I'm a new urbanist and I generally agree with your...

2009-02-11T21:55:00.000-05:00

I'm a new urbanist and I generally agree with your comments about isolation. The urge to exclude the public realm, street life and strangers is the essence of suburbia.

There are plenty of new urban developments and codes that have revitalized central cities with infill. There is a tendency by people who don't know any better to apply suburban design standards to cities; one of the good uses of new urbanism is to counteract that tendency.

There are some suburban projects that are reasonably well balanced in terms of jobs and housing, have adequate transit and bike connections, and function like a small town. I think that's valid as a sustainable pattern, and it's what a lot of people want.

Then there are suburban projects that basically are, as you say, isolated bedroom communities. It's a good idea to identify those projects and label them accurately as suburbia, or hybrids at best.

I disagree that new urbanism doesn't accept that cities are inherently good and productive places. There are a lot of valid criticisms of new urbanism, but I don't think that's one of them. If you look a the projects, especially the award winning projects, the books and articles, the codes and rating systems, the experience and background of the designers, I just don't think that criticism holds up.

I hope you will write about the brownfield redevelopment project in Chicago that opened your eyes to the greenwashing surrounding the new urbanism. I'd like to learn more about that.

Comments on Pretty Good City: Thoughts on New Urbanism

I'm a new urbanist and I generally agree with your...