An Antidote to ‘The New Urbanism’
Given the new administration’s incentive packages and WPA language for revitalizing the economy, the public and private clients engaged in infrastructure redevelopment are in a position to gain the most in this transition. A ‘green economy’ will be a good direction for those of us who have pushed the green infrastructure agenda for the past 15-20 years. Our economy, our cities and our global reputation will be revitalized by a green economy, we will therefore need to refine the new models we have been developing for sustainable infrastructure with a new economy of scale. Now is the time to plan for the opportunities that will be presented to our industry’s client base in the coming months and years.
Urbanism, as a discipline in and of itself, is widely accepted abroad as a field that considers geographies, multiple disciplines and infrastructure at all scales. In North America, if urbanism is understood at all, it is in relation to ‘The New Urbanism,’ a vehicle for architects to assume the role of urbanist in order to promote architecture, not urbanism. Although equipped with a very well written charter, the congress of the new urbanism often results in green-field, auto-dependant suburban replications of sprawl, unsustainable development and replicating old models instead of developing innovative solutions for density and quality of life. The result looks to the past to build our future. 19th Century ‘walkable’ neighborhoods play on people’s nostalgia for a time prior to automobiles or public transportation as a way of selling new developments. We can promote new technologies and models for urbanism that imagine our future, not replicate the past.
Natural Urbanism, focusing on ecological solutions to drive decision making, is a concept that can shift the trends that have plagued our built environment for decades. Given the confluence of interests in these fields and the call for an inter-disciplinary approach, Natural Urbanism is compelling as a new vision for how North America approaches the urban environment.
