New Urbanism

[texansaa21]

"New Urbanism is an urban design movement, which promotes walkable neighborhoods that contain a range of housing and job types." (wikipedia)

New Urbanism, until recently, I had never heard of it. Which is quite ironic, since I live in one of the Cities that the Wikipedia article cites as an example of New Urbanism in practice. New Urbanism is a deriviative of Smart Growth which we know is a buzz word for Agenda 21.

When you see new bike lanes, bike-share programs, walkable cities, mutli-modal transportation or anything similar, you are dealing indirectly with Agenda 21 and directly with the New Urbanism. That new street they just re-build from the ground up, or re-striped, you think there should have been 4 lanes instead of 2? Nope, the New Urbanism wants a more pedistrian friendly environment. They want to get people out of cars.

Read more here.

 

[eduardo89]

I've always been interested in urban planning and design. I was thinking of a career in it. An excellent example of new urbanism is the Olympic village in Vancouver, Canada. Very pedestrian friendly and it's been a huge catalyst for the urban revival and redevelopment of what used to be abandoned warehouses and brownfield land just south of downtown. Below are some pictures showing it and a link to a thread of skyscraperpage outlining the project and subsequent developments in the area, along with lots and lots of pictures http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=138106

I actually like the New Urbanism planning model and I'd like I see more pedestrian friendly cities in north America like we have here in Europe.


Before:

Construction:

Now:

 

[texansaa21]

I like having the freedom of movement that comes with cars. New Urbanism would cause more congestion and eventually force people to walk or bike. This is not the lifestyle we want here in Texas.

 

[eduardo89]

I like having the freedom of movement that comes with cars. New Urbanism would cause more congestion and eventually force people to walk or bike. This is not the lifestyle we want here in Texas.

You can chose the lifestyle you want. I prefer not even owning a car. I have no need for one, I have 3 supermarkets within a 5 minute walk, my daughters daycare is a 5 minute subway ride away and my university is 15 minutes away.

What's wrong with walking and biking? Maybe Americans wouldn't be so obese if they did a bit more of that.


Edit: I should probably add I'm not anti-car, I love them. I'm not an environmentalist, I don't believe in global warming, I don't buy "green" products, I don't even use energy efficient light bulbs.

 

[dannno]

You can chose the lifestyle you want. I prefer not even owning a car. I have no need for one, I have 3 supermarkets within a 5 minute walk, my daughters daycare is a 5 minute subway ride away and my university is 15 minutes away.

What's wrong with walking and biking? Maybe Americans wouldn't be so obese if they did a bit more of that.


Edit: I should probably add I'm not anti-car, I love them. I'm not an environmentalist, I don't believe in global warming, I don't buy "green" products, I don't even use energy efficient light bulbs.

I like the freedom of having a car because I surf and sometimes you have to travel to find good surf.. but if I lived within a short walk of an more consistent and fairly epic surf break, had a veggie garden in my yard and could walk or bike somewhere that had stores/bars/entertainment then I could probably be content with car rentals for surf trips.

 

[eduardo89]

I like the freedom of having a car because I surf and sometimes you have to travel to find good surf.. but if I lived within a short walk of an more consistent and fairly epic surf break, had a veggie garden in my yard and could walk or bike somewhere that had stores/bars/entertainment then I could probably be content with car rentals for surf trips.

I have no problem with having a car and I like having one, I just don't use it often. I have no need to drive every single day. I don't have a 60 mile commute and I'd never want that. It's nice to have a car to get away for the weekend, run errands, etc. I just don't see why the OP is so against pedestrian friendly cities. Not everything is a massive government conspiracy.

 

[rp713]

i see where the thread op is coming from. in times of major disasters and people want to evacuate. if you dont have a car, and rentals are sold out(trust me, this can happen quickly, i work in the rental car business), what chance do you have of evacuating quickly? cant depend on the govt.

but as far as downtown and inner city areas. i dont have a problem with pedestrian friendly and alternative transportation. although that should be left up to the respected cities and counties to solve those issues. not state or fed govt or the UN.