Reason Magazine accuses new urbanists of promoting crime

Reason Magazine, a voice of libertarians, published an article in the February 2005 issue that accuses New Urbanism of promoting crime. The 3,000-plus-word article by Randal O’Toole and Stephen Town sounds scholarly, with references to Oscar Newman and Jane Jacobs, but it cites no new urban developments that have been shown to increase crime. Since close to 500 sizable new urban projects are built or under construction in the US, that’s a pretty glaring omission. In fact, crime is simply not much of an issue in most new urban communities, especially the “new town” variety like Kentlands in Gaithersburg, Maryland, Celebration near Orlando, Florida, Southern Village in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and Orenco Station in Hillsboro, Oregon. There is one category of New Urbanism where crime is an important issue, and extensive studies have been conducted: HOPE VI public housing redevelopments (see page 2 for more on HOPE VI and New Urbanism). Violent crimes dropped an average of 68 percent in HOPE VI communities, according to one study. Another study showed that crime dropped dramatically in neighborhoods adjacent to HOPE VI communities. Curiously, O’Toole and Town fail to mention this research, perhaps because it knocks the legs out from under their contentions. In an online blog called City Comforts, Laurence Aurbach notes that O’Toole and Town misread the research of Newman, whose 1970s research developed the ideas of defensible space. “Newman was fully in favor of public, shared space provided it was situated and designed correctly,” Aurbach writes. “His designs are replete with examples of interior courts, parks, playgrounds, and tot lots. His primary concerns were that the shared spaces be located within residents’ zones of influence, and that their boundaries be clearly demarcated. This is what Newman meant by “reducing permeability.” Newman made no overall recommendation to close off streets and paths that had adequate natural surveillance, and indeed, he was generally in favor of increased circulation. He noted with disapproval a “superblock, created by closing off existing streets.” Describing his design for Indianapolis public housing, he wrote, “we have developed a system of streets to penetrate the entire site” where increased circulation would “greatly facilitate” police patrols. The street layout had no cul-de-sacs; rather, it used T-intersections to reduce through traffic — a technique often used by new urbanists.”