighborhood would include a variety of housing types suitable for different household types and mcome groupsIn most DPZ projects, projects, neighbor hoods are nested and layered into larger units called ·- -villages or towns; what makes each community unique is that the patterns of overlapping and connection never repeat from one place to the next. Groups of neighborhoods form villages, which generally are separated from each other by greenbelts but connected by major streets. A village school might be located in a place several neighborhood come together. where several Civic and commercial uses that serve the village (such as recreational facilities facilities or a cinema) or broader area (such as a fire station, conference located center or retirement home) often are located along main streets and next to public spaces. spaces. town, which might comprise several vil
towns that are specialized specialized according to the re gional services they provide. On contains a university campus and cultural facilities; another features a large component of office space and related services; others incol}'orate the retail activity associated with a regional mall and with a typical commercial strip_ An equally important characteristic of he Ne Urbanists' proposals is the way neighbor hoods and communities are knit together. DPZ is a forceful advocate of platting neighborhoods with grid-like street patterns, as was common practice through the 1920s. Street networks with frequent connection s, they argue, eas traffic congestion by providing a choice of paths for any trip, yet tame cars by requiring frequent stops. Such networks make pedestrian and bicycle movement easier by slowing auto traffic trips shorter than in places with and making trips hierarchical street systems; combined with requirements for mixing land uses, they could produce communities in which walking is realistic choice for most everyday trips. More over, networks with intersections at regular intervals create a sense of scale and order not evident in typical subdivisions, improving one's sense of orientation. Th imagery of he grid does no imply that
alleys and others-each with its ow
dimensions
and specifications for street and sidewalk width;
tree planting, on-street parking, traffic speed and pedestrian crossing time_ Consequently,
each street's character reflects more precisely its location and use, as opposed to the uniform, overscaled local and collector streets found in typical suburbs_ suburbs_ Calthol}'e' TOD plans often include a layer of radial streets emanating from the core. Radial streets, he argues, are efficient for pedestrians pedestrians because they make the trip to the center of he community shorter_ They serve as powerful contrast to local streets, addin g a civic civic presence and gr andeur rarely found in suburbs, and they reinforce the clarity and identity of he center_ Just as important in Calthol}'e's plans is the way TODs are connected to the region-each neighborhood is accessible to others and to existing communities through network of light-rail and bus routes_ routes_ No matter ho walkable each neighborhood is, no matter ho many shopping and jo opportunities it pro vides, people in this highly mobile society will no live their entire lives within the confines of Nowadays, suburban travel travel patterns resemble a tangled web, not hub-and spoke pattern with all trips leading to central
'1
PLANNING
Calthorpe Associates' plan for the city of San Diego demonstrates how the TO concept operates on several scales at once.
·ith its ow dimensions ~ e t and sidewalk width, larking, traffic speed ime. Consequently, fleets more precisely its )sed to the uniform, ector streets found in pe's TOD plans often ;treets ;treets emanating fr om he argues, are efficient hey make the trip to the · shorter. They serve as )cal streets, adding a leur rarely found in ,rce the clarity and althorpe's plans is the l to the region-each ble to others and to trough a network of No matter ho hood is, no matter ho opportunities it prohly mobile society will within the confines of days, suburban travel ~ e d
web, no
hub-and-
1ps leading to central
..
The plan starts by recogniz ing proposal to expand San Diego's immensely popular light-rail line throughout the city and demonstrating how nodes of transit-oriented develop ment can be dispersed along the network (below left).
THE
However, such development will encourage transit ridership only if here are variety of and uses (housing, retail and employment centers) with easy pedestrian connections to transit.
AMERICAN
DREAM
Comparative plans contrast conventional development with TO proposals. Near Tecolote Road (center, below and bottom), parking areas, arterials and culs-de sac would be replaced with a fine-grained street network that converges on a transit stop and an adjacent park.
At University Town Centre
(right, below and bottom), a shopping mall parking lot is filled in to create a pedes trian environment between a transit stop and the mall.
xxxiv
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NE
URBANISM
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served by transit. What most distinguishes the neighborhoods ew Urbanists is the impor proposed by the tance accorded to public spaces like greens, plazas and parks. Like traditional town com m.ons or courthouse squares, these spaces spaces are regarded as the civic focus for neighborhoods. They are located in central, prominent places, feature local commercial uses and are often to streets. facili
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importa.nce both the institution and public space play in community life. Many design strategies are used to reinforce the identity and stature of hese spaces. They might be treated as figural elements; their location, shape and volume made distinct and identifiable. Buildings surrounding the space might be subject to special urban design guide lines, particularly streetwall an setback require ments that ensure they help define the volume of he space. The green in Kent!ands' Ol Farm has several distinctive character
Typical suburban sprawl (left) contrasted with a New Urbanist proposal (right). The street system organizes organizes collection of defined neighborhoods. Churches and other civic buildings anchor community open spaces rather than float in parking lots.
Studies by Dover, Con·ea, Kohl, Cockshutt, Valle for Florida's Treasure Coast Regional Planning Cormcil.
create enclosure on two sides; it sits at a high point in the neighborhood; and it incorporates a dramatic pre-exist ing stand of mature trees. Th same principles apply to street design. Urbanists reposition the detached Th Ne house to better define th space of both the public street and private yard: A ro of houses the street into with regular setbacks can tu positive space. DPZ's codes dictate the propor tion of building heights to street width, ensur ing that each type of street has a distinct spatial character. In commercial and multi-family areas, buildings face publi c spaces such as streets and parks; parking lots are tucked behind or, if that is not possible, to the side-but not between the street and the building. Streets also are designed to be comfortable, safe and interesting for pedestrians. pedestrians. At Laguna West, the main street runs perpendicular to a pre-existing six-lane regional artery so traffic, noise and pollution do no invade the central shopping and office area. Residential streets, narrower than those in most rypical suburbs, slow traffic and allow for wider walkways. walkways. Tr ees planted in parking lanes also slow traffic and sense that the street is a succession of convey the sense smaller, human-scaled spaces.
PLANNING
TH
AMERICAN
Single-family houses are reconfigured so that they are better connected to the public life of the street and private _spaces are more useable. Diagram by Dover, Correa, Kohl, CocksliUtl, Valle.
Studies by Dover, Correa, Kohl, Cockshutt, Valle for Florida's Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council.
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sides; it sits sits at a hi gh )d; and it incorporates incorporates tand of mature trees. )ply to street design. )Sition )Sition the detach ed e space of both the yard: A row of houses the street into a tu es dictate the propor to street width, ensur et has a distinct spatial I and multi-family lie spaces such as streets re tucked behind or if side-but not between
1g.
ed to be comfortable, •edestrians. At Laguna ns perpendicular to ~ g i o n a l artery so traffic, ..
Residential streets,
typical subur bs, nost typical wider walkways. Trees also slow traffic and e street is a succession of paces. lso pay close attention
can create the range of public and private space that successful communities require. Most suburban zoning, for example, generates houses that are suited only fo nuclea r fanlllies fanlllies and configures open space to surround houses and isolate them from other houses and the street. These Victorian-era legacies leave few of he well-defined neighborhood gathering places places that can be found throughout traditional towns and cities, and they provide housing for a decreasing proportion of American households. households. Th neighborhoods proposed by the Ne Urbanists generally include a richer mi of building types types than can be found in conven tional tional suburb an neighborhoods-from sideyard houses, houses, rowhouses, semi-detached houses cottages, secondary units, c o u r t y a ~ d c apartments, o u r t y a ~ d mid-rise apartments to shopfronts and offices with apartments above. Development is con trolled by designating for each lot the building type that might be pu there, and setback regulations are used to create functional open spaces spaces and a strong relations hip between buildings and streets. Th most detailed level of planning found in the Ne Urbanists' work is architectural design guidelines. DPZ's codes are the most elaborate and tightly drawn-sometimes dictating the
can cover the design and placement of elements such as windows, garage doors, balconies and decorative columns; the selection and combina tion of materials; materials; the massing and pitch of roofS; rules seem to exert an extr aor and more. These rules dinary level of control (particularly for mass market housing and generally reveal a tilt toward romantic and picturesque townscapes. townscapes. Bu their purpose is to force greater attention to detail, detail, thereby invigorating suburban architec ture and imparting a greater level of civility to the streetscape. Building the Ne
American Dream
Given the enormous power that financial institutions, state highway agencies (one of them, Caltrans, has been nicknamed "ilie California Pentagon"), landowners and devel opers wield ove r local planning decisions, decisions, ho influential will the Ne Urbanists be? Remarkably, significant significant public sentiment is gathering behind them. In 1989, when a Gallup poll asked people what kind of place they small would like to live in, 34 percent chose a small town, percent a suburb, 22 percent a farm and 19 percent a city. 11 Dissatisfaction with suburban life life surely contributes to this senti ment: Polls of San Francisco area residents
As unhappiness with congestion, develop ment of sensitive lands, hous ing costs and air
quality mounts, public agencies are being outcome has been the unraveling of he political consensus Citizens routinely vote that growth is good. Citizens against development proposals because they expect growth will only worsen their quality of life; many communities are implementing growth controls or outright moratoria. Ironi cally, ne development consequently occurs in ever more haphazard patterns, exacerbating these problems. At the same time, a number of statewide and regional planning initiati initiatives ves are le nding cre dence to the Ne Urbanists' ideas. Air quality boards in Los Angeles Angeles and Sacramento are forcing local governments to reconsider land use patterns that generate excessive automobile use. Washington State's tough growth manage ment law has Seattle studying how to accom TOD-like "urban villages" modate growth in TOD-like along its proposed light-rail system. Virginia's residents' Loudoun County, responding to residents' fears fears that its rolling farmland would be con verted into the next ring of Washington, D.C. suburbs, approved TND-style zoning that en courages traditional hamlets and villages.
strong-armed into action. On
XXXVI
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URBANISM
The Regional Plan Association uses images like these to show alternative growth scenarios for the New York City metropolicommercial tan region. strip {far left) is contrasted with more compact, clustered development (leji).
Duany and Plater-Zyberk relies on carefully drawn and colored renderings to convey romantic, historicist im pression of ts proposals. This drawing of proposed community in northern California (bottom) evokes the character of an Italian hill town.
building community support. During
tax increases to pay for building new mass Cocks hutt, Valle (DCKcv) (DCKcv),, a Miami-ba sed transit systems, systems, and th ere is talk of lining some design and planning firm, to create a regional of hem with TOo-like development. plan based on TND principles. Advocacy groups are pressuring for develop The New Urbanists believe th_ebest way to ideas. · · change suburban development patterns is to ment policies that echo Ne Urbanist ideas. California's Local Government Corrun.ission change the rules of he game. They have published a primer, Land Use Planningfor More · concentrated on crafting subdivision regula Livable Places, that incorporates many of hese tions, zoning codes and regional regional plans-a nd on suggestions. Th Regional Plan Association, a building the consensus necessary to wi grass business-sponsored research and advocacy roots and political approval for their proposals. group, is urging municipalities in the Ne Their success has resulted from several factors: York/New Jersey/Connecticut metropolitan an inclusive approach to prepar ing plaris un region to plan TOo-hke "compact clusters" usually powerful and carefully targeted presen along regional commuter lines; one rail agency, tations, a well-honed ability to advance their Ne Jersey Transit, is studying ho to promote proposals as straightforward solutions to difficult transit-friendly development near its stations. problems, a persistence derived from their Th citizens' group I,ooo Friends of Oregon conviction and cornnlitrnent toward their ideas commissioned Calthorpe to develop a regional and a pragmatism that enables compromise.
cha
rette, the firm confers with local officials, com munity leaders and interest groups; stages public meetings an presentations; an d calls calls in local architects, planners and citizens to collaborate. focused program becomes an event, cap Th focused turing attention in ways that typical planning activities never do. The New Urbanists place an enormous importance on communicating their proposals in terms that decision makers and everyday citizens can easily easily grasp, and their presentations are as strong on style as on substance. Calthorpe ...... and Duany can be charismatic and compelling public speakers. DPZ's proposals are often accompanied by captivating captivating if overly romantic perspectives (drawn by Charles Barrett and
PLANNING
)uany and Plater-Zyberk dies on carefully drawn and Jlored renderings to convey
romantic, historicist im·ression of ts proposals. rhis drawing of a proposed ommunity in northern :alifornia (bouom) evokes he character of an Italian
·Intensive charettes led by Duany and Plater-Zyberk (lift) involve local officials, community leaders, residents and local designers in preparing preparing plans for new communities. This helps solidify the constituency for each project.
,m town.
•ort. During a chah local officials, com >t groups; stages public 1s; and calls in local .tizens to collaborate. · :omes an event, cap hat typical planning ace an enormous .eating their proposals kers and everyday md their presentations presentations n substance. substance. Caltho rpe matic and compelling ;:,posals are often in if overly romantic :::harles Barrett and
colored by Manuel Fernandez-Noval) that emphasize emphasize the pi cturesque quality of he firm's town plans and architectural visions. DCKCV prepares realistic simulations that meld com puter technology and photography in depicting existing existing and propo sed build-out conditions. Unlike purel y visionary proposals, proposals, the Ne Urbanists' work demonstrates a practical con cern with ho they will be implemented. On DCKCV study explains ho a project platted as series of raditional neighborhoods on a grid could be developed in small components by numerous builders over many years-just like any other large-scale project. Some DPZ propos als incorporate a "regul ating plan" that enables. local government to reassert street platting and subdivision subdivision prerogatives that were ce ded to private developers decades ago for efficiency's sake. Th typical regulating plan is made up of three layers of rules; the more a proposal fol lows, lows, the fewer discretionary reviews it will face. Th DPZ-inspired DPZ-inspired TND-ordi nance is prototype planning document that local gov ernments can adopt and developers can imple ment without staging an intensive charette. The ordinance follows follows the iegal precedent of the planned unit development but is desig
HE
AMERICAN
DrtEAM
XXXVll
Dover, Co"ea, Kohl, Cockshutt, Valle prepares crisp computer simulations to help communities under stand thefoture impact of ts proposals. This view of one-quarter-mile study area in Davie, Rorida (lift), reveals large gaps in the town's present urban fabric.
That same area (below) is shown to accommodate much greater density, when redeveloped according to New Urbanist principles.
xxxviii
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This series of drawings by Dover, Correa, KoiJl, Cocksllutt, Valle shows tl!ar New Urbanist proposals can be parceled to independent builders in the same increments as those used in conventional suburbs.
71te options include (from Jar to near lefi) one lot at time, a halfblock, half block, ward or complete neighborhood.
No cities like Concord, Pleasant Hill and Hayward are planning for a new generation of
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growth around their stations.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Prospects ~ ~ ~ for the Ne
. ~ ; ~ " . ~ ; projects ~ " presented in thi hardly to principles of he · ~ ~ ~ · < ~ ; ' ! / reveal are influencing American city Urbanism
Th
book
the extent
Ne
versions of he TOD developed by designer educators like Calthorpe, Douglas Kelbaugh and Daniel Solomon did not include a "second ary ring" of detached homes; Cal thorpe intro duced this feature to accon1nl.odate developers' demands for a greater proportion of single.. family detached housing. When Laguna .West's . developers asked that the grid be replaced by a standard standard cul-de-sac arrangement, Calthorpe compromised again bu designed pedestrian connections where through streets would have been. At Kentlands, DPZ planned a two-story day-care center to frame a nearby civic space, but no national day-care chain would agree to it-one-story less and have lower insurance costs. (A local opera tor ultimately agreed to move in.) Th city balked at streets less than 20 feet wide, fearing
At
been
to inte
grate TODs with transit. In Santa Clara County, California, where the existing light-railline is expanding, developers have been unable to accumulate large traci:scofland near stations and local officials have been reluctant to use their redevelopment powers assemble sites. In Sacramento, although there are long-range plans for light rail to serve Calthorpe's Laguna West project, there is no guarantee. This means that transit may not be implemented until after development occurs, or that transit-oriented development may lag decades behind the extension of a transit line. Nevertheless, one could argue that with either transit or TODs in place, it is more likely that a link between transit and denser develop ment eventually will emerge. This is happening
··
which
Urbanism
and suburban design. Countless firms and planning agencies are embracing these strategie in redevelopment plans, design review guide lines and zoning laws. Toronto, for example, is studying ho zoning and design guidelines can small-scale inflll projects a long its encourage small-scale main streets, which already are pedestrian oriented transit corridors. Fo a decade, Ne York City has been rewrit ing its Le Corbusier-.. influenced "tower-in-the-park" zoning ordi nances to encour age shorter, squatter buildings more like its fabled brownstones, Park Avenue apartments and "wedding cake" office towers. Just as Seaside put the TND concept on the map, the 1979 master plan for Manhattan's Battery Park City (Alexander Cooper and Stanton Eckstut) showed ho traditional street patterns and building forms could be introduced on urban infill and redevelopment sites. Nu merous similar plans are no proceeding, most
PLANNING
e options include (from near lift) one lot at a e, a half block, block, a ward or m1plete neighborhood.
easant Hill and r1ew generation of
·ban sm
is book hardly rinciples of the
ing American city less firms and cing these strategies gn review guide no, for example, is sign guidelines can >rojects >rojects alon g its 1re pedestrian•r a decade, Ne ts Le C o r b u s i e r ~ 1rk" zoning ordisquatter buildings buildings mes, Park Avenue ke" office towers. concept on the ·r Manhattan's Cooper and
traditional street :ould be introduced >ment sites. Nu . proceeding, most
A plan for the community of Southport in Vllest
Sacramento, California, by Duany and Plater-Zyberk proposes a unique imple mentation strategy. It links the ease of obtaining permits with a developer's willing ness to follow a highly detailed regulating plar1.
This "carrot" approach outlines three levels of omp/imJce. Levell of he pla11 (below lift) determines the fonn of all streets, blocks and public spaces.
AMERICAN
1H
Level II (below center) requires that major streets, retail centers, public build illgs and parks be sited according to the master plan. Conforming projects would require a six-month wair and a somewhat largerfee.
Developers seeking approval for such plans would ace a modest fee and a six week waitfor pennitting. This col!lrasts with the lengthy, expensive environmental rer1iew and public approval process that is the norm for development in most areas of Califomia.
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Dwelopers in this scenario would ace the "normal" battery of reviewfor such projects. This typically means years delay plus often onerousfees for consultants, lawsuits and miti gation project impacts.
Level Il developments {below right) are similar in scale to most ''pod" projects now seen in the suburbs. This approac/1 locates only the largest collector streets, activity centers, school sites and greenbelts between each dweloped area.
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xl Mission Bay (below), proposaljor redeveloping large industrial site in San Francisco, builds on the city's pattern ~ b l o c k s , ~ b l o rowhouses, neighborhood commercial streets and figural open spaces.
URBANISM
c k s ,
Ghent Square Square (bottom left) in Norfolk, Virginia, is redevelopment project that integrates with an existing historic neighborhood. (Harry Weese· and Asso ciates, 1970-90)
At Harbor Point in Boston
(bottom center), a partly abandoned public housing project (bottom right) was converted to mixed-income housing. Itifill rowhouses and a new street network create better relationship between buildings, streets and other public spaces.
Battery Park City (right) extended New York's street grid to a wateifront landfill site and called for apartmen buildings whose massing and appearance are evocative of Manhattan's historic apartment districts.
··f ·• '(
.·-:ad
LA N N I N G
Baltimore's widely praised Oriole Park (right and bottom lift) is regarded as planning success because it reasserts the importance of downtown within the larger region, it respects the city's· street plan and nearby historic fabric and it connects to public transportation.
Gateway Cleveland, a downtown revitalization effort (bottom right), includes a similarly designed stadium. Projects like these mediate thoughifully between large-scale, autodependent uses and traditional urban scale.
Solomon Inc.; Skidmore Owings and Merrill) and Boston (Harbor Point-Goody, Clancy). In Ne York, Peterson/Littenberg's Clinton redevelopment plan injects innovative ne interior block public spaces into the original Manhattan grid. Even new baseball stadiums are being de signed with principles of he Ne Urbanism in mind. Baltimore's Oriole Park at Camden Yards (HOK Sports), for example, fits snugly within the city's existing grid (reinforcing the public space of he street), connects to nearby light-rail and commuter railroad lines lines (provid ing an option to auto travel) travel) and is within short walk of a range of housing, retail and office facilities (adding to the local diversity of a c t i : v i t i e s ) : ~ P t o j e c t 5 l i k e this and Cleveland's new d o w n t o ~ d plan o w n and t o ~ b ~ s e b a l l b stadium ~ s e b a l l (Sasak (Sasakii Associates) Associates) rei nforce the rol of center cities as regional activity centers, and their design reverses decades of building fortress-styl fortress-styl stadiums stadiums surroun ded by acres of parking. While it is likely the design precepts embod ied in the Ne Urbanism will influence the shape of new communit ies for years to come, their impact on peoples' lives will be less certain, for several reasons. First, some critics contend Ne Urbanist projects (particularly
_ H
MERICAN
_,
EAM
xli
xlii
TH
NE
URBANISM
Notes
historic styles and neighborhoods planned to have a small-town feel, while more substantial planning ideas are are abando ned out of frustration or indifference. (A flip through the real estate section of any newsp aper reveals reveals that many new developments are adopting Ne Urbanist de sign approaches only superficially, as motifs to enhance their marketin g strategie strategies.) s.) Second, the Ne Urbanists' large-scale suburban and exurban proposals have been crit icized for provid ing a justification for promul gating sprawl, whatever the improvement in plannin g and design. In fact, while the isolated, isolated, dispersed projects that are likely to be built will improve peoples' lives at the neighborhood scale, scale, the imp act of he Ne Urbanism at a broade r scal could be miri.imahmless r e g i o n ~ r e planning initiatives like those in Sacramento, San Diego, Portland, Seattle and Toronto are followed through, and unless these principles are applied routinely to u rban infill projects. projects. Similarly, the Ne Urbanism ha not yet fully fully tackled some fundamental metrop olitan develo pment issues. issues. It responds only minimally to ecological concerns at the local and regional scales (Calthorpe plans to address this in a forthcoming book). Moreover, the projects in this book have taken only tentative steps, at
g i
way; housing for low-income households and groups with special special needs will require additional government initiatives. Finally, the types of communities the Ne Urbanists envision are unlikely to emerge from design initiatives alone. Once a project is com pleted, layers of community organization will evolve. Will the beautifully drawn neighbor hood open space be contro lled by a private home owners' association, association, or will it be truly public? Will community facilities, facilities, suc as day care centers, centers, churches and meeting rooms be available to all? Could cooperativ e system of ownership (as practiced in European co housing and mutual housing models) models) provide an even stro nger basis basis for community cohesion? Ne Uroanism is welfohi.e step for o n ~ The ward, but it is ohly a step. At best, the move ment has refocused the public's attention more strongly on ho the design of our communities has a very real impact on our lives. If the pres ence of projects in the landscape can inspire a broadened, sustained public debate about the nature of American American communities; if Seaside, Laguna West, Riviera Beach and their descen dents can create vivid alternatives to current atomized, privatized development patterns, then the Ne Urbanism might truly begin to reshape the American dream.
I. Gwendolyn Wright, Building the Dream: Social History ofHousittg in America (Cambridge, MA: MI Press, 1981), and Roberr Fishman. Bourgeois Utopias (New York: Basic Books, 1987). 2. Clarence A. Perry, "The Neighborhood Unit," in Committee on the Regional Plan of New York and Its Environs, The N6ghborhood Ut1i1 (New York, 1929), pp. 34-3 5, as excerpted in Chrisropher Tunnard, T7ze Modem American City (New York: D. Van Nostrand, 1968},pp. 163-I64. 3. Spiro Kostof, T7u City Shaped: Urban Patterns at1d Meanings Through History (London: Thames and Hudson, I99I), p. 80. 4. Kenneth T.Jackson, The Crabgrass Fromier(New York: Oxford University Press, Press, 1985), pp. 205-206; Kostof, T1ze City Shaped, p. 82. 5· Peter G. Rowe, Maki11g a Middle Landscape (Cambridge, MA: MI Press, 1991). 6. Jackson, The Crabgrass Frotllier, p. 239; Peter Calthorpe, The Next A n ; e ~ i c a n A Metropolis ··· ·n ; e ~ i c a n (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, I99J). 7. "Fees Cast Shadow on Affordable Housing," Housing and_ Developmeut Report (San Francisco: Bay Area Council}, October 1991. 8. Calthorpe, The Next America11 Metropolis. 9· Peter Calthorpe, "Pedestrian Pockets: New Strategies for Suburban Growth," in The Pedesrriatl Pocket Book (New York: Princeto n Architectural Press, Press, 1989), p. 11. 10. Much of his description comes from Calthorpe, T7u Next American M etropolis. etropolis. Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zybcrk, II "The Second Coming of the Small Town," T7u U111e Reader,.. Reader, .. May/june 1992. 12. See various issues of Housi11g and DCJ,e/opmmt Report (San Francisco: Bay Area Council) that report on rhe annual Bay Area Poll. 3. Todd W. Bressi, "Cities to Walk In," Metropolis, March 1990; and Edward Gunts, "Plan Meers Realiry,''
