NU works if everybody has relatively high incomes and/or are a homogenous group such as Greeks, Italians owning shops or the like. If you look at new urbanism and the like applied in Britian with normal people, you will see a larger crime rate DUE to communal property, common entrances to a home, back alleys etc.
New Urbanism isn't meant to address modern cities, it's addressing suburban sprawl by designing livable, walkable communities. The Kentlands was designed for a mix of incomes but has become more upscale because it works so well -- the law of supply and demand at work, there is only one community like it in the region and people like it, so the prices of homes inside Kentlands have appreciated much more than the surrounding homes. It's nice living in a town where people know each other.
The design of the homes, neighborhoods, architecture, and public transit of the 1920's-30's was just about ideal, and I'm glad to see that there is hope that we will return to that sort of neighborhood. Look at any of the closer-in suburbs of a large, older city in the USA, and you'll find sensibly sized houses with beautiful arched windows, covered front porches, within walking distance to schools, small stores, and old streetcar lines.
One day New Urbanism will rise like a great Phoenix from the ashes of urban sprawl. Human scale will be revived as will the sense of community that is manifested from it. Our bodies will be healthier, our air cleaner, and our minds more resilant. The ideals and ambitions of our early founders will finally be constructed and America will take it's place among truely great nations. Until that day comes, help spread the word of New Urbanism. Yea!
I think about housing a lot, especially after teaching English in South Korea for two years. Not one of my students ever lived in an individual house, and that was not a desired lifestyle anyway. There, people want an apartment prefabbed from a super conglomerate and only in a high-rise, not a low-rise, the latter of which is considered low-class. The problem with so much identical housing is that rivalries ensue. -"tarotworldtour"
@Cyrus992 Remember the reason LA doesn't have streetcars. During the period from 1936 to 1950, National City Lines and Pacific City Lines-with investment from GM, Firestone Tire, Standard Oil of California, Phillips Petroleum, Mack Trucks, and the Federal Engineering Corporation-bought over 100 electric surface-traction systems in 45 cities including Baltimore, Newark, Los Angeles, New York City, Oakland and San Diego and converted them into bus operation. So much for the free market...
the funny thing about NU is the communities are looked on as great places and southern NU developments are visited often for vacation by suburbanites and they dont fight to have those built everywh. one of my favorite sprawl-bashing authors is James Howard Kunstler. his 'home from nowhere' and 'geography of nowhere' books offer amazing thoughts and incite on the subject of sprawl. they are written with pretty humorous wit too. i feel like you would appreciate them if you don't already have them!
I grew up in the dense Randstad area of Holland, where they're been applying their own type of NU in the past 40 years. They were worried that the cities were going to fuse into a big, ungovernable sprawling mess that would swallow all the countryside and forests, so they established new villages (New growth centres). It wasn't just establishing new villages in places, but also the decision of, instead of expanding the suburbs of a city, expanding the suburban capacity of surrounding, old villages. There was even one village they purposefully grew into a city. To accommodate urban overflow from neighbouring cities. As a result, you totally don't have the impression you're living in one of the most crowded regions on earth. Instead, I could walk for 15 mins and look out over meadows and woods as far as the horizon, all around my town. Things were also really close together, so I could cycle to the city in 30 mins or take public transport, which has an urban level of service coverage. It was also not far to the sea, and there are lakes next to the town. Great place, actually :)
+Tim Pauwels I have some criticisms for the NU I see in this video though. I get the impression that they'll only attract the wealthy. It's all expected for suburbs in the US to be wealthier and much whiter than other areas, but when you do NU, you're not just creating a suburb. It's supposed to be a town. These new towns should also contain some housing projects. Not whole areas of projects (that would create a poor neighbourhood), just the odd houses here and there. Diversify the town economically. This could help keep poverty out of concentrated areas in a region (distributing it), decreasing crime overall and providing more pleasant surroundings for these relocated poor. Also, a new town needs good public transport links (as my expanded village did) if you want to get away from the car paradigm and make it liveable for not only the rich.
I think too we need to define suburbia. There are places where you drive most of 100 miles or more to get from the outer suburbs to the city core. Cities of 100,000 or so have suburbs that are 15 or 20 minutes from the city proper. Also most places now mix retail in with housing to a degree. Yes they are big box stores but I for one don't care if I get what I need from a big box or a small one. Most people in my subdivision drive less then five miles to shop and no more then 10 or 15 to work.
I want to create a New Urbanism Awareness campaign. The movement needs a glossy informational website that can convincingly "sell" the idea of NU to those who are unfamilar with it. Once the knowledge is out there and people realize that they don't have to deal with urban sprawl no more, they'll effectively push down the barriers preventing NU. The major goal right now should be to swell up a critical mass of NU promoters. Only then will change come. Power to the people!
When you say "unexpected" do you mean a spontaneous streetside BBQ, a gasline break, or an unusual house with wacky features? I know there are some codes there to limit to a colonial style, but they are very open about variety.
Cyrus: I'm not exactly sure how sprawl should be fazed out; whether it be with new regulations or by letting free market take over. my one concern with the market approach is that globalized corps like walmart and mcdonalds already have too much power and influence on americans' lives and how development is shaped. sadly, i feel that people just accept the sprawl lifestyle without thinking that there are better ways. i fear that people may be too lazy or scared to seek new ways to live
The demise of cheap oil will doom suburbia forever... by 2025 a surplus of 22 million suburban homes will be on the market. New urbanism is the only way to go. It's all going to be about sustainability now.
I like the ideas of New Urbanism, but the aesthetics and architecture rub me the wrong way. I'm anxious to see where it will go as a movement in the future!
Of all the issues driving sprawl, immigration is probably near the bottom of the list. The big money is in more upscale development. Is there any data to support this argument or is this just an attempt to apply one issue to another for political purposes?
cyrus992, you put up some very good points and i think i gave everyone a thumbs up haha The government is responsible for zoning laws but i think its important to note that it is the LOCAL governments that really control these things. bureaus and counties primarily, a few states (north carolina's comes to mind) but the federal government has left zoning codes alone. recently though, the HUD, EPA, and the DOT have created the Partnership for Sustainable Communities. you should check it out.
If you're gonna build a happy community with fine homes, Don,t build them with the same materials that everyone else uses, and all the homes will look like something out of a cheesy display. Thats what they mean by fake. Do the fine old neighborhoods that those people 100 years ago look cheesy? no. They weren't all built at the same time. To build perfect homes they need to be custom, no plastic columns, fences, or siding. But the social community Seems to be perfect.
Not every suburb is a hellhole...I'm tired of that urban elitism. The one I grew up in was safe, friendly, and quaint, with access to good education, food, and plenty of culture. I do welcome the more distinctive architecture of new urbanism, but not everyone can afford these more expensive houses/locales. However, the "Oh, those new urban towns aren't 'real' towns" perspective is annoying, condescending, and ridiculous.
In who's world is living in a suburb awful living conditions? I have a one story home and a paved drive and an 8 foot fence around it all. I never see or hear anyone else in my subdivision and I don't know them. Everything I need is within a 15 or 20 minute drive and I never have to go to the city core for any reason. What more could you want save maybe living in the country proper?
Why would anyone say they aren't real towns?? What? A bunch of cookie cutter huge ass houses in the middle of nowhere is a "real town?" The best amenity they offer is quick access to the freeway and the Walmart half a mile away.
when the fossil fuels run out living somewhere that isnt walkable will be total hell . watch james howard kunstler find out about peak oil , people will move to the old towns if they can and the suburbs will be screwed
I am ALL for this type of development...BUT in reality most people don't have the resource$ to demand or purchase sensible development. Most people take what is built...and guess what is being built? I almost wish a meteor would fall and wipe out a huge swath of suburbia so we could start over...(No, not really).
whos also here for school?
hi
NU works if everybody has relatively high incomes and/or are a homogenous group such as Greeks, Italians owning shops or the like. If you look at new urbanism and the like applied in Britian with normal people, you will see a larger crime rate DUE to communal property, common entrances to a home, back alleys etc.
New Urbanism isn't meant to address modern cities, it's addressing suburban sprawl by designing livable, walkable communities. The Kentlands was designed for a mix of incomes but has become more upscale because it works so well -- the law of supply and demand at work, there is only one community like it in the region and people like it, so the prices of homes inside Kentlands have appreciated much more than the surrounding homes. It's nice living in a town where people know each other.
The design of the homes, neighborhoods, architecture, and public transit of the 1920's-30's was just about ideal, and I'm glad to see that there is hope that we will return to that sort of neighborhood. Look at any of the closer-in suburbs of a large, older city in the USA, and you'll find sensibly sized houses with beautiful arched windows, covered front porches, within walking distance to schools, small stores, and old streetcar lines.
One day New Urbanism will rise like a great Phoenix from the ashes of urban sprawl. Human scale will be revived as will the sense of community that is manifested from it. Our bodies will be healthier, our air cleaner, and our minds more resilant. The ideals and ambitions of our early founders will finally be constructed and America will take it's place among truely great nations.
Until that day comes, help spread the word of New Urbanism. Yea!
I think about housing a lot, especially after teaching English in South Korea for two years. Not one of my students ever lived in an individual house, and that was not a desired lifestyle anyway. There, people want an apartment prefabbed from a super conglomerate and only in a high-rise, not a low-rise, the latter of which is considered low-class. The problem with so much identical housing is that rivalries ensue. -"tarotworldtour"
@Cyrus992 Remember the reason LA doesn't have streetcars. During the period from 1936 to 1950, National City Lines and Pacific City Lines-with investment from GM, Firestone Tire, Standard Oil of California, Phillips Petroleum, Mack Trucks, and the Federal Engineering Corporation-bought over 100 electric surface-traction systems in 45 cities including Baltimore, Newark, Los Angeles, New York City, Oakland and San Diego and converted them into bus operation. So much for the free market...
if you are here for school you can contact me
the funny thing about NU is the communities are looked on as great places and southern NU developments are visited often for vacation by suburbanites and they dont fight to have those built everywh. one of my favorite sprawl-bashing authors is James Howard Kunstler. his 'home from nowhere' and 'geography of nowhere' books offer amazing thoughts and incite on the subject of sprawl. they are written with pretty humorous wit too. i feel like you would appreciate them if you don't already have them!
I'm a 24 year old geography student. New Urbanism is the way of the future. I don't want to live in a suburb.
So glad to hear that sprawl isn't going to go away. I was getting a little scared it might be in danger.
I grew up in the dense Randstad area of Holland, where they're been applying their own type of NU in the past 40 years. They were worried that the cities were going to fuse into a big, ungovernable sprawling mess that would swallow all the countryside and forests, so they established new villages (New growth centres). It wasn't just establishing new villages in places, but also the decision of, instead of expanding the suburbs of a city, expanding the suburban capacity of surrounding, old villages. There was even one village they purposefully grew into a city. To accommodate urban overflow from neighbouring cities. As a result, you totally don't have the impression you're living in one of the most crowded regions on earth. Instead, I could walk for 15 mins and look out over meadows and woods as far as the horizon, all around my town.
Things were also really close together, so I could cycle to the city in 30 mins or take public transport, which has an urban level of service coverage. It was also not far to the sea, and there are lakes next to the town. Great place, actually :)
+Tim Pauwels I have some criticisms for the NU I see in this video though. I get the impression that they'll only attract the wealthy. It's all expected for suburbs in the US to be wealthier and much whiter than other areas, but when you do NU, you're not just creating a suburb. It's supposed to be a town. These new towns should also contain some housing projects. Not whole areas of projects (that would create a poor neighbourhood), just the odd houses here and there. Diversify the town economically. This could help keep poverty out of concentrated areas in a region (distributing it), decreasing crime overall and providing more pleasant surroundings for these relocated poor.
Also, a new town needs good public transport links (as my expanded village did) if you want to get away from the car paradigm and make it liveable for not only the rich.
I think too we need to define suburbia. There are places where you drive most of 100 miles or more to get from the outer suburbs to the city core. Cities of 100,000 or so have suburbs that are 15 or 20 minutes from the city proper. Also most places now mix retail in with housing to a degree. Yes they are big box stores but I for one don't care if I get what I need from a big box or a small one. Most people in my subdivision drive less then five miles to shop and no more then 10 or 15 to work.
I want to create a New Urbanism Awareness campaign. The movement needs a glossy informational website that can convincingly "sell" the idea of NU to those who are unfamilar with it. Once the knowledge is out there and people realize that they don't have to deal with urban sprawl no more, they'll effectively push down the barriers preventing NU. The major goal right now should be to swell up a critical mass of NU promoters. Only then will change come.
Power to the people!
Love this
I love the new urbanism and tnd.
When you say "unexpected" do you mean a spontaneous streetside BBQ, a gasline break, or an unusual house with wacky features? I know there are some codes there to limit to a colonial style, but they are very open about variety.
Cyrus: I'm not exactly sure how sprawl should be fazed out; whether it be with new regulations or by letting free market take over. my one concern with the market approach is that globalized corps like walmart and mcdonalds already have too much power and influence on americans' lives and how development is shaped. sadly, i feel that people just accept the sprawl lifestyle without thinking that there are better ways. i fear that people may be too lazy or scared to seek new ways to live
The demise of cheap oil will doom suburbia forever... by 2025 a surplus of 22 million suburban homes will be on the market. New urbanism is the only way to go. It's all going to be about sustainability now.
I like the ideas of New Urbanism, but the aesthetics and architecture rub me the wrong way. I'm anxious to see where it will go as a movement in the future!
i live in kentlands that place with the chinese characters is call Yo-yogi's
Of all the issues driving sprawl, immigration is probably near the bottom of the list. The big money is in more upscale development. Is there any data to support this argument or is this just an attempt to apply one issue to another for political purposes?
cyrus992, you put up some very good points and i think i gave everyone a thumbs up haha The government is responsible for zoning laws but i think its important to note that it is the LOCAL governments that really control these things. bureaus and counties primarily, a few states (north carolina's comes to mind) but the federal government has left zoning codes alone. recently though, the HUD, EPA, and the DOT have created the Partnership for Sustainable Communities. you should check it out.
If you're gonna build a happy community with fine homes, Don,t build them with the same materials that everyone else uses, and all the homes will look like something out of a cheesy display. Thats what they mean by fake. Do the fine old neighborhoods that those people 100 years ago look cheesy? no. They weren't all built at the same time. To build perfect homes they need to be custom, no plastic columns, fences, or siding. But the social community Seems to be perfect.
A video for anyone interested in sustainable, vibrant communities.
Not every suburb is a hellhole...I'm tired of that urban elitism.
The one I grew up in was safe, friendly, and quaint, with access to good education, food, and plenty of culture. I do welcome the more distinctive architecture of new urbanism, but not everyone can afford these more expensive houses/locales. However, the "Oh, those new urban towns aren't 'real' towns" perspective is annoying, condescending, and ridiculous.
In who's world is living in a suburb awful living conditions? I have a one story home and a paved drive and an 8 foot fence around it all. I never see or hear anyone else in my subdivision and I don't know them. Everything I need is within a 15 or 20 minute drive and I never have to go to the city core for any reason. What more could you want save maybe living in the country proper?
@Cyrus992 No, she should actually be stopping sprawl. We can't turn the Earth into a city.
Why would anyone say they aren't real towns?? What? A bunch of cookie cutter huge ass houses in the middle of nowhere is a "real town?" The best amenity they offer is quick access to the freeway and the Walmart half a mile away.
when the fossil fuels run out living somewhere that isnt walkable will be total hell .
watch james howard kunstler find out about peak oil , people will move to the old towns if they can and the suburbs will be screwed
this feels racist somehow
I am ALL for this type of development...BUT in reality most people don't have the resource$ to demand or purchase sensible development. Most people take what is built...and guess what is being built? I almost wish a meteor would fall and wipe out a huge swath of suburbia so we could start over...(No, not really).
"fake towns"?? SUBURBIA is the one that's fake, not NU.