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Preface
As anthropologist Claude
Lévi-Strauss remarked in Tristes Tropiques, the evolution of cities
is a complicated and awe-inspiring process—the point where nature and
artifice meet. "A city is a congregation of animals," he wrote,
"whose biological history is enclosed within its boundaries; and yet
every conscious and rational act on the part of these creatures helps to
shape the city’s eventual character. By its form, as by the manner of its
birth, the city has elements at once of biological procreation, organic
evolution, and aesthetic creation. It is both natural object and a thing to
be cultivated; individual and group; something lived and something dreamed;
it is the human invention, par excellence."
Urban planning is a
professional discipline, one that originated in the early decades of the
20th century, largely as a response to public concern over the deteriorating
social and economic conditions brought on by industrialization. What began
as a loose affiliation of architects, politicians, and public health
officials expanded to include the expertise of economists, sociologists,
geographers, and lawyers, as the intricacies of city planning became better
understood. Yet urban planning is not only of concern to city planners and
academics. As Lévi-Strauss suggests, the shape of the urban environment is
something to which we all contribute every day, as we make choices regarding
where we will live and what type of transportation we will use. Furthermore,
although decisions are made at the federal, state, and local levels without
the approval of the general public, their effects are felt far beyond the
circle of those involved in the planning process.
Anyone who has played the
computer game SimCity will be familiar with the general features of urban
planning. It can be described as the attempt to organize and design urban
places—from major cities and suburbs to small towns and rural villages—with
the aim of meeting certain goals, such as improving efficiency and quality
of life. It incorporates all the various aspects that are a part of urban
life, such as transportation, housing, the economy, architecture, public
facilities, the environment, open spaces, zoning laws, land-use regulations,
community development, and resource conservation. Moreover, the process of
urban planning involves the complex interplay of numerous parties: the
federal government, for example, allocates tax revenues to support the
development of transportation infrastructure and public housing; governors
and state legislators produce statewide land-use planning regulations; city
officials design downtown beautification plans; business groups lobby for
zoning changes and tax incentives; real estate developers and architects
build homes, offices, and cultural centers; and citizens join organizations
and attend city council meetings to voice their concerns.
The articles collected here
present a sampling of current developments in urban planning. The book is
divided into five sections highlighting key aspects, beginning with a
general introduction to population growth and urban sprawl and progressing
to more specific treatments of various types of urban development. Issues in
the field are rarely encountered in isolation, and readers will detect a
fair amount of overlap. While a volume of this size clearly cannot cover the
subject in its entirety, it is hoped that the articles will provide an
introduction to topics of substantial interest to the general reader,
stimulating further research. The last decade has seen the emergence of
several new trends in urban planning whose implications are only now
becoming clear.
The first section of this
book examines the topic of urban sprawl, the ubiquitous spread of
low-density urbanization across the American landscape. The 2000 census
shows that the U.S. population grew by 32 million people between 1990 and
2000, and it is expected to gain 120 million by 2050, for a total population
exceeding 400 million. While some of this growth has been absorbed by
cities, the majority has gone to the suburbs, where it is evident in the
continual development occurring along the urban fringe. The article by Haya
El Nasser and Paul Overberg introduces the concept of sprawl in light of a
recent study by USA Today. Then, Don Finley examines the argument
that the outward spread of urban communities, made possible by America’s
automobile-oriented culture, may be linked to an increase in obesity and
pedestrian injuries. Olga Bonfiglio’s article discusses the economic and
racial effects that sprawl has had on cities, and Dennis Hevesi examines the
history of sprawl in the U.S. and explains that "smart growth"—an
approach to planning that calls for walkable communities and improved mass
transit—is being widely touted as the key to remedying sprawl’s negative
effects.
Section II showcases various
contemporary trends in urban development, beginning with the nostalgic,
traditional design of New Urbanism, also known as neo-traditionalism. The
opening article, by New Urbanist doyens Andres Duany and Elizabeth
Plater-Zyberk, presents the principles of the movement along with criticisms
of the urban environment produced by sprawl. This is followed by Deborah K.
Dietsch’s article examining current applications of New Urbanist ideas,
plus a negative assessment offered by Peter Gordon in an interview with Rick
Henderson and Adrian T. Moore. Next, Jay Walljasper looks at how
smart-growth measures are being enacted in Portland, Oregon, and Jonathan
Walters sheds light on the issues at stake when large retailers like Target
and Wal-Mart seek to build their superstores on the outskirts of small
towns. Jonathan Barnett writes about current changes taking place in edge
cities. The last article, by Nicole White, describes how a struggling Miami
neighborhood is seeking to court development by offering tax incentives to
new businesses.
The third section focuses on
transportation issues. Although the term "transportation
infrastructure" includes roads, public transportation systems,
airports, water transport, and railroads, the articles in this section focus
on questions pertaining to automobile traffic and mass transit, as these
issues have been at the center of popular debate in recent years. Roads and
highways are vital to the nation’s economy, serving as the primary means
of moving people and goods from one place to another, yet as Joan Lowy
explains in the section’s first article, traffic congestion is growing at
a faster rate than roads are being built to ease it. Popular methods of
combating traffic, such as congestion pricing and smart-growth initiatives,
are addressed by Martin Wachs, who concludes that information technology
offers a potent alternative. Jane Holtz Kay writes that light-rail transit
systems are gaining popularity, even in sprawling southwestern cities such
as Phoenix and Dallas. Finally, Robert Campbell presents an account of the
Big Dig, a massive project to demolish Boston’s severely congested central
thoroughfare and rebuild it underground.
The next section looks at
current approaches to addressing the nation’s housing needs. Olivera
Perkins discusses the changes taking place in federally subsidized public
housing in Cleveland, Ohio, part of a national trend to replace blighted
apartment complexes with low-rise buildings and garden apartments. Ron
Scherer’s article looks at the emphasis on mixed-income policies in public
housing, while Chris Palladino writes about a neighborhood redevelopment
plan designed to create opportunities for home ownership for low-income
families. Concluding the section is an article by James B. Goodno discussing
the use of trust funds to create affordable housing.
The fifth and final section
takes a broader look at what is being done to make our cities vital,
healthy, and interesting places to live at the turn of the millennium.
Nicolai Ouroussoff leads off with an article suggesting that American
architecture could benefit from an influx of idealism. Cathleen McGuigan and
David Jefferson write about the revitalization efforts being made in
downtown Los Angeles. Gillian Flaccus takes a look at "ecoroofs"
in Portland, Oregon, and Janet Frankston reports on an experimental
brownfield redevelopment and transportation project underway at Atlantic
Station in Atlanta, Georgia. Alan Erhenhalt discusses Metropolis 2020, a
regional governing plan proposed by Chicago’s business community. Finally,
Casey Nelson Blake outlines a vision for the future of "ground
zero," the former site of the World Trade Center, which was destroyed
in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
I would like to thank all the
authors and publishers who granted permission for their work to appear in
this volume. I am especially grateful to all those who assisted in the
production of the book, including Lynn Messina, Sandra Watson, Jennifer
Peloso, Gray Young, Rich Stein, Norris Smith, and Clifford Thompson. Many
thanks as well to Shaina Feinberg and Jessica Karaska for their helpful
advice during the research of this project.
Andrew I. Cavin
August 2003
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