New Urbanism in the news

CNU and the movement in general generates increasingly sophisticated coverage. One way to take the pulse of the new urbanist movement is to see how we are being portrayed in major newspapers, magazines, and web sites. CNU continues to have a healthy profile in these media. The public image of the New Urbanism is very gradually growing more sophisticated, despite continued emphasis on upscale greenfield projects at the expense of all others. At least the sprawl debate seems all but settled. There have been very few stories recently maintaining that sprawl is good, aside from a debate between Peter Calthorpe and sprawl apologist Peter Gordon at cnn.com. What follows is a small sampling of the hundreds of articles CNU has collected in the past few months on topics from big box closures to affordable housing development. The Washington Post covered the Post Properties-Federal Realty Investment Trust joint venture called Pentagon Row: “The company set out to build [a main street] from scratch on 18.5 acres of land bordered by Army Navy Drive and South Joyce Street. Like two others the company is developing in the region (Bethesda Row and Shirlington Row), Pentagon Row is an example of a growing trend in commercial real estate called ‘new urbanism.’” —“Building Main Street U.S.A.” Washington Post, September 25, 2000. “Innovative developers and forward thinking communities across the country are using smart growth techniques to build neighborhoods that are walkable, accessible to public transportation, and that strike a balance between access to jobs, shops and open space.” —Sierra Club president Robert Cox, in “Smart Growth Developers Reduce Sprawl with Innovation.” Environmental News Service, September 14, 2000. The Charlotte Observer noticed when CNU member Chuck Bohl held a workshop to envision a new urbanist replacement for a greyfield mall in Durham, NC. “Older malls are ripe for redevelopment according to the tenets of ‘new urbanism,’ a movement that embraces mixing retail, housing and offices in ways that recall traditional, walkable downtowns.” —“Another persona sought for mall.” Charlotte Observer, September 27, 2000. The Toronto Globe and Mail recently sounded the alarm about Canadian sprawl: “We've reached the crisis point and unless something is done quickly, Toronto is facing a declining quality of life. That's particularly sad. Not long ago, Toronto was known throughout the world as the city that works. Cities around the world studied it as the place that had best figured out how to cope with urban growth. Now, it seems, we've forgotten how.” —Gardner Church, in “Sprawling city at a crossroads.” Toronto Globe and Mail, September 25, 2000. The demographic demand for better cities and towns is apparent everywhere. “The reality is that there is a demographic that would love to live two blocks from work and put the car in a garage until weekends.” —James Moore, Professor, University of South Florida, in "Neighborhood model urged for Fla. cities." Tampa Tribune, September 24, 2000. Meanwhile, dense infill may be gradually losing its bad name. “In order to afford the average [Los Angeles] apartment you'd need to be making $41,680 a year, to rent an 858-square-foot apartment. We as a community need to rethink our prejudices against multifamily and higher-density housing and realize that it's a reality in today's economic world.” —Dawn Dyer, president of the Dyer Sheehan Group, in “Business Executives Urged to Promote Affordable Apartments Growth: Organizers say CEOs' influence could persuade elected leaders of the need for multifamily housing.” LA Times, September 27, 2000. The environmentalist world is talking our talk. “The idea is to promote higher densities of development so that everybody doesn't have a 10-acre lot or even a 5-acre lot, but live closer together so that they can have common open space that everyone can enjoy.” —Elise Jones, executive director of the Colorado Environmental Organization. “Wilderness conference puts sprawl in perspective.” Environmental News Network, September 17, 2000. Cities are also popular, despite occasional defenses of suburban living. “Urban America is here to stay. Despite what the gurus would recommend for high-tech businesses' strategic plans, firms and people abandoning cities will do so at their own risk. Where-it's-at will always have a "where" in it, and it will never be out in the boondocks.” —Hal Cohen in “Invisible Cities: Is the Internet making urban centers obsolete? Not a chance.” Industry Standard, September 25, 2000. Long-time CNU member Robert Yaro was quoted in a New York Times article about the connection between design and physical fitness: “We can't increase activity levels for most Americans unless we change the way communities are designed,” he said. “We need more compact, pedestrian-oriented patterns of growth. The vast majority of Americans live in suburbs built since 1950. They don't have parks, sidewalks, retail centers they can get to on foot or by public transport, and now serious public health issues are an unanticipated by-product of this civilization we built.” —The Fat Epidemic: Personal Health: Planning Healthier Suburbs, Where Cars Sit Idle and People Get Moving. New York Times October 17, 2000.