The Congress for New Urbanism recently held a competition to explain just what the connection is between urban planning and the environment--and if you're fuzzy on the issue, you need to watch the winning video, created by John Paget:
Sobering stuff, which makes a lot of sense: Wouldn't it be great to replace car commutes with walkable town centers? But what the video elides is that many cities actually makes this sort of development illegal, with zoning regulations that actively discourage "mixed use" planning. And many sprawling cities don't have any control over their own borders--developers frequently find it cheaper to simply move further out, rather that work within existing planning frameworks.
The bottom line: Greener cities aren't about crazy vertical farms and houses with solar panels. They're about zoning codes--subtle rules on a sheet of paper that determine the very fabric of a city for decades at a time. You can build all the hybrids you want--it doesn't matter if suburbia still continues to grow. That's why the best urban planning firms don't take architecture as a starting point--they begin by reworking existing zoning laws. One firm is Dover Kohl, based in Memphis, Tennessee. Sure, they build nice little mixed-use developments. But they've also done extensive work in "retrofitting" suburbia--taking existing buildings and tweaking codes to fill-in sprawl and encourage long-term density. That's where the real heavy lifting is, in architecture and urban planning: Working with officials and community boards and citizens, trying to figure out how you write the blueprint for a community that can grow in the long term.
[Video via Worldchanging]
Related: 13 Cool and Creative Cities With Brilliant Initiatives
Related Stories: | Topics:Innovation, Technology, Design, Ethonomics, urban planning, John Paget, Congress for New Urbanism, Dover Kohl, John Paget, Economic Issues, Economic Development, Urban Planning, Memphis |
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Recent Comments | 7 Total
May 17, 2009 at 7:52am by Thomas Purnell-Fisher
I live in Amsterdam having moved here from Los Angeles out of a desire for 'old urbanism' and, for one, I'll never live in sprawl again. Probably will never have a car again and I don't mind the taxes required to maintain the fantastic public transit system in NL.
It is a bit silly for this movement to be called New Urbanism when all it really is -- is urbanism done right as most cities in Europe have been organized since they were founded centuries ago.
May 17, 2009 at 9:08am by Ralf Lippold
Creating the workspace of the city, from which the city is emerging (even in its existing structures) is my vision around the LockSchuppen, a project creating an InteractiveFutureLab of 2056 - PeerAcademy to follow through the transformation - Co-WorkingPlace where innovation and co-creation of the future is going to happen.
There is also a Facebook Goup on LockSchuppen.
May 19, 2009 at 1:28pm by Antonio Santos
I have refused job offers because I couldn't walk there.
Driving to work is not an option to me.
Corporations have responsibility when they choose localisation.
May 19, 2009 at 1:29pm by Antonio Santos
I have refused job offers because I couldn't walk there.
Driving to work is not an option to me.
Corporations have responsibility when they choose localisation.
May 19, 2009 at 11:36pm by Barry Dennis
Cloud Commuting equals 50,000,000 less cars every day; 20,000,000 less commuting hours each day; 1,000,000 tons less pollution each day.
Cloud Education means more and better of the same.The New Urban needs Cloud integrated into the design to fully realize the potential.
Oh and 50,000,000 Cloud Commuters, plus 30,000,000 cloud ecucation students equals over 500,000,000 square feet of recyclable space; condos, living in parks and open space, community centers for recreation, exercise, sports.
Now, add in the improvements from tunneling utility rights-of-way and we're getting there.
There's more. Cloud Education, Cloud Commuting, Cloud Health, Cloud commerce; pretty soon we're talking real Millennium Society here.
THe vision is endless...and doable.
May 19, 2009 at 11:36pm by Barry Dennis
Cloud Commuting equals 50,000,000 less cars every day; 20,000,000 less commuting hours each day; 1,000,000 tons less pollution each day.
Cloud Education means more and better of the same.The New Urban needs Cloud integrated into the design to fully realize the potential.
Oh and 50,000,000 Cloud Commuters, plus 30,000,000 cloud ecucation students equals over 500,000,000 square feet of recyclable space; condos, living in parks and open space, community centers for recreation, exercise, sports.
Now, add in the improvements from tunneling utility rights-of-way and we're getting there.
There's more. Cloud Education, Cloud Commuting, Cloud Health, Cloud commerce; pretty soon we're talking real Millennium Society here.
THe vision is endless...and doable.