NEW URBANISM 101: What & WhyDesigning Thriving Places

Marina KhouryDPZ Partners

KCFMarch 19, 2017

2017: DPZ Partners

DPZ

• 35+ years of successful & pioneering practice; including TODs;

• Designs for over 400 new and existing communities;

• +120 built communities

• Prominent & influential projects, locally calibrated, and of their place;

• Innovative development & implementation of design codes;

• Founders and recognized leaders of New Urbanism & Smart Growth;

• Educators

new urbanism: theory, principles& its evolution

2017: DPZ Partners

Epidemic of sprawl development patterns: USA

• Areas dominated by single-use• Car dependence• Excessive automotive traffic• Lack of transportation alternatives• Lack of useable open space• Excessive land consumption• Degraded wilderness & habitat• Increased air pollution• Increased burden on municipal

infrastructure• Diminished quality of life

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2 patterns of development since beginning of time

Complete Community: Walkable Urbanism

(up to 1940’s)

Fragmented Development: Drivable Sprawl(since 1940’s)

+600 new cities, of 10 million each estimated to be built over next century to accommodate new urban dwellers.

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The Theory of New Urbanism

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Seaside: renaissance of place, 1980

• Achieve and restore time-tested forms of urbanism

• Provide vitality, walkability and economic resilience to our towns and cities

• Preserve natural environment and cultural heritage of areas.

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Kentlands: First full-time community,1988

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Kentlands: 1988

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13-pt Checklist of NU1. The Neighborhood has a discernible center.

This is often a square or green, and sometimes a busy or memorable street intersection. A transit stop would be located at this center.

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13-pt Checklist of NU2. Most of the dwellings are within a five minute walk of the center.

This distance averages one quarter of a mile.

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13-pt Checklist of NU3. There is a variety of dwelling types within the Neighborhood.

These usually take form of houses, rowhouses and apartments, such that younger and older people, singles and families, the poor and the wealthy, may find places to live.

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13-pt Checklist of NU4. There are shops and offices at the edge of the neighborhood.

The shops should be sufficiently varied to supply the weekly needs of a household. A convenience store is the most important among them.

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13-pt Checklist of NU5. A small ancillary building is permitted within the backyard of each house.

It may be used as one rental unit, or as a place to work.

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13-pt Checklist of NU6. There is an elementary school close enough so that most children can

walk from their dwelling This distance should not be more than 1.5 km.

• 1969: > 41% of children walked or biked to school• 2001: < 13% of children walked or biked to school

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13-pt Checklist of NU7. There are small playgrounds quite near every dwelling.

This distance should not be more than one eighth of a mile.

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13-pt Checklist of NU8. The streets within the neighborhood are a connected network.

This provides a variety of itineraries and disperses traffic congestion

ABC

A = vehicular & cycling streetB = parking street / courtC = pedestrian Street

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13-pt Checklist of NU9. The streets are relatively narrow and shaded by rows of trees.

This slows down the traffic, creating an environment for the pedestrian and the bicycle.

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13-pt Checklist of NU10. Buildings at the neighborhood center are placed close to the street.

This creates a strong sense of place.

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13-pt Checklist of NU11. Parking lots and garage doors rarely front the streets.

Parking is relegated to the rear of buildings, usually accessed by alleys.

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13-pt Checklist of NU12. Certain prominent sites are reserved for civic buildings.

Buildings for meeting, education, religion or culture are located at the termination of street vistas or at the Neighborhood center.

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13-pt Checklist of NU13. The Neighborhood is organized to be self-governing.

A formal association debates and decides on matters of maintenance, security and physical change (but not on taxation which should be the responsibility of the larger community).

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Smart Growth Principles

1. Create range of housing 2. Create walkable neighborhoods 3. Encourage community and stakeholder collaboration 4. Foster communities’ sense of place 5. Make development decisions predictable and fair 6. Mix land uses 7. Preserve open space, farmland, natural beauty, critical environmental areas 8. Provide transportation choices 9. Develop existing communities first 10. Encourage compact building design

Partnerships

HUD + DOT + EPA

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Congress for New Urbanism (CNU)

“We stand for the restoration of existing urban centers and towns within coherent metropolitan regions, the reconfiguration of sprawling suburbs into communities of real neighborhoods and diverse districts, the conservation of natural environments, and the

preservation of our built legacy.”

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Principles of NU: 4 scales

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CNU reach

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Designing Sustainable Communities

Smart Locations & Linkages Neighborhood Pattern & Design Green Infrastructure & Buildings

• Include transportation energy intensity of buildings into total building’s performance.

• Any green rating system must consider context and pattern of settlement.

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UN: SDGs

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UN Award

understanding the consequences of sprawl

vs/ smart growth

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Sprawl & Health

Source: Matthre A. Cougan, 2003

Need policies that produce walkable urbanism:• reduce exposure to toxins and pollutants;• minimize environmental impact; • encourage a healthy life-style; and• makes people happier!

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Economic Success of Smart Growth

“Smart Growth development generates 10 times more tax revenue per acre than conventional suburban development.”

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WalkUPs

6 types: 1. Downtown2. Downtown Adjacent3. Urban Commercial4. Suburban Town Center5. Strip Commercial Redevelopment6. Greenfields

WalkUPs outperform Drivable Suburbanism • Economic ranking• Social equity ranking

Source: Christopher Leinburger, 2013

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The cost of sprawl - individually

H+T Index

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Climate change

The cost of sprawl - collectively

Source: Strong Towns, 2015

Rate of Return of Smart Growth

$0

$125

$250

$375

$500

$402.80

$119.10

$76.80

$14.20$8.10$7.20$1.00

Residential

Commercial

Mixed-Use

County S-F City S-FWalmart Mall or strip Mixed-Use !(2 Story)

Mixed-Use !(3 Story)

Mixed-Use !(6 Story)

Ratio Difference of 37 City Sample Set, in 11 States + 1 Province 3UrbanJoseph Minicozzi, AICP

County Property Taxes/Acre

WalkScore & location efficiencies

The wants of American households

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Social Equity: tangibles & intangibles

People in more compact, connected places are:

• Happier• Safer• Live longer• Have greater upwards mobility

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Paradigm of Scientific Planning

• Provides for an effective framework for implementation.

• The TRANSECT as a SCIENTIFIC TOOL, for classifying sustainable urban development patterns.

• Calibrated to LOCAL CONTEXT.

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Codes Study: FBCs

+584 Codes to date (344 adopted)+105 million ha impacted

impacting +45 million people

“By far the greatest and most admirable form of wisdom, is that needed to plan and beautify cities

and human communities.” Socrates

marina@dpz.com