Clustered housing and green space combine to good effect 6

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1. 

   Delay And Deny Posted 8:41 am
   16 Feb 2009

   Urban? As in Williamsburg, VA
   
   This is a beautiful development, and anyone should be happy to live here -- in fact, I don't know why you besmirch it by saying "urbanism" when it looks to me far more like small town Ohio or williamsburg virgina updated for 2009.
   Best of all
   prices ranging from attached townhomes starting the mid-$90,000s to...
   $90,000 for a brand new townhome?!
   People will be saying "Goodbye, Seattle!" and the same to all the other overpriced coastal "urbs"...
   
   "If you ask me, I think it's just another ball of hydrogen!" -- Captain Fraddock, S1E11

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2. 

   noracharles Posted 12:27 am
   17 Feb 2009

   actually...New Urbanism is a movement in town/city planning and way of living. It means ending the suburban nightmare of single-use zoning and returning to multi-use zoning. So a city or old town (main street) centre are the perfect examples of this. You have single family homes, multi-unit apartments, apartments above stores, street-side stores, large sidewalks, smaller grid-style streets etc and everything is very walkable.
   
   I'm very happy to see it in practice again and hope more and more cities and town continue to do this.
   
   If you are interested in this topic of New Urbanism, check out "Geography of Nowhere" by James Kunstler and "Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream" by Andres Duany et al.  Extremely interesting books.
   My only concern is that these New Urban communities, like Seaside, Florida tend to be taken over by the wealthy and drive home prices up and end up excluding middle and lower income residents because they can't afford it. If these new town plans are to work, they need to have provisions for lower income housing/apartment units so that everyone can enjoy the community, not just the wealthy.

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3. 

   biodiversivist Posted 1:00 am
   17 Feb 2009

   Green spaces"Green spaces" quickly degenerate into sterile parks if they are not interconnected with adjoining "green spaces" that also interconnect with many others. Biodiversity dies out in small isolated spaces.
   Seattle's discovery park has a railroad adjacent to it. This creates a long green belt that extends clear into the forested mountains.  A cougar was found in the park a few years after I moved to Seattle. I thought that was pretty interesting. Two years ago a black bear used this green belt to get a few miles from my house in the heart of Seattle.
   
   In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world

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4. 

   thelandscape Posted 3:12 am
   17 Feb 2009

   connectivityI agree with biodiversivist in that a place must be connected in order to truly thrive. Perhaps Plum Creek is connected to other areas, including Austin, through wildlife corridors, recreational paths, etc..., but none of the graphics or information on their site (http://www.plumcreektx.com/) showed any connectivity to the rest of the world beyond Highway 35. New Urbanism is a step up from traditional suburban development, but it is still severely flawed and not what I consider to be "green". New Urbanism follows a Mayberry-esque small town ideal that never truly existed - Disney-fied with white picket fences dropped right in the middle of nowhere USA. Not to sound like too much of a cynic, but I am. Improvement to existing urban areas through infill development and alternative transportation planning that creates connections for pedestrians, bikes, mass transit, and wildlife is far greener and far more community-focused than a brand spanking new development a whole 30 miles away from Austin.
   
   christy

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5. 

   biodiversivist Posted 4:24 am
   17 Feb 2009

   There you go--wildlife corridors.Being adjacent to passenger rail lines would also be nice.
   
   In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world

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6. 

   Erik Hoffner Posted 5:09 am
   17 Feb 2009

   sureSure, wildlife corridors created by coordinating with a local land trust or accessing the know-how of regional biologists would be a fine way to ensure a place like this' green space amounts to something special.
   But wild things also do tend to find their way in to spaces like this, with or without planning. Birds in flight, and the seeds and critters they carry on their feet and in their guts, being one of the most important and accessible vectors.
   Erik
   
   The Orion Grassroots Network: supporting grassroots groups working for conservation, justice, & more
   
   

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