Suburban Nation
The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline
of the American Dream
Presented By:
Veronica Czastkiewicz
Jessica Rundlett
Victor Tchakalov
Introduction
Traditional neighborhoods
are superior to suburban sprawl
Why?
•Transportation
• Community
• Zoning
Road Map: You are here
–Transportation
–Community
–Zoning
• Automobile is pre-requisite for social viability
• Automobile Commuting and Highway
construction
• Drivers vs. Pedestrians
– Social Space
– Safe Streets vs. Dangerous Streets
– Designed for apocalypse
– Narrow streets, curb radius, parallel parking
• Why traffic is congested
– Collector Road
– Necessity of Driving
– Neighborhood Web
• Why nearby is still far
away
– Adjacency vs. Accessibility
– Lack of Choice
• Curving roads and culde-sacs do not make
memorable places
– Traditional Reasons for
cul-de-sacs
– Disorienting
environments
– Honorable sites for
honorable institutions
– Why narrow roads are
safer
• Suburban “Traffic
Calming”
• The Highwayless Town and the
Townless Highway
– Eviscerating the Neighborhoods
– The Results of Highwayless Towns
• Why Adding Lanes Makes
Traffic Worse
– Induced Traffic
– Latent Demand
– Why we sit in traffic: Free Goods
• The automobile subsidy
– How free is automobile use?
– Terminology
• “Highway Investment” vs. “Transit
Subsidy”
– The Subsidy and the Free Market
• Good suburbs
– Suburbs that are part of the city
– Suburbs that accommodate public transit
– Mass transit in the neighborhood
• How it is accomplished
– Regional Planning
Road Map: You are here
–Transportation
–Community
–Zoning
• Five Components of Sprawl
1) Housing subdivisions
2) Shopping centers
3) Office parks
4) Civic institutions
5) Roadways
• Traditional Neighborhood Plans
1) Neighborhood Center
2) Five-Minute Walk
3) Street Network
4) Narrow, Versatile Streets
5) Mixed Use
6) Special sites for Special Buildings
• Oddity of Sprawl Housing
– Unique for the US
– Country side image distortion
– En Masse “Isolation” =
Inner decay and traffic boom
• Private vs. Public Realm
– McMansion Supremacy
– Private Heaven for
Public Emptiness
– Result: Suburban NIMBYism
• Absolute Segregation by Income
– Clusters and Neighbor to Neighbor Rows
– Exploitation as a measure of success
– Selfishness and Political Control = Urban Decay
– Isolated Children became Media Victims
• Indeed, Americans Move!
– Traditional Neighborhood =
Moving Up vs. Moving Out
– Not Having to Leave
Your Community
– In most of the US it is illegal to:
• Mix housing types
• Live above retail space
• Use home as store
• Street Life
– Meaningful
Destinations
– Automotive Sewer
or Social Organism
– Comfortable vs.
Unpleasant
– Interesting vs. Boring
• Competition with Suburbia
– Inside Out vs. Outside In Perspective
– Recognize and Learn from Suburbia
• Categories of Competition
– Amenity Package – Community
– Civic Decorum
– Home Owners Associations vs. Regional Based
Governments
– Freeway City, Superwide Streets, No Sidewalks
vs. A/B Street Grid, Subtle Parking, Mass Transit
and Pedestrian Life
• Victims of Sprawl
– Cul-De-Sac Kids
– Soccer Moms
– Bored Teenagers
– Stranded Elderly
– Weary Commuters
– Bankrupt Municipalities
– Immobile Poor
• Forgotten Rules of Affordable Housing
– Do not stigmatize the poor as such
– Experiment with people who can afford to move
– Mix housing to avoid slums
• Middle Class Crisis:
– Affordable Housing
• Leaving Town? Take a Developer with You!
– Stereotypes and Realities of the American
Developer
• Marketing Tricks
– Most Americans prefer Neighborhood
– Neighborhood disguise advertisements
– Biased polls and Paraphrased Questions
• Why Sprawl?
Road Map: You are here
–Transportation
–Community
–Zoning
Mixed Use v. Single Use
• Convenience Store vs.
Corner Store
– Why Suburbanites Hate
Living Next To
Shopping: The Quick
Mart
– Building Typology
• Shopping Center vs.
Main Street
– Suburban Retail vs. The
Shopping Mall as Main
Street
– Suburban Office Parks
vs. Integrated Offices
• Useless and Useful
Open Space
– Suburbia
• Building Setbacks,
Buffers, Tree
Requirements
• Residual and Unused
Space
– Traditional Open Space
• Town or City Square
– Surrounded by
Community
– Defined
• Retail Management
– Malls vs. Main Street
– Anchor Management
• Marketing
– Small Scale and
Subdivision Approach
– Appropriate Renewal
– Family Incentives
– Gentrification
• The Eight Steps of Regional Planning
– 1) Admit growth will occur
– 2) Establish permanent preserves
– 3) Establish temporary preserves
– 4) Designate corridor
– 5) Establish priority development sectors
– 6) Establish process for neighborhood model
development
– 7) Designate all other development as districts
– 8) Fairly distribute LULUs
• Environmental Movement as a Model
The Traditional Neighborhood
Development Checklist
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Regional Structure
Land Use
Natural Context
Public Buildings and Spaces
Thoroughfare Network
Street Design
Parking
Housing
The Congress
for the New Urbanism
• Making a Change
• Charter of New Urbanism
– The Metropolis
– The Neighborhood
– The Block/Street/Building
What Is To Be Done?
• The Victory Myth
– Have we won?
– Three tools for manipulating the physical
environment
• Design
• Policy
• Management
• The role of policy
– Individual Rights vs. Common Good
– How aesthetics determine social, economic and
environmental health
• Municipal and County Government
– Put community design on agenda
– Re-write regulations
• Don’t fix!
• Start new or adopt
– Think Globally, Act Locally, Plan Regionally
– Public Participation (With a Caveat)
– Practice what you preach
• Regional Government
– Do It!
• State Government
– Growth Management Laws
– Funding Vehicles
– Role of D.O.T.s
• Federal Government
– ↑ Support for Public Transit
– Balanced School Systems
– ↓ Road Building
• Architects
– Designs affects behavior
– Design of new places should be modeled on old
places that work
• Citizens
– Recognizing the relationship
– The Arm Chair Urbanist
• Questionable Conventional Wisdom
– Design/Community vs. Age/Location
– Cost of Alleys
– Traditional planning allows for stage
development
• Get Homebuilders On Board
– Simplify designs and re-arrange parking
– Take a risk
– Change the term
Conclusion
Traditional Neighborhoods are
better than Suburban Sprawl
• Transportation • Community • Zoning •
• Sprawl does
– Not pay for itself
– Consumes land
– Create traffic problems
– Make social inequity and isolation
Victims of
Suburbia,
Unite!