Sinequanon’s Recent Comments

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  Sherwood......

  Boehlert is delusional about GWBush and his feelings about the environment.  Bush never cared for it as Govornor of Texas and did everything he could to allow polluting industries to locate and build here.  Bush has done everything in his power to be the anti-environmentalist of all time as President, from destroying the Roadless Rules to mercury standards in water, to selling off our national forests, to drilling, mining, and clearcutting forests.....the list is seemingly endless...not to mention bending over for the oil and auto industries.  And, we are the ones who ultimately pay for this incredibly bad policy and behavior.  And, then there is Junk Science.  On An interview with retiring Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, a GOP leader on environmental protection posted 3 years, 7 months ago 2 Responses

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  Forgot to Link to my comment below!

  Crosspost Link:  Why Isn't there More New Urbanism?On Why isn't there more new urbanism? posted 3 years, 8 months ago 28 Responses

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  New Urbanism is Old Urbanism

  Cross-posted at: New Urbanism is Old Urbanism

  Regardless of what you call it, New Urbanism is also Neo-Traditional Planning, and frankly it is taken directly from the European Models of urban form.  The European Models were from ancient cities of the past.  

  Rarely did U.S. cities have a plan prior to their beginnings.  Those that did, like Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., New York City, Augusta and Savannah, New Orleans to name a few, have morphed over time, adjusting to change, population growth, immigration, industrialization and social factors.  Most cities west of the Mississippi River did not evolve until after the Civil War thanks to nationalist historical writings by F. Turner who didn't have a clue what he was talking about.  This land grab, was just that.  It forecast all of our 'property rights' laws that we have today - ownership is everything.  We didn't learn much from the Native Americans, at all, in our arrogance, then and today.  

  Today, we are left with a heritage from invention of the automobile, development of the highway system (which purportedly was due to evacuating in case of Nuclear war during the Cold War in Eisenhower's Administration), mass (replacement-based) consumerism, HUD, tax incentive for purchasing homes, FHA, and other government programs which lent a hand in creating the Capitalist state we have today.  Basically, we can thank the government.  

  As an urban planner and designer, I have worked for the past 20 out of 29 years to make a difference in curtailing the physical growth of cities.  It is difficult.  Additionally, an earlier commenter is correct, in that early zoning laws created in the 1960s are still in use today.  The seperate uses, create walls between people and communities, and created the NIMBY syndrome among other horrors.  We can also thank the real estate field for passing on the bad information relative to land values, perpetuating myths to the NIMBY.  As for developers and builders.  Most of them are not very creative.  They do what the see and all they see is seperation and single-family homes on tract lots.  

  However, there have been many advances.  Cities all over the nation have created ordinances which allow transit oriented development, neo-traditional planning and development, or new urbanism.  One of the best ways to do this is to completely throw out the old code.  Create a flex based code that allows anything (almost) but requires a higher standard of development and design based on density or impacts.  I recently did this in a city and developers jumped at the chance to use it and the outcomes have been great thus far.  It also requires them to plan in advance rather than as they go along, which is what they tend to want to do and what they are used to doing.  

  Bank of America and other lenders, along with insurance companies such as Lumberman's have invested in New Urbanism, et al, communities for about 10- of the 20- years I have been designing or writing code regarding these types of development.

  John Fregonese,, Peter Calthorpe and Duany Plater-Zyberk (and the Congress for New Urbanism) are probably the most well-known in the field today.  There are certainly a plethora of others that do the same work all over the country.  And, some progressive communities are more receptive than others who subsist on the same regimens and bulwurks we all have to live with today.

  I often believe that half the problem entails not having any other choices but an apartment complex or a single family home to choose from in communities.  Where garage apartments, live-work units, true townhomes, shotgun houses, granny flats, and other types of living accommodation were once available, they are seriously rare today.  However, I have also participated in and seen projects like these that were infill developments and were created for low-income housing that turned out beautifully.  

  Once a new product is available - perhaps people will become interested in other choices.  They may be forced into making new housing choices when prices for energy become more excessive than the masses can afford.

  Note:  I have posted a variety of articles on [my] site relative to cities and growth should anyone want to followup on this issue:

  Growth Management:  It's Back
  Forces Shaping Cities
  The Evolution of Cities in a Nutshell
  Alternatives to Metropolitan Framentation
  Suburban Growth, Character, and Change
  Suburban Growth, Character, and Change Part II
  On `Weeds', Suburbs, Artists, & Intellectuals
  PAST as PROLOGUE: The Influence of World Expositions on Urban FormOn Why isn't there more new urbanism? posted 3 years, 8 months ago 28 Responses