What is New Urbanism? #01
video description
Date: 2019-09-12
Related videos
Comments and reviews: 9
TheCriminalViolin
Orenco (I live just down to the east of it on 185th) is a nightmare actually. Not good. Super high end, way out of most people's price ranges, and for being walkable, it really isn't. In fact, it's a perfect case of how it works. There is a clear unwritten code for all businesses and development firms to follow. Everything ends up looking exactly the same. It's always high end-super high end. No affordable or low income housing or businesses are ever allowed in. It's always a very specific style and color code. All businesses are required to have the boutique style inside and out, with fake black iron facades and accents with those fake gold lettering following a very specific set of fonts, without allowance for any logos to be present (it must be spelled out in name. All of these communities are built car-centric too. Roads, driveways, parking garages everywhere and light rail (the US' gentrification and motorist creation machine) is usually placed right there, or very close by. The streets are keep very fancy, and narrow. The list goes onward for seemingly eternityOrenco and many other places in the Portland Metro area embody this exact set of unwritten rules where it automatically is made for the wealthy, and closes out anyone who is on the lower middle income bracket and lower completely. It's just another political capital project utensil they adore lying about being built in order to better serve the commuters who are more reliant on transit systems and walking to get where they need to go to, namely those of affordable and low income. New Urbanism is almost exclusively developed along light rail lines and dubbed Transit Oriented Development aka, TOD. This is why so many, especially around places like the Portland area are becoming increasingly bitter towards the idea of TOD/New Urbanism. We've experienced what it really is and always will be. And we are NOT okay with it anymore. We see it's just another political ploy and capital projects scheme that helps absolutely nobody at all. We're sick of it.
reply
Orenco (I live just down to the east of it on 185th) is a nightmare actually. Not good. Super high end, way out of most people's price ranges, and for being walkable, it really isn't. In fact, it's a perfect case of how it works. There is a clear unwritten code for all businesses and development firms to follow. Everything ends up looking exactly the same. It's always high end-super high end. No affordable or low income housing or businesses are ever allowed in. It's always a very specific style and color code. All businesses are required to have the boutique style inside and out, with fake black iron facades and accents with those fake gold lettering following a very specific set of fonts, without allowance for any logos to be present (it must be spelled out in name. All of these communities are built car-centric too. Roads, driveways, parking garages everywhere and light rail (the US' gentrification and motorist creation machine) is usually placed right there, or very close by. The streets are keep very fancy, and narrow. The list goes onward for seemingly eternityOrenco and many other places in the Portland Metro area embody this exact set of unwritten rules where it automatically is made for the wealthy, and closes out anyone who is on the lower middle income bracket and lower completely. It's just another political capital project utensil they adore lying about being built in order to better serve the commuters who are more reliant on transit systems and walking to get where they need to go to, namely those of affordable and low income. New Urbanism is almost exclusively developed along light rail lines and dubbed Transit Oriented Development aka, TOD. This is why so many, especially around places like the Portland area are becoming increasingly bitter towards the idea of TOD/New Urbanism. We've experienced what it really is and always will be. And we are NOT okay with it anymore. We see it's just another political ploy and capital projects scheme that helps absolutely nobody at all. We're sick of it.
reply
Cody Johnson
I live in Celebration currently. Im also studying for my masters in Urban Planning at UCF. So I ADORE this video. You broke the area down perfectly. Celebration, as you said, is FAR from perfect. The biggest flaw is that has absolutely zero transit and still very car centric. To get basic needs like groceries and household items you still need a car, as the downtown area is mainly restaurants. But the big thing Celebration does get right is housing. The community is very dense for its size, with the majority of housing coming in the form of mixed-use apartments and townhomes. Even the single family homes are built relatively close together, in a way which encourages walking and community, unlike most Florida suburbs. I would argue that Celebration is overly expensive. Of course, buying a home here is astronomical. But the renting prices are very competitive for the area. at least from what I have seen. I know plenty of Disney Cast Members that live in Celebration and get by just fine, I used to be one I currently live in a two bedroom apartment and we each pay 650 a month. Not too shabby. Although our hospitality workers are still grossly underpaid. One of the things that actually shocked me about Celebration is the wide range of class status you see living here. You walk down one street with million dollar mansions, turn the corner and see a block full of relatively priced apartments.
reply
I live in Celebration currently. Im also studying for my masters in Urban Planning at UCF. So I ADORE this video. You broke the area down perfectly. Celebration, as you said, is FAR from perfect. The biggest flaw is that has absolutely zero transit and still very car centric. To get basic needs like groceries and household items you still need a car, as the downtown area is mainly restaurants. But the big thing Celebration does get right is housing. The community is very dense for its size, with the majority of housing coming in the form of mixed-use apartments and townhomes. Even the single family homes are built relatively close together, in a way which encourages walking and community, unlike most Florida suburbs. I would argue that Celebration is overly expensive. Of course, buying a home here is astronomical. But the renting prices are very competitive for the area. at least from what I have seen. I know plenty of Disney Cast Members that live in Celebration and get by just fine, I used to be one I currently live in a two bedroom apartment and we each pay 650 a month. Not too shabby. Although our hospitality workers are still grossly underpaid. One of the things that actually shocked me about Celebration is the wide range of class status you see living here. You walk down one street with million dollar mansions, turn the corner and see a block full of relatively priced apartments.
reply
Okoboji
Ive often wondered just how much the industrial era and the dominance of the automobile in the United States has had a negative economic impact on families, especially those who do not live in a town where they work at least 5 days a week. Fortunately the information era brought to us by modern computers means that quite often, we no longer need to leave our homes to get an education, or to go to work. But, if New Urbanism is to work, wealth inequality issues must be addressed. For example, many people who work in Aspen, Colorado cannot afford to live there, and they end up having to commute from as far away as Glenwood Springs, which is over 40 miles away. Because of this, new roads that are wider and have more lanes must be constructed to allow more people to get in their cars to drive there and back every day to go to work. In addition, more parking accommodations must be made available to people who drive their cars, which is an inefficient use of space.
reply
Ive often wondered just how much the industrial era and the dominance of the automobile in the United States has had a negative economic impact on families, especially those who do not live in a town where they work at least 5 days a week. Fortunately the information era brought to us by modern computers means that quite often, we no longer need to leave our homes to get an education, or to go to work. But, if New Urbanism is to work, wealth inequality issues must be addressed. For example, many people who work in Aspen, Colorado cannot afford to live there, and they end up having to commute from as far away as Glenwood Springs, which is over 40 miles away. Because of this, new roads that are wider and have more lanes must be constructed to allow more people to get in their cars to drive there and back every day to go to work. In addition, more parking accommodations must be made available to people who drive their cars, which is an inefficient use of space.
reply
deezynar
The problem with these places is that they are both regulated, and planned. You won't get a good town until you get rid of most zoning, including minimum lot sizes, and minimum setbacks. And planners are just gum in the gearing. As long as a few constants are required, things should take care of themselves. Require a grid, don't let there be dead end areas that fail to do their part in moving traffic across town. Keep roadways for cars down to one lane each way. Plant trees along the streets. Set aside paths for cyclists and pedestrians. And splotch parks around at reasonable intervals. Only the basic, common sense, zoning laws would apply; no dangerous, smelly, or noisy, industries would be located near homes, otherwise, let people decide what to build on their property.
reply
The problem with these places is that they are both regulated, and planned. You won't get a good town until you get rid of most zoning, including minimum lot sizes, and minimum setbacks. And planners are just gum in the gearing. As long as a few constants are required, things should take care of themselves. Require a grid, don't let there be dead end areas that fail to do their part in moving traffic across town. Keep roadways for cars down to one lane each way. Plant trees along the streets. Set aside paths for cyclists and pedestrians. And splotch parks around at reasonable intervals. Only the basic, common sense, zoning laws would apply; no dangerous, smelly, or noisy, industries would be located near homes, otherwise, let people decide what to build on their property.
reply
ExperienceItStudios
And I hate communities like this That's all people build around here in Orlando (like MetroWest. They are designed for rich (usually white) yuppies that move in and jack the property value/rent up for everyone. It's especially worse here in Orlando where the moajority of the workforce makes 12/hr. People here need to make 12/hr (and more. It's not because those jobs are worth that much, but because it's needed to survive and live in the area, and if no one can afford to live out here, then who will run all the hotels and theme parks? It's a give and take. Frankly I'm used to these yuppies moving in, jacking up the rent so I have to move and then telling me that I'm not worth paying more, all while wanting to go to the theme parks. It's insane.
reply
And I hate communities like this That's all people build around here in Orlando (like MetroWest. They are designed for rich (usually white) yuppies that move in and jack the property value/rent up for everyone. It's especially worse here in Orlando where the moajority of the workforce makes 12/hr. People here need to make 12/hr (and more. It's not because those jobs are worth that much, but because it's needed to survive and live in the area, and if no one can afford to live out here, then who will run all the hotels and theme parks? It's a give and take. Frankly I'm used to these yuppies moving in, jacking up the rent so I have to move and then telling me that I'm not worth paying more, all while wanting to go to the theme parks. It's insane.
reply
shotelco
Call it for what it is: A contrived Quasi-Urban Fortress. Non diverse, homogeneous bubble-thought neighborhoods cleverly designed to seem gateless and without walls, yet provide the perception of a military grade security safe zone. A romanticized notion of a 'Leave it to Beaver' fictional TV neighborhood of the 1950's. One only needs to travel to and live in other cities of the world to realize that such cosmetic applications as this can't fix the underlying fundamental cultural problem in the U. S.; Inauthentic human interaction and co-existence based on the constant us vs. them mentality narrative (it's the them that places like this want to keep out) where everything is filtered through a make-pretend social status lens that defines us all.
reply
Call it for what it is: A contrived Quasi-Urban Fortress. Non diverse, homogeneous bubble-thought neighborhoods cleverly designed to seem gateless and without walls, yet provide the perception of a military grade security safe zone. A romanticized notion of a 'Leave it to Beaver' fictional TV neighborhood of the 1950's. One only needs to travel to and live in other cities of the world to realize that such cosmetic applications as this can't fix the underlying fundamental cultural problem in the U. S.; Inauthentic human interaction and co-existence based on the constant us vs. them mentality narrative (it's the them that places like this want to keep out) where everything is filtered through a make-pretend social status lens that defines us all.
reply
Sean Butterfield
I'm happy to be a Patreon supporter but disappointed to hear you say incrementalism is a good pragmatic strategy. Incrementalism is a dangerous sink for movement energy. I don't think you can support any movement while also praising the aesthetic veneers produced by corporate developers. The exclusion of affordable housing from Celebration is a form of class antagonism; it is an INTENTIONAL exclusion by the proponents of stratified (and therefore segregated) societies, which urbanism and mixed use design repudiates. Developments that borrow the aesthetic of urbanist design without incorporating its social goals do actual damage to the movement.
reply
I'm happy to be a Patreon supporter but disappointed to hear you say incrementalism is a good pragmatic strategy. Incrementalism is a dangerous sink for movement energy. I don't think you can support any movement while also praising the aesthetic veneers produced by corporate developers. The exclusion of affordable housing from Celebration is a form of class antagonism; it is an INTENTIONAL exclusion by the proponents of stratified (and therefore segregated) societies, which urbanism and mixed use design repudiates. Developments that borrow the aesthetic of urbanist design without incorporating its social goals do actual damage to the movement.
reply
M B
Even since the Town and Country Planning Act 1947, Britain has had the same problem with massive blocks of new (mostly ugly and innapprorpiate) building, granted solely to a handful of government-subsisied corporate building compainies. This sort of central planning and draconian land-use and building-use regs have put building out of reach of most ordinary independent builders and self-builders. People can't build what they need where they need it anymore; it's left to the bureaucrats, lawyers and capitalists to 'plan' for us. We now have a breathtaking housing shortage and almost total inflexibility in building useage. Thanks, Clement Attlee.
reply
Even since the Town and Country Planning Act 1947, Britain has had the same problem with massive blocks of new (mostly ugly and innapprorpiate) building, granted solely to a handful of government-subsisied corporate building compainies. This sort of central planning and draconian land-use and building-use regs have put building out of reach of most ordinary independent builders and self-builders. People can't build what they need where they need it anymore; it's left to the bureaucrats, lawyers and capitalists to 'plan' for us. We now have a breathtaking housing shortage and almost total inflexibility in building useage. Thanks, Clement Attlee.
reply
Evan Walls
Suburban sprawl gives me nightmares. Its one of Americas shortcomings from the past century. New urbanism might not be perfect, but it is a step in the right direction. I hope to see this movement of making walkable, urban communities gain more momentum in the US. They say that the US essentially rebuilds itself every half-century, and I hope eventually we get rid of all remnants of sprawl by constructing urban neighborhoods instead. Also, I would suggest a video on Minneapolis, Minnesotas decision to outlaw single-family housing zoning in city planning. Seems like a positive step towards ending sprawl and lowering housing costs.
reply
Suburban sprawl gives me nightmares. Its one of Americas shortcomings from the past century. New urbanism might not be perfect, but it is a step in the right direction. I hope to see this movement of making walkable, urban communities gain more momentum in the US. They say that the US essentially rebuilds itself every half-century, and I hope eventually we get rid of all remnants of sprawl by constructing urban neighborhoods instead. Also, I would suggest a video on Minneapolis, Minnesotas decision to outlaw single-family housing zoning in city planning. Seems like a positive step towards ending sprawl and lowering housing costs.
reply
Add a review, comment
Other channel videos
