New urban growth and challenges

More than 775 people attended the Congress for the New Urbanism VI in Denver April 30 through May 3, an increase of 150 percent from last year. This growth in attendance caused a few uncomfortably crowded sessions, but also is a sign of the amazing emergence of the New Urbanism design development trend in the 1990s. Just seven years ago the term was coined by architect Stefanos Polyzoides. The six CNU founders — Polyzoides, Peter Calthorpe, Daniel Solomon, Elizabeth Moule, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk and Andres Duany — and a handful of colleagues met for the first time in 1993. The New Urbanism brought together under one umbrella many related ideas — neotraditionalism, transit-oriented development, traditional neighborhood development and pedestrian pockets — all based on a rediscovery of human-scale architecture, planning and urbanism. Although the word “urban” has negative connotations, on balance the perceptual impact of the unifying term New Urbanism has been positive — facilitating the spread of principles and ideas and catching the attention of the media. greenfields and inner cities Now at the threshold of mainstream acceptance and unprecedented growth, the New Urbanism faces many challenges, according to CNU board member and former Charlotte Mayor Harvey Gantt. Much of what has been built according to the principles of the New Urbanism is located on “greenfield” sites, Gantt points out in a speech he gave at the conference. “While these new towns are superior to sprawl,” he says, “an argument can be made that they contribute to further dispersion of development and disinvestment in the core.” The application of new urbanist principles to inner cities requires different skills and strategies from those employed in building a town, he adds. Urban problems are not always related to physical design, but often to the lack of investment, jobs and security and to the presence of racial discrimination, archaic laws and entrenched bureaucracy, according to Gantt. To succeed in the inner city, new urbanists must be prepared to design and develop incrementally, on the scale of individual buildings, streets and blocks. Also, gaining credibility with neighborhood activists and politicians will require hard work. responding to challenges Ray Gindroz of UDA Architects points out that many new urbanist designers devote substantial portions of their practices to revitalizing inner cities. But he also contends that new urbanist greenfield towns like Kentlands and Celebration, featured prominently in the media, are restoring the reputation of the term “urban,” and reminding the public of what is good about cities. “Perhaps little by little the word urban has regained its good name,” he says. “Image is something that can be redeemed.” Gindroz adds that the New Urbanism is reviving the design principles of traditional American urbanism, which can remedy — although not singlehandedly solve — urban social problems like crime and unemployment. Research is needed to explore the relationship between social stability and urban design, Gindroz says.