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New
Urbanism Index
Congress
for New Urbanism
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 Almost
without exception, the message we have heard, a message of deep concern,
has been the same: the American Dream just doesn't seem to be coming true
anymore. Life at the dawn of the millennium isn't what it should be. It
seems that our economic and technological progress has not succeeded in
bringing about the good society. A higher standard of living has somehow
failed to result in a better quality of life. And from mayors to average
citizens, we have heard expressed a shared belief in a direct causal relationship
between the character of the physical environment and the social health
of families and the community at large. For all of the household conveniences,
cars and shopping malls, life seems less satisfying to most Americans,
particularly in the ubiquitous middle-class suburbs, where a sprawling,
repetitive, and forgettable landscape has supplanted the original promise
of suburban life with a hollow imitation....
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 Unlike
the traditional neighborhood model, which evolved organically as a response
to human needs, suburban sprawl is an idealized artificial system. It is
not without a certain beauty: it is rational, consistent and comprehensive.
Its performance is largely predictable. It is an outgrowth of modern problem
solving: a system for living. Unfortunately, this system is already showing
itself to be unsustainable. Unlike the traditional neighborhood, sprawl
is not healthy growth; it is essentially self-destructive. Even at relatively
low population densities, sprawl tends not to pay for itself financially
and consumes land at an alarming rate, while producing insurmountable traffic
problems and exacerbating social inequity and isolation. These particular
outcomes were not predicted. Neither was the toll that sprawl exacts from
America's cities and towns which continue to decant slowly into the countryside.
As the ring of suburbia grows around most of our cities, so grows the void
at the center. Even while the struggle to revitalize deteriorated downtown
neighborhoods and business districts continues, the inner ring of suburbs
is already at risk, losing residents and businesses to fresher locations
on a new suburban edge. |
