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| Pine-Pike Seattle, Washington downtownseattle.com |
A good Monday to you all. Yours truly is back from a nice weekend that me twisting and shouting to the Beatles. I want to say hi to Nutmeg UK. One more thing before I get started, I checked the analytics this morning and it looks like we're on the fast track to reach 15,000 page views. Keep up the great job. Now onto to today's topic, "Ten Questions We Should Asking About Our Communities" by F. Kaid Benfield for The Huffington Post July 8, 2014.
"Smart growth." What does this much bandied about term mean? How does a community grow smartly? For the about the last twenty years, Mr. Benfield has spent a good deal of time working on an agenda founded on this concept. For lack of any thing better, "smart growth" describes an idea which states, "...our regions must replace suburban sprawl with compact forms of growth; that neighborhoods must be walkable and convenient; that automobile dependence must be replace with a system of mobility choices in which the automobile is on a part." It's an environmentalist's agenda and those who promote it, believe it's ideal for people.
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| Tyson's Corner, Virginia novaproperties4sale.com |
Yet, Mr. Benfield is increasingly convinced that smart growth and smart transportation, as necessary as they are for the future of our communities, are not nearly enough to create sustainable communities. They are not sufficient enough to go beyond sustainability, as we should, toward social equality and justice, to places that repair and restore the damage already done, to places or healing, nourishment, and resiliences.
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| House in Hyde Park Chicago, Illinois findingdulcinea.com |
Further, there have been advances in research and methodology, particularly, in green infrastructure and green building, that have arisen since the smart growth plan was developed. This movement has never been fully integrated and that's a shame because, as Mr. Benfield observes, "new development that doesn't take advantage of these practices isn't 'smart'; it's dumb." In his book People Habitat, F. Kaid Benfield argues that smart growth will become a thing of the past if isn't allowed to evolve. Therefore, Mr. Benfield proposes a more ambitious and holistic approach. In the interest of starting a conversation, Mr. Benfield suggests a list of ten questions we ask in order to find ways to improve. These questions encompass smart growth and more. They are:
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| Park in Boston's Chinatown Boston, Massachusetts boston.com |
1. Are neighborhoods fully hospitable to residents with a range of incomes, ages, and abilities?
Good question because in all the discussions about smart growth, this is the one area where the subject is deficient. Gentrification is a difficult topic to deal with but it does not make it less vexing, in fact Mr. Benfield declares it the most important. In a shameless plug for his book, "if our solutions don't work for people, they will never work for the planet.
2. Does the community respect nature, integrating natural areas and systems into regional planning and neighborhood design?
F. Kaid Benfield declares this to be another weakness of smart growth. In the enthusiasm for landscape urbanism and downtown infill, smart growth has frequently ignored our need for actual nature. This does not necessarily mean we should all be living in forests, rather, it implies a careful and considerate integration of nature into our cities. The operative words are careful and considerate if we want our cities to be the living ecosystem that someone wants to live in.
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| Providence, Rhode Island en.wikipedia.org |
Green buildings are common and green infrastructure is making head way. So much so, that some progressive institutions believe that now is the time to install "net-positive" buildings that create more sustainable energy and water than they consume in order to reduce wast. Until then, we should ask if our current buildings are headed down the right path regarding consumption and pollution reduction.
4. Do the community design and social structure encourage healthy and well-being?
Mr, Benfield notes that this is another big issue which can lead to further discussions on whether there is clean air and water, shops within walking range, nearby amenities and services such as parks and recreational facilities.
5. Is the overall metropolitan or community development footprint discernible and no larger than necessary?
Is there policy in place to limit the encroachment of new development onto open space? Mr. Benfield suggests that leapfrog development should be discouraged through appropriate policy and incentives.
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| Vignettes of Buffalo, New York answers.com |
"Beauty" and "character" can be hard to define but it is important to ask this question and try to answer it. Public spaces give our neighborhoods and cities definition. They include: parks, plazas, monuments, and our most plentiful and important public spaces-our streets. To they serve the users well? Are they at a pleasing and harmonious scale? Are they attractive?
7. Are there convenient, safe, affordable, and efficient transportation choices?
This is a critical factor, residents should have transit options. In communities of varied scale, public transit options absolutely must be convenient, safe, affordable, and efficient. The stops and stations must be attractive and well-lit. There should also be accommodations for bicyclists, pedestrians, and people with disabilities. Many cities are currently playing host to car- and bike-share programs: would your community make a good candidate?
8. Does new development use land efficiently with appropriate attention to the context?
One of the biggest mistakes planners and developers made was allowing horribly inefficient land use that characterized suburban sprawl in the late twentieth century. This cannot be repeated. However, this question comes with a polarity, theoretically, the highest density the market will allow on a specific site will result in the most efficient use of land; however, sensitivity to context may dictate something less than the highest and best use of land. This is a good thing, albeit a painful process but within reason. Mr. Benfield states, "I believe it is entirely appropriate for the community (not just the immediate neighborhood, importantly though their view should be given extra weight) to decide where the balance is struck in each case."
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| Hollygrove Indoor Market Upton New Orleans, Louisiana lsuagcenter.com |
Places like Dubai and Las Vegas are really hard to consider-rapidly growing high water consumption desert metropolises. At the opposite end are places that built on floodplains, given rising sea levels and ever stronger storms. Thus local climate is a determinate as is local culture including historic resources. A great community will celebrate its cultural assets.
10. Does the community encourage collaboration in planning and development?
Easy to do in theory and hard to put into practice but very necessary. Decisions have a better chance of success when it is the result of a collaborative process.
These are just a few of the questions we should be asking our communities with regards to the future. They cannot be answered neatly but they foster healthy constructive discussions of which direction our communities should take and what are its values.
*if you click on the link I provided for you at the top of the post you should be directed to the full article which has many great links to F. Kaid Benfield's sources.
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