Submitted by Suanne Z. Thamm
Reporter – News Analyst
November 7, 2016 3:00 p.m.
Part 2 in a series on density. To view Part I click here.
New Urbanism
According to the website www.newurbanism.org, New Urbanism is the most important planning movement this century, and is about creating a better future for us all. It is an international movement to reform the design of the built environment, and is about raising our quality of life and standard of living by creating better places to live. New Urbanism is the revival of our lost art of place-making, and is essentially a re-ordering of the built environment into the form of complete cities, towns, villages, and neighborhoods – the way communities have been built for centuries around the world. New Urbanism involves fixing and infilling cities, as well as the creation of compact new towns and villages.
Origins
New Urbanism was spearheaded by architects in the 1980’s to revitalize specific regions. Because inner cities were in such terrible shape at that time, developers turned their attention to building suburbs. But New Urbanists were increasingly alarmed at the problems created by suburban sprawl and sought ways to fight it. As a result, America saw the rise of traditional neighborhood developments (TNDs) that resulted in more compact development than the traditional quarter acre suburban housing development.
For a good look at evolution of New Urbanism, here is a YouTube video originally presented in 2007 on CBS Sunday Morning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRrl7LwNUtw.
Building TND communities like Celebration and Seaside required both imagination and stamina of architects and developers who were taking a chance that there would be a market for such development and who had to deal with local planners and agencies to build such compact developments within the framework of existing zoning and land use codes that favored the more traditional suburban development. But thanks to their perseverance, TNDs met with huge market success and in many ways changed the nature of community life.
Local TND example: Amelia Park
For the best local example of a TND, visit the Amelia Park neighborhood between 14th Street and Citrona in Fernandina Beach. Here you will find a mix of different types of residential dwellings. Garages are located behind the homes, along with areas for trash removal. Homes are closer together and in wooded environments, unlike many of the newer residential communities where newly built homes tend to stand out on quarter-acre suburban lots that were clear cut to make way for development. Front porches abound. There is a park area accessible by foot for neighborhood residents. Residents can bike or walk to neighboring shopping areas, the Post Office and the YMCA. There is even a new church inside the development.
Urban redevelopment
Urban redevelopment was just the next phase in the evolution of New Urbanism. Instead of building townhouse communities in what had been cow pastures, developers looked at new possibilities for rehabilitating existing mixed use neighborhoods and adding new buildings in an already built up area. And with this development the emphasis on historic preservation also got a boost.
As stated by Robert Steuteville in a post entitled “The Four Phases of New Urbanism,” (http://www.govtech.com/fs/The-Four-Phases-of-New-Urbanism.html), “… [O]ur ancestors were better at building urban places than we are, and they left a great legacy, complete with historic buildings of excellent detail and superior transit services. Historic cities occupy many of the best locations. As long as people are willing to reinhabit an established city or town, there is less need to make places from scratch.”
A key feature of New Urbanism is both a desire and a need to increase density. It calls for more buildings, residences, shops, and services closer together for ease of walking, to enable a more efficient use of services and resources, and to create a more convenient, enjoyable place to live. By repopulating the inner city, more trees, wetlands and natural habitats can be saved from destruction by developers seeking to build housing developments in currently undeveloped green space.
As New Urbanism evolved following the 2008 housing crash, it entered a new phase. Building on the success of TNDs, architects and developers turned their attention to redeveloping existing cities, where streets and utilities already existed, along with urban amenities like parks, cultural attractions and shops. Older building types were “rediscovered” and replicated in infill construction. This type of development had a readymade market of both young singles and retirees, eager to live in places where they could walk or bicycle not just as recreation but as transportation to and from work and life activities. Singles were attracted to loft-style living above shops in commercial areas, where there was a lot of activity; retirees were happy to escape the high utility costs of multi-bedroom homes with cathedral ceilings and the bother of maintaining lawns and pools.
Market demand for in-town housing increased, whether it be for living above shops, granny apartments or courtyard living. These people found the idea of mixed use neighborhoods both exciting and a way to get in touch with their communities.
For more information on New Urbanism, visit www.newurbanism.org.
Form-based codes vs. traditional zoning
These changes, along with a move toward more walkable communities, caused city planners to look at land use codes in a new way. In some communities (Bradenton, Ocala, and Tampa, for example) form-based codes were developed as an alternative to conventional zoning. As defined in Wikipedia, a Form-Based Code (FBC) is a means of regulating land development to achieve a specific urban form. Form-Based Codes foster predictable built results and a high-quality public realm by using physical form (rather than separation of uses) as the organizing principle, with a lesser focus on land use, through municipal regulations. A FBC is a regulation, not a mere guideline, adopted into city, town, or county law and offers a powerful alternative to conventional zoning regulation.
Form-Based Codes are a new response to the modern challenges of urban sprawl, deterioration of historic neighborhoods, and neglect of pedestrian safety in new development. Tradition has declined as a guide to development patterns, and the widespread adoption by cities of single-use zoning regulations has discouraged compact, walkable urbanism. Form-Based Codes are a tool to address these deficiencies, and to provide local governments the regulatory means to achieve development objectives with greater certainty.
For a better understanding of Form-Based Codes, see http://plannersweb.com/2014/12/fbc1/ .
Smart Growth
The Wikipedia entry for Smart Growth defines it as “a theory of land development that accepts that growth and development will continue to occur, and so seeks to direct that growth in an intentional, comprehensive way. Its proponents include urban planners, architects, developers, community activists, and historic preservationists.
“The term ‘Smart Growth’ is an attempt to reframe the conversation from ‘growth’ versus ‘no growth’ (or NIMBY) to good/smart growth versus bad/dumb growth. Proponents seek to distinguish Smart Growth from urban sprawl, which they claim causes most of the problems that fuel opposition to urban growth, such as traffic congestion and environmental degradation.
“Smart growth principles are directed at developing sustainable communities that provide a greater range of transportation and housing choices and prioritize infill and redevelopment in existing communities rather than development of ‘greenfield’ farmland or natural lands. Some of the fundamental aims for the benefits of residents and the communities are increasing family income and wealth, providing safe walking routes to schools, fostering livable, safe and healthy places, stimulating economic activity (both locally and regionally), and developing, preserving and investing in built and natural resources.”
Smart Growth is a means of development that utilizes the principles of New Urbanism. Smart growth is an approach to development that encourages a mix of building types and uses, diverse housing and transportation options, development within existing neighborhoods, and community engagement.
The 10 principles below are considered the foundation of a smart growth approach, according to Smart Growth America [Source: www.smartgrowthamerica.org]:
- Mix land uses
- Take advantage of compact design
- Create a range of housing opportunities and choices
- Create walkable neighborhoods
- Foster distinctive, attractive communities with a strong sense of place
- Preserve open space, farmland, natural beauty, and critical environmental areas
- Direct development towards existing communities
- Provide a variety of transportation choices
- Make development decisions predictable, fair, and cost effective
- Encourage community and stakeholder collaboration in development decisions
The city of Fernandina Beach has embraced Smart Growth principles in its planning activities.
Conclusion
Underlying both New Urbanism and Smart Growth is the need to re-examine the concept of density in land use planning. In embracing principles like sustainability and preservation, while looking for ways to lower infrastructure costs and foster distinctive communities where people’s needs come before those of automobiles, density needs to be viewed through a different prism. It should not necessarily be used in a derogatory way in viewing proposed development projects. Rather, its benefits—minimizing urban sprawl, lower utility costs, historic preservation, and saving the natural environment—need to be weighed as well.
Recently the 1000 Friends of Florida released a report entitled “Mapping Florida’s Future: Alternative Patterns of Development in 2070.” This is only one of the latest studies calling for smart growth and promoting New Urbanism. We will examine this report in our next article, Density Dilemma, Part 3.
Editor’s Note: Suanne Z. Thamm is a native of Chautauqua County, NY, who moved to Fernandina Beach from Alexandria,VA, in 1994. As a long time city resident and city watcher, she provides interesting insight into the many issues that impact our city. We are grateful for Suanne’s many contributions to the Fernandina Observer.
Thank you, Suanne, for your focus on these smart growth principles. They work. And if we’re to protect a high quality of life here for future generations, these principles will certainly play an important role. Growth is coming whether we like it or not. We can stick our heads in the sand or we can plan for it and manage it well. The density issue is not well understood. Most everyone would embrace “smart growth” and “new urbanism” principles but they’re afraid of “density.” Density is the most important part of it…ask our parents and grandparents about the neighborhoods they grew up in! Finally, if it isn’t financially viable, it isn’t sustainable. The private sector won’t invest in high quality urban redevelopment if we get the density wrong. There simply won’t be the return on investment.
Increased density is the only way that more affordable housing will come to FB due to the high land costs. While Amelia Park is held out as an example of planning and design, the average price of a home there is in the $500,000 – $700,000 range. Especially in the downtown area, density at the 32 units/acre is needed to produce smaller, but working class affordable housing.