Building Better 'Burbs
by Broderick Perkins
Suburban sprawl can strain a community's infrastructure and spread thin crucial community services including health care, street, road and highway maintenance, police protection, fire fighting, water supply, and sewage systems. Poorly developed suburbs siphon open land and gobble up green space, replacing them with traffic congestion and pollution. The "'Burbs" can also be hazardous to your health, make you sedentary, obese and more prone to heart attacks and other illnesses -- including road rage. Fortunately, today's urban planners are working on solutions. The first step is to get developers and others to stop zoning out over the issue. Anyone in denial need only examine the growing archive of independent studies revealing the host of suburban ills that began more than five decades ago. The end of World War II spawned the beginning of a Levittown-like march to the hinterlands of metropolitan areas everywhere, led by residential developers with plans so ill-conceived they now threaten the white-picket-fence lifestyle often associated with the American Dream. Apparently, the march goes on. The U.S. Census Bureau indicates that more than 60 percent of urban population growth occurred in the outer-ring neighborhoods, compared to just 11 percent in the inner-core neighborhoods. Infill development has increased substantially over the past several years, but industry analysts estimate that as much as 90 percent of all future growth will continue to occur in the suburbs. That's not good news. "For many years, the notion of moving to the urban edge conjured up images of big single-family homes on large lots, isolated from the hassles of urban living. But, rather than being a utopia, this segregated-use, low-density development pattern has morphed into a suburban form marred by increasing congestion, long commutes, air and water pollution, inadequate transit options, and a decline in open space," said Urban Land Institute (ULI) chairman Harry H. Frampton, III. Joining the recent spate of political documentaries, "The End Of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and The Collapse of The American Dream" chronicles with chilling clarity how it's time for urban flight to make a fast about face. "The economic, social and environmental well-being of America's suburbs depends on a fundamental change in development patterns -- a shift away from a land-consumptive, sprawling course to one that both conserves land and adequately accommodates growth," says Frampton. Frampton, also a managing partner of East West Partners Inc. in Beaver Creek, CO recently discussed the need for smarter growth during a press briefing recently at ULI's annual fall meeting in New York City. ULI and others aren't out to stop suburban development cold, just to make it smarter. "As community builders, we have an obligation to encourage more efficient growth patterns wherever development is occurring, whether it is downtown redevelopment or new development on the fringe," Frampton said. "The logical alternative is smart suburban growth. This means conservation of green space and parkland, more choices in how and where people live and work, more transportation choices; and more inclusive, multijurisdictional decision making." Frampton says developers need not be concerned with losing their competitive edge or market share because local planning efforts are shifting in favor of smart growth projects. "The successful developers will be those who seek out smart growth projects -- those developers who incorporate the philosophy of smart growth in their companies. The developers who ignore the smart growth concept ... will be the ones who risk not getting their approvals through the zoning process. They will be the ones who risk getting shut out of the market," Frampton said. To help promote the idea of smart growth, input from a ULI forum, workshop and conference helped Frampton develop "Ten Principles for Smart Growth on the Fringe," the latest in the institute's "Ten Principles" series of booklets outlining ways to improve development practices. The principles are: - Share The Vision -- Make sure the vision of growth includes and reflects the desires of those who live and work in the community.
- Keep It Green -- Designate open space to be saved in perpetuity.
- Put The Right Design In The Right Place -- Determine the appropriate development location based on infrastructure investment, proximity of jobs to housing and transit options.
- Conserve And Protect -- Minimize disturbance to nature and use climate as a major factor in design.
- Be Diverse -- Offer a housing mix that appeals to different demographic groups and households, resulting in greater neighborhood diversity.
- Mix It Up -- Offer a blend of commercial, retail, entertainment and recreational space with residential development.
- Use Connections, Mobility, Circulation -- Provide a network of vehicular, pedestrian, cycling, park and open space connections.
- Create Sustainable Transportation -- Stage development of real estate and transportation facilities to ensure the availability of a variety of alternatives to driving, including walking, cycling, transit, car pooling, and telecommuting.
- Preserve Community Character -- Draw on local culture, heritage and history to create a unique sense of place.
- Make It Easy to Do the Right Thing -- Create more flexible local regulations that encourage mixed-use, compact development and other smart growth practices.
"The reality is that reversing unsustainable suburban growth patterns and restoring the suburban landscape will take many years. But these are goals we need to pursue now, to set the course for better communities in the future," Frampton said. |
