The New Urbanism: Expanding the Vision for the Design Professions (original) (raw)

2012, Berkeley Planning Journal

In a fe w words, what definition would you give of nthe new ur banism?" Rick Williams: It's a large set of principles about issues, including economics and design, that affect the physical environment, but it really gets down to a series of ideas about community-building. Greg Tung: Coming from these particular books, it's a necessary propagandistic spin on a lot that's been going on in planning and ur ban design for the last 30 or 40 years. Much of the neotraditional new-town work is garnering the lion's share of attention. On the up side, that gets a lot of people interested in the issues. But the down side is that it may seem like that's the only thing going on. Walter Hood : For me, I would say that the new urbanism is non existent. Carolyn Radisch: I think it's a hopeful first step on some problems we've been grappling with for some time-managing new growth, preserving agriculture and open space, integrating land uses, and solving transportation problems. I don't th ink it's the whole answer, but it's a hopeful first step. Elizabeth Deakin: I'd say it's an extended set of hypotheses masquer ading as a theory, and an oversimplification that nevertheless ad dresses some very serious problems. Carl Anthony: I would say that this new urbanism is a positive direc tion, but in some ways it doesn't go far enough. Its foundation in ur ban design doesn't question the forces that make cities; and there are a number of other questions it doesn't really address, like questions of social justice and racism. Peter Owens: Two words: historic marker. It's part of a long tradition of design manifestos reacting to a perceived crisis in the urban envi ronment. In this case, it's a reaction to the faceless sprawl of suburbia; 100 years ago it was the overcrowded industrial city.2 Clarisse Lula: A quick phrase: Impossible .