New Burbanism
This ran in the Dallas Morning News on July 23, 2009: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/viewpoints/stories/DN-young_25edi.State.Edition1.1c3bdc1.html
(Kudos to Mike Harnisch for the great supporting art. Fans, stay tuned for more of Mike’s artistic stylings.)
New Urbanism
Whenever I’m at a social function and somebody throws out a term like “new urbanism,” there’s a pretty decent chance that I don’t know what it is, unless it somehow showed up on MythBusters or SportsCenter . But unlike most people, who might use this opportunity to nod and be generally agreeable, I choose to feign an opposing viewpoint just to stir things up.
“So, Jeff, what do you think of all the new urbanism projects popping up in Dallas?”
“I’m against it. It’s going to kill us all.”
“What? Why? Don’t you think it’s a great way to reduce our dependence on automobiles?”
“Yes, but – you won’t believe this – I think somebody brought queso. You guys keep talking about the evils of new burbanism. … I’ll get a read on the queso situation.” And then I’ll run home and search dallasnews.com and Wikipedia to find out what the heck everybody is talking about.
It turns out that new urbanism is an inspired concept of community structure, where you combine mixed-use development with pedestrian-friendly walkways to condense sprawling suburbs into little microcosm neighborhoods. You mix in some trees, hide all the cars and, ta-da, you have a little Truman Show-type world where people can eat, sleep, work, play and go on dates, all within 17 feet of one another. You get extra points if you live on top of a bakery, next door to a dental office and across the walkway from a yoga studio. (Pssst … good luck finding a dollar store.)
The idea is that you no longer hop in your car and drive 20 minutes to Target, then drive another 20 minutes to the oil change place, then sit through seven red lights to reach the video rental place, then go back for that one thing you forgot at Target, zig-zagging across town like you hate gasoline and want to personally deplete every last drop.
The new urbanism movement has been a little slow to take hold in North Texas because, well, to be honest, we sure do love our motor vehicles. The quaint little communities like Addison Circle or Mockingbird Station are modern marvels, but if you look closely, they’re surrounded by parking garages. The same folks who want to meander the scenic walkways and enjoy all of life’s offerings in one tidy spot also want to get the heck out of there and drive to Ikea in Frisco on Saturday.
I imagine that if you really followed the whole concept, you’d ditch your car, embrace light rail or use a bicycle or scooter to go anywhere else. But then after a while, you’d realize that you’ve had every item, on every menu, at every restaurant within walking distance, and you might one day run out of there screaming.
I think I’d get tired of the same scenery and interacting with the same people every day. And I can assure you that they’d get tired of me pretty quick, too. I think long before my corner bakery’s special cinnamon scones lose their zest, the people who work there would be plenty tired of hearing the only four jokes I know (none of which are appropriate to be published in a major newspaper).
Here’s where I’m really going to drop a culture bomb on you – imagine no more garage sales. Eep! Where would you host your garage sale when you no longer own a car – or a garage, for that matter – and your front yard becomes a manicured walkway with a pizzeria? Without garage sales, where would you go to buy the stuff that you’re going to get rid of in your own future garage sales? That is a life that is not worth living.
So all in all, I call new urbanism an interesting and groundbreaking concept. But I maintain my original position – it will kill us all.