Europeans confront sprawl much like America’s

Leading architects discussed challenges to urbanism in Europe, and their solution, at the EuroCouncil’s inaugural meeting in Belgium. “It’s time to move forward quickly to change the world!” was Andres Duany’s proclamation at the April opening of an international assembly of leading architects and town planners in Belgium. By the end of a week of long sessions and presentations, the group was well on its way, deciding to form a European organization — the Council for European Urbanism — that will be devoted to reestablishing urbanism. Increasingly, European towns and cities are experiencing sprawl, disposable buildings, autocratic planning, left- over and irrelevant “public space,” and disconnected street patterns — problems similar, though not identical, to those that have plagued the US since the mid-20th century. The first EuroCouncil, held in Brussels and Bruges, followed the model of the successful New Urban Councils that have taken place in Charleston and Santa Fe since 2001. It brought together some of the best urban designers from the United States and many countries in the European Community. “When you looked around and saw who was in the room, you knew something significant would result,” said John Massengale, comparing the EuroCouncil favorably with the first Congress for the New Urbanism, in Alexandria. For five intense days, architects presented toolkits, projects, and examples of good urbanism, showcasing the kinds of cities and towns that have made Europe famous as a travel destination, along with new places that have been built on the old models on both sides of the Atlantic. In Europe, time-tested land use patterns — such as dense villages, towns, and cities with relatively undeveloped farmland or forests in between — have begun to give way to the American model of growth: sprawl, big box and mall developments, and separation of uses. Those problems, and European governments’ attempts at solving them, were scrutinized by EuroCouncil participants. British sprawl is denser than that of the US, but it is still an auto-dependent form of development, according to Paul Murrain of the Prince’s Foundation. And Great Britain is emulating the US in other ways. For example, Britain is becoming a more litigious society, leading to design rules that defy common sense, such as installing picket fences across front yards of houses facing the street, but with no gates to provide access. Although the government has created various codes — such as building, planning, and street codes -— it has not taken the final step to coordinate them, so it is difficult or impossible to build good places. The results include ranch-type houses and two- or three-story apartment buildings that require elevators. “In effect, Britain’s builders have,” as New York architect Richard Sammons remarked, “been sold the American dream.” Contrasting cities Walking tours of the old areas of Brussels and Bruges held surprising contrasts for participants. More economically stimulated and, presumably, more progressive Brussels, home of the European Community, NATO headquarters, and the central government of Belgium, has preserved fewer of the 16th- to 19th-century buildings than what a tourist would think at first glance. The 1960s-era Agora, a cross-block of small tourist-oriented shops just off the Grand Place, has no second floor, only a two-story façade with 18th century Flemish architectural elements — in effect, a propped-up movie set with nothing behind it. It’s what the tourists expect to see in old Brussels, so the expectations have been met with the least fuss and expense. The areas on the periphery of the old city core, and even on some streets within it, are marred by modernist glass mini-sky scrapers and a poorly defined streetscape and urban texture. Yet well-designed new urban infill that is architecturally compatible and that makes great use of interior and exterior space has been difficult to do and has met resistance at every step, as happened with the Rue de Laeken Reconstruction Project. This project, a full block of infill that conforms to New Urbanism’s principles, is true mixed use, with retail on the ground floor, and office space for a large insurance firm and high-quality residential uses above. In contrast to Brussels, Bruges is a medieval city of canals, stone bridges, narrow streets, and stunning Flemish architecture — a real town where people maintain shops, banks, offices, and businesses. It is, in other words, a place that is charming without being cute or tourist-dominated. Though there are some 19th-century neogothic and modernist intrusions, Bruges largely retains its historic character. The inviting, if confusing, streetscape promotes walking and biking. Sprawl is not as evident as in Brussels. Even a small country like Belgium demonstrates both the problems of modern development in Europe and the virtues of traditional development. Lucy Rowland is a department head in the University of Georgia Libraries and is administrator of the Pro-Urb listserv. (For more information on the EuroCouncil, the first Council for European Urbanism, go to: http://www.eurocouncil2003.net.)