Examining New Urbanism...Overall Conclusions

In today’s society, we are faced with a challenge that will ultimately determine how sustainable our cultural choices regarding our development patterns, transportation choices and consumer-based economy will prove to be.

Suburban sprawl is the product of the combination of all of these choices that continues to negatively affect the environment and threaten the sustainability of our society.

The sustainable response to suburban sprawl is the embracing of smart growth principles as well as the principles of New Urbanism.

This shift in development patterns as well as an overall paradigm shift from consumptionism to conservationism is especially significant in the emerging age of globalization.

As cultures begin to export their economic systems and the associated negative effects of these systems, the embracing of a sustainable form of development and overall environmental practices will help to ensure the overall sustainability of the global community.

Never before has an international effort to reverse the negative effects of unsustainable development patterns and practices been so significant to the health and welfare of the planet’s inhabitants.

The depletion of the rain forests, the desertification of areas due to increased unsustainable industrial practices and the hyper-consumption of non-renewable resources are important environmental issues that must be addressed by the global community.

All of these issues are directly linked with the unsustainable development patterns that have evolved from the practices of the United States. The United States has an opportunity to regain its international status as a responsible leader through the implementation of sustainable development principles.

Through the analysis of the four New Urbanist communities, a matrix has been created that will help developers and designers create truly sustainable communities.

This matrix highlights the six essential qualities that every sustainable community must possess;

 
  (1) a compact and consolidated intensity of uses;

  (2) a comprehensive and complimentary diversity of uses;

  (3) a contained and consistent extent of uses;

  (4) a connected and combined system of communication;

  (5) a centered, configured and comprehensible sense of place;

  (6) a re-configurable plan that allows for flexibility of uses.

Through the application of smart growth design principles and the embracing of New Urbanism principles, these qualities can be generated in nearly every development that is designed in the new millennium.

The importance of creating sustainable communities has never been more evident in this country than it is today.

We are faced with daily reminders of the negative effects of suburban sprawl as commuters sit in hours worth of traffic delays during seemingly endless commutes, wars are fought over the control of non-renewable resources and access to clean water and productive agricultural lands, communities become faceless and meaningless collections of individualist detached housing that ensures the residents privacy and social segregation and the country faces an obesity epidemic for the first time in its history.

Embracing the qualities of sustainable communities is the most effective tool in combating the negative effects of suburban sprawl that threaten our physical, social, cultural and economic health.

After 1980, you never heard reference to space again. Surface, the most convincing evidence of the descent into materialism, became the focus of design. Space disappeared. -Arthur Erickson

Examining New Urbanism...Design Considerations

Pedestrian Circulation & Open Space Planning Analysis

A major component of smart growth, New Urbanism and sustainable design are the integration and celebration of the pedestrian and accessible open space.

All of the developments described in this study have successfully created progressive pedestrian circulation systems and development open space plans.

The celebration of the pedestrian environment within each of these developments helps to reduce the dependence on the private automobile as the primary form of transportation.

This celebration is achieved primarily through the clear separation of uses that is enhanced by the implementation of buffers between the pedestrians and vehicles.

These buffers can take various forms that include on-street parking to act as a barrier between the pedestrian and the road, landscape buffers that provide for a cleaner pedestrian environment or by removing the automobile from the equation all together.

The open space systems of these developments help to demonstrate that developments can achieve high levels of density without sacrificing the preservation or creation of accessible open spaces within the community.

Whether it is through the creation of pocket-parks, waterfront parks or large community spaces, the importance of accessible open space cannot be ignored.

Accessible open space benefits not only the members of the immediate community, but it contributes to the improvement of the global environmental community by discouraging the unchecked development of our natural lands.

Normative qualities can be associated to the successful design of pedestrian and open space systems that will ensure their sustainability.

Pedestrian and open space systems should be planned to provide for a connected, combined, contained, consistent and re-configurable system.

Paying careful attention to these qualities will allow designers to create viable pedestrian circulation systems that will reduce the dependence on the private automobile and result in an improvement of our global environmental community.

In addition to improving the environmental community, pedestrian circulation systems enhance the opportunities to engage in inter-personal communication that helps to improve our social community.

These systems should be clearly defined and should strive to integrate multiple uses into the system.

Finally, the systems should maintain a high level of flexibility so that they may be re-configured to respond to developmental challenges that they will face over time.

Our houses are such unwieldy property that we are often imprisoned rather than housed by them. -Henry David Thoreau

The Village of Woodsong and Southern Village...

The Village of Woodsong and Southern Village

The Village of Woodsong and Southern Village have been designed in a manner that assures the long-term sustainability of both communities.

Through the implementation of a compact and consolidated design of the intensity of uses, these developments have maximized the density of the development that is essential to the sustainability of the community.

The diverse mix of uses that each development fosters has created a comprehensive and complimentary use of the land available to the community. These uses have been located in close proximity to one another in order to facilitate a stronger level of pedestrian movement within the development.

The two developments have provided the community with a contained and consistent form of development that provides clearly defined boundaries regarding the extent of use of the land.

A contained and consistent development has a greater potential of achieving sustainability through the ability to respond to the needs of the development without sprawling into the surrounding landscape.

The communication system for Woodsong and Southern Village has been designed to be connected and consistent throughout the development and throughout the lifespan of the community.

Both of these developments celebrate the pedestrian by providing a clear and safe pedestrian environment that is connected to every part of the community.

Each of these developments has created a unique sense of place that is centered, configured and comprehensible and celebrates the diversity of the community as well as creating a strong sense of civic pride with regards to their efforts to improve the global community.

Finally, these communities have been designed in a manner that allows for the greatest amount of flexibility so that the development can be easily re-configured in order to meet the needs of the community as it evolves over time.

The success of these communities in achieving a high level of sustainability should serve as examples of the application of smart growth design practices. In addition to smart growth, these developments have embraced the principles of New Urbanism throughout every phase of their development.

The embracing of these principles has helped each of these communities reach a level of sustainability that will help to improve the global community by shifting the ideals of consumerism to conservationism.

We are searching for some kind of harmony between two intangibles: a form which we have not yet designed and a context which we cannot properly describe.  -Christopher Alexander

Examining New Urbanism...I'ons Sustainable Qualities & Conclusions

Communication

The communication network in I’on aims to unite the boroughs of the development through a vehicular-use system and a extensive pedestrian circulation system. Due to the large size of the development and the developer’s desire to minimize the number of main roads in favor of multiple inter-connected smaller roads, the communication network can be slightly confusing during the first navigation of the site.

Regardless, I’on does create a connected and combined communication network throughout the entire development. There is a clear separation of uses at I’on and this is achieved through the design of smaller roads, the utilization of on-street parking and street trees, as well as the diversion of the pedestrian circulation system through open spaces that are completely removed from vehicular traffic.

While there is no designated bicycle lane, the design of the road system encourages drivers to experience the development at slightly slower speeds than a normal residential neighborhood.

A majority of the residents prefer bicycle transportation over pedestrian transportation largely due to the fact that the development has a lower density than most TNDs.

The predominant form of travel is still the private automobile which residents utilize to access the farther points of the development as well as commercial areas outside of the development.


Sense of Place

It is difficult to identify and codify a development’s unique sense of place due to the fact that this characteristic develops over time. Environmental identity, social diversity and economic diversity are all factors that contribute to the creation of a community’s sense of place.

Taking into account all the factors involved in determining a development’s sense of place, I’on fails to create a centered, configured and comprehensible development that has fostered the creation of a unique sense of place.

Aesthetically, while the careful attention that has been paid to vernacular architectural features is commendable, this does not contribute to the creation of a unique sense of place.

The development does not feature progressive environmental solutions to the reduction of storm-water runoff, the reduction on the dependence of non-renewable resources nor does it have a unique community character.

The development strategy of creating individual and separate boroughs within the development is another contributing factor the development’s lack of a unique sense of place. I’on may eventually develop a unique sense of place in the future; however it currently has no specific or unique identity that sets it apart from other residential neighborhoods in Mount Pleasant.


Flexibility of Use

The development plan for I’on designates a majority of the land as residential uses with very little room to respond to future development needs. For this reason, I’on has failed to create a plan that is re-configurable throughout the life of the community.

Large residential lots, low overall density and the lack of significant commercial-use areas are factors that contribute to this determination. Due to the manner in which the development has been planned, the addition of new commercial space or large civic institutions would be difficult without the annexation of additional land.

Much of the open space in the development is in forms of neighborhood-scale pocket-parks or preserved sensitive natural areas and this leaves I’on with very little opportunity to implement additional uses or re-configure the circulation system if it became necessary.

This severely limits I’on’s ability to create a sustainable development that can adapt and evolve over time and respond to the needs of its residents, users and the community at large.

Conclusions

I’on has failed to implement a progressive plan that will prove to be sustainable throughout the life of the development. The main contributing factors to this are the developments inability to successfully address the issues of density, diversity, identity and flexibility.

While I’on is a fine attempt at combating suburban sprawl and has aesthetically pleasing architectural features throughout the development; it does very little to ensure the long-term sustainability of its community as well as the larger community of Mount Pleasant.

Many of I’on’s failures can be attributed to the lack of response to the social, environmental and economic factors associated with sustainable developments. I’on does very little to foster and enhance social and economic diversity within the development, and while the preservation efforts of the development are impressive, there is little evidence that the development is striving to reduce their consumptionism and focus on the positive aspects of conservationism. It is for these reasons that I’on cannot be considered a truly sustainable development.

We are not going to be able to operate our Spaceship Earth successfully nor for much longer unless we see it as a whole spaceship and our fate as common. It has to be everybody or nobody. -R. Buckminster Fuller

Examining New Urbanism...Extent of Use

The extent of use of the land required to implement a sustainable development should strive to maximize the land upon which it is built. This will ensure that as the development grows in terms of population and uses, it will not consume more land than is necessary.

This is an important factor in ensuring a development’s sustainability as well as a tool in combating the negative effects of suburban sprawl. To maximize sustainability, a development should strive to achieve the normative qualities associated with extent of use by formulating a plan that is contained and consistent.

A contained and consistent development plan limits the amount of land ultimately utilized for the implementation of the development; however it does not limit the amount of growth that can occur within the determined bounds of the development. Suburban sprawl does nothing to address the extent of use of the land and encourages low-density growth as a re-active planning measure as opposed to a pro-active measure.

The contained and consistent plan ensures that a larger and more diverse community matrix will evolve through the life of the development. Additionally, by providing clear boundaries to denote the place itself encourages the community to develop its character in an organic manner as opposed to a place with no clear boundaries that has a difficult time identifying itself.

As previously mentioned, the contained and consistent plan encourages a certain level of social interaction as well as the creation of a unique social character. Providing boundaries for the development will ensure that uses will remain in close proximity to each other and will encourage inter-personal communication and interaction. This helps to ensure the communities ability to sustain itself on a social level through the continuous interaction of people who belong to the same place but may originate from completely different backgrounds or be members of different socio-economic groups.

From an environmental standpoint, a contained and consistent plan maximizes the amount of land that will be consumed through the implementation of the development. This does not limit the ultimate population of the development nor does it limit the amount of diverse uses located within the development.

What it does limit is the overall amount of land the development requires in order to achieve a higher level of sustainability. The utilization of the existing land that is available to the development throughout its evolution is an excellent tool in combating the sprawling nature of developments that consume new land as they see fit.

The economic benefits of the contained and consistent plan are that the development will have the opportunity to retain the positive aspects of the commercial uses located in the development. The boundaries of the development allow for the continued growth, both physical and economic, of the development while ensuring that the services provided within the development will probably not relocate to an area that is not easily accessible.

While the notion that businesses will not relocate is not totally guaranteed, as the population of the development increases within the boundaries of the development the consumer-base available to businesses will most likely increase within close proximity to the commercial uses. This helps to ensure the economic sustainability of the businesses by being located to a “built-in” customer base.

There is an increasing awareness of the interrelatedness of things. We are becoming less prone to accept an immediate solution without questioning its larger implications. -Arthur Erickson

Earth day is upon us...

Well, today is the 39th Earth Day.

I find it a bit perplexing that as members of the world-wide ecological community, we require a single day to be set aside to celebrate the planet we live on.

And honestly, with what we have done to this planet I not sure we should be celebrating, but instead begging forgiveness and seeking penance.

So before anyone gets into a tizzy regarding whether or not global warming really exists; or whether or not owning 4 cars in a 2 driver household really contributes to sprawl; or whether or not the trickle-down theory is really the most democratic economic system; or whether or not our development choices have really led to an alarmingly high child obesity rate; or whether or not our use of coal-burning power plants in the Ohio valley has really poisoned every body of freshwater in the Northeast with mercury; or whether or not developing nations really allow rampant deforestation in the name of hyper-capitalism masked as progress; or whether or not our hyper-capitalist driven land-use choices have really destroyed important wetland ecosystems whose function is to protect low-lying areas from flooding; or whether or not our government has really allowed hyper-capitalist auto manufacturers to convince us that an efficient, low-emissions internal combustion engine is not feasible; or whether or not our nation really has the largest privately funded rail network in the world yet we can't seem to implement a reliable high-speed rail network; or whether or not in our democratic and just society that our health care system is really ranked 38th in the world just ahead of Slovenia and Cuba; or whether or not we really allow hyper-capitalists to bulldoze the mountains of West Virginia in search of cheap coal; or whether or not we really celebrate the automobile so much that when a developer actually installs sidewalks or a trail system they want a commendation from the Sierra Club; or whether or not allowing National Home Builders to mass grade, change designated land-uses and leverage their projects based solely on speculation informed by reports that their own lobbyists generate has really contributed to the crash of the housing market; or whether or not hyper-capitalist driven greed has really fueled the subprime lending market in which housewives-turned-mortgage brokers fleece unsuspecting, uninformed homebuyers into products that they could never afford; or whether or not the lack of congressional oversight is really the true culprit behind many of the misdealings of the financial crisis; or whether or not relying on the guise of religion and freedom is really a just means to slaughter innocent people with roadside bombs, dirty bombs, hazardous chemicals, conventional weapons, plutonium-enriched shells or any other means of destruction; or whether or not globalization has really led to the exportation of American-style hyper-capitalism resulting in the further socio-economic stratification of developing nations; or whether or not our coastal development choices have really placed cities, towns and residents in danger of catastrophic weather events; or whether or not saving 10-cents a month on your electricity bill really means you are living a sustainable lifestyle; or whether or not greenwashing your development project with a certified "green" checklist is really a step in the right direction for facilitating a system-wide paradigm shift; or whether or not protesting taxes when nation's survival is at stake as opposed to protesting deficit spending to invade sovereign nations based on lies is really justifiable; or whether or not the United States really has over 1,300 endangered species of plants and animals yet we continue to plan to exploit wildlife refuges for hyper-capitalist gains; I would like to remind everyone of one thing.

Everything is connected to everything else.

If there is one phrase which should become part of the American lexicon, that is it.

The sooner we accept that our actions affect the larger eco-community and that in order for our species to survive we must change our habits, the sooner we can begin celebrating Earth Day everyday of the year.

The universe is wider than our views of it. -Henry David Thoreau

For every action...

Just as we have concluded our brief discussion of the influence which hyper-capitalism wields over the comprehensive planning process, we are reminded of the dedication needed to facilitate actual change. Disrupting hyper-capitalist driven federal land auctions has caused a bit of a stir in the profit-driven world, while environmentalists, conservationists, the stewards of the land, the National Geographic Society and Teddy Roosevelt are all applauding one activist's efforts.

The fact that it has taken two-years of litigation between the BLM and various other governmental agencies, environmental protection groups and conservation groups to even hold a federal land and drilling-rights auction, demonstrates the obvious need for a closer look oat our nation's energy consumption and ultimately our overall transportation planning efforts.

We could isolate and analyze these two topics, however that would prove to be counter-productive and violates Barry Commoner's main law of ecology that we have discussed in previous posts; that everything is connected to everything else.

This national dilemma is inclusive of more than the ecological issue; our actions and decisions (which, in this case, seem to be based solely on hyper-capitalist ideals) are most certainly causing long-term, residual effects on what remains of the undeveloped "natural" landscape of the United States.

These actions, which begin with the policy set forth by our elected officials, sets the tone for how our state and local governments (and ultimately us as consumers) plan and develop our nation; which for the past half-century, has been based upon our love of the automobile and our hyper-capitalist driven need to use our automobiles to consume everything from fossil fuels to the aesthetic qualities of our nation's natural beauty.

"We need an energy plan that encourages consumption." -George W. Bush