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New Urbanism
Congress for the New Urbanism
The Congress for the New Urbanism views disinvestment in central cities, the spread of placeless sprawl, increasing separation by race and income, environmental deterioration, loss of agricultural lands and wilderness, and the erosion of society's built heritage as one interrelated community building challenge.
New Urbanists stand for the restoration of existing urban centers and towns within coherent metropolitan regions, the reconfiguration of sprawling suburbs into communities of real neighborhoods and diverse districts, the conversation of natural environments, and the preservation of our built legacy.
Restoring the Sense of Community
• Organize a strategic development plan to promote the transformation of the downtown region into a retail, office, entertainment, and housing district of national prominence.
• Consolidate existing neighborhoods, particularly the ones adjacent to the downtown region. Use existing land for a variety of purposes: new houses, refurbished housing, retail or parks as desired by individual neighborhoods.
• Allow Baton Rouge's underutilized retail strips such as Florida Boulevard and Airline Highway to change uses according to the needs of adjacent neighborhoods.
New Urbanists recognize that physical solutions by themselves will not solve social and economic problems, but neither can economic vitality, community stability, and environmental health be sustained without a coherent and supportive physical framework.
• Cities and towns should bring into proximity a broad spectrum of public and private uses to support a regional economy that benefits people of all incomes.
• Affordable housing should be distributed throughout the region to match job opportunities and to avoid concentrations of poverty. A broad range of housing type and price could bring people of all ages, races, and incomes together and strengthen the community.
• Transit corridors can help coordinate and organize metropolitan structures and revitalize urban centers. In contrast, highways should not displace investment from existing centers.
• Civic, institutional and commercial activity should be embedded in neighborhoods and districts not isolated in remote, single-use complexes.
• Schools should be located so children can walk or bicycle to them.
• A range of parks should be distributed within neighborhoods.
New Urbanists advocate the restructuring of public policy and development practices to support the following principles: neighborhoods should be diverse in use and population; communities should be designed for the pedestrian and transit as well as the car; cities and towns should be shaped by physically defined and universally accessible public spaces and community institutions; urban places should be framed by architecture and landscape design that celebrate local history, climate, ecology, and building practice.
Revert from zoning-based planning to code-based planning. Americaís zoning laws, intended to control the baneful effects of industry, have mutated into a system that corrodes civic life, outlaws the human scale, defeats tradition and authenticity, and confounds our yearning for an everyday environment worthy of our affection.
The principles of New Urbanism produce settings that resemble American towns prior to the Second World War, the way Main Street used to be.
Allow Baton Rouge's underutilized retail strips such as Florida Boulevard and Airline Highway to change uses according to the needs of adjacent neighborhoods.
• The basic unit of planning is the neighborhood.
• Automobiles are permitted, but they do not take precedence over human needs.
• The needs of daily life are accessible within a five minute walk especially for the elderly and young.
• Apartments are permitted over stores.
• Forms of housing are mixed, including apartments, duplexes and single-family houses, accessory apartments, etc.
This information was taken from the Charter of the New Urbanism; Stefanos Polyzoides; "Home from Nowhere" Atlantic Monthly, September 1996; Back from the Brink; "The Other Palm Beach Story" The New York Times, June 12, 1997; and, finally, one or two of my original ideas. As they say, " You steal one idea and make it your own it is called plagiarism. You steal a bunch of ideas and make them your own it is called research."
Principles of Town Planning
The community is defined by a series of walkable neighborhoods.
The neighborhoods have a clearly defined center and edge. The distance between the two is no more than a five-minute walk.
Streets are laid out as networks with each street functional for the car but comfortable to the pedestrian.
Emphasis is placed on the importance of design for the "public realm" to enhance the experience that we share when we open our doors and step outside.
Civic buildings provide places of assembly and are predominately located to contribute to the identity of the neighborhood. They should be designed to serve as symbols of pride for the community.
The neighborhood offers residence for different income levels with homes, shops, schools and workplaces within walking distance of each other.
Architecture and landscaping reflect the character of the region. Architectural elements of the community are clearly defined by a design code.