Failure of New Urbanism (Part I)

[DigitalSky]

^i agree with that.. about the parking, especially. yeah they could build underground decks or something if they really wanted to hide the sea of parking lot, but people not living in birkdale who drive there do need somewhere to park.

[monsoon]

I think the photos and commentary presented by monsoon distort Birkdale Village. 

....  If you go there when people aren't working, the place is rocking with tons of pedestrian traffic and street performers..three times as many in those pics (If you go there during the weekday or right as people are getting off work...it isn't that busy...and that is when those photos look like they were taken).

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Actually so does any suburban mall on Friday night. The only difference is that Birkdale does not have the walls and roof. If you like I will go take some photos of the parking and traffic in that area on Friday & Saturday evenings. It is absolutely horrendous. BTW, there are no condos at BV. All of those residences are apartments and thus are very transient. It is very rare that a "sense" of a neighborhood ever develops in an apartment complex.

The photos speak for themselves and they were taken at 5:30 pm on a weeknight. (after the working day)

[Recchia]

It should be built near existing higher density areas.  It has to de-emphasize car parking and access.  It needs a public transportation system that is part of a comprehensive plan for at least part of the city.  Little islands of density like this are likely to fail, at least until other islands grow into them.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Amen to that, exactly what my response would have been.

[UrbanElement]

Birkdale is a "Lifestyle Center". Lifestyle Centers are commercial developments that incorporate new urbanist concepts. They are not the same as a "Traditional Neighborhood", which is a residential development that incorporates new urbanist concepts. Lifestyle Centers are an alternative to the the enclosed shopping mall, which was an alternative to the strip mall, which was an alternative to the traditional downtown. At this time, Lifestyle Centers are oriented towards the upscale suburban market.

The only new urbanist concept that a Lifestyle Center might have is a landscaped open air pedestrian walkway, and be considered nothing more than a cute strip mall. On the other hand, the Center might attempt to emulate the appearance of the traditional downtown by including office and residential towers among the stores and shops, and tucking the cars away in parking decks.

[DigitalSky]

^Birkdale does have the "traditional neighborhood" development behind it with single-family homes. But yeah I know what you mean about Birkdale being a lifestyle center rather tahan a new urbanist center.

[monsoon]

That was well put cloudship.

[tombarnes]

I agree that many New Urban developments fail to address all of the real issues and habits of people which form cities. Still, these developments are making a step in the right direction. Does WalMart's undeniable commercial success make it a viable component of new cities or towns? I think one would have to admit that it is not going to go away (just as fast food isn't going to go away). The best that could be hoped for is that the Walton Gang might alter their big boxes to make them more successful parts of their communities. They are obviously not going to make any steps in this direction unless their hand is forced by a community which cares about its integrity. To return to the topic at hand, I concur that New Urbanism needs to be much more than picket fences and Ralph Lauren in order to gain wide acceptance.

[Spartan]

Just goes to show you that there is much, much more to a community than the looks of the buildings and how they are placed. And that is why I think New Urbanism, and many New Urbanist projects, ultimately fail - because they try to address all problems with a physical structure and ultimately undermine the real foundations to community, which is diversity of not just race but in lifestyle.

New Urbanism is the most successful where it is the hardest to do- in existing urban areas. These are areas where it is practical to reinvest in the urban environment. There are many examples out there of taking large empty lots and converting them to dense urban land uses. The major problem with this style is that the large empty lots are very hard to come by.

New Urbanism as greenfield developments does not work, and IMO does defeat the purpose of New Urbanism. If in the long run the ideas of New Urbanism were applied to the region, they could be great developments. However, as they exist now they do little to solve the problems they try to fix.

[UrbaniDesDev]

I dont think too much of architects that do nothing but copy the past, with a large parking court near by. Where has architecture gone? When we develope large office buildings designed to look like row houses, but arent. I love historic neighborhoods. I dont believe that all that is built near it should replicate it tho. They are all "Disneyesque". Instead of walking from Paris to Berlin to Copenhagen in an hour we are walking from Georgetown to Charleston to Boston. It's pretty silly and unimaginative. So sad