By Nikos A. Salingaros
Glenwood
Park Town Center
Rendering
by James Dougherty-Dover & Kohl Partners
Leon Krier
Urban Development Rivierenburt, Den Haag, Holland
New Urbanism Will Happen
Mizner Park
by Cooper Carry Inc.
"A
failed shopping mall has been converted into a mixed use district including
residences, offices, and shops designed around a central esplanade.
Mizner Park is now one of the most successful regional shopping districts
in the country."
Adele Freedman:
"What happens next?"
Jane Jacobs: "The New Urbanists are going to win out."
(Interview
in Architecture Magazine, 2000)
"New Urbanism is not a transcendental ideology but a versatile technique of settling land. Even though its goal is to create or restore communities, it does not not posit these as products of self-sacrificing fantasy but rather as structures which best serve the self-interests of human individuals and groups, be they families, companies or institutions, in rural or urban settings. In order for such communities to work, they need to evolve certain patterns of public spaces, of density and size, of hierarchy, of admixture and proximity. Their complexity, however, should not result from social ingeneering, but needs to be allowed to grow through a variety of complementary activities developed on neighbouring plots, forming urban frontages along streets, squares, parks or countryside within an urban masterplan."
The Los Alamos Downtown Master Plan aims to create a pedestrian-oriented town center in a downtown currently dominated by suburban zoning and parking lots. It includes a north-south retail main street, anchored by a performing arts center facing a public plaza to the north and an outdoor amphitheater overlooking the spectacular Los Alamos Canyon to the south. Other proposed development along Los Alamos Canyon includes a public park, courtyard housing, and an office campus for use by the National Laboratory.
Implementation of the Master Plan is achieved through a series of integrated public and private actions, which include improvements to the civic infrastructure of parks and streets, the adoption of a new regulating plan and development code, and the creation of a 'Park Once' district. These actions, when combined, establish a comprehensive and expedient framework for private development.
"New
Urbanism is neither a political nor a religious ideology.
is
an urban design movement that burst onto the scene in the late 1980s
and early 1990s. New Urbanists aim to reform all aspects of real
estate development. Their work affects regional and local plans.
They are involved in new development, urban retrofits, and suburban
infill. In
all cases, New Urbanist neighbourhoods are walkable, and contain
a diverse range of housing and jobs. New Urbanists support regional
planning for open space, appropriate architecture and planning,
and the balanced development of jobs and housing. They believe these
strategies are the best way to reduce how long people spend in traffic,
to increase the supply of affordable housing, and to rein in urban
sprawl."
Information provided by:
http://luciensteil.tripod.com/katarxis02-1/id39.html