Since the 80s there has been a movement in city and town planning called New Urbanism. The idea is to create walkable communities that look similar to a small town, or perhaps a nice neighborhood in the city. In truth they are an elaborate simulacrum of traditional neighborhoods to the point where the copy has become the new real.
In a traditional neighborhood you would have several things. Perhaps a coffee shop, a mom and pop grocery store or general store, a post office, and restaurants. Now we have starbucks, whole foods, mailboxes etc, and a host of chain restaurants. Yes they are designed to be walkable. However what do most people do? They drive to the commercial section of the development then proceed to walk from there.
The entire ‘new urbanist’ experience which tends to appeal to forward thinking yuppies is all the more interesting because of what’s going on under the surface. They are really small communities built around supporting the corporations that have supplanted the neighborhood store. In essence the store who’s owner could be your own neighbor is now a global corporation. Another interesting point is the ratio of minority to white occupants. While this ratio might be alright how many of those minorities are black versus the more accepted asians. The variation of housing styles shown in a picture like the one accompanying this post is also a facade. There are really 3 or 4 styles to choose from. Not to mention the fact that the entire community looks like it’s straight out of a movie set. It looks like it’s been airlifted in and simply plugged into the sewage and power grid. The film ‘pleasantville’ comes to mind.
The irony is that these communities do try to look like city communities as well (hence the urbanism, in new urbanism). Have you looked at the people who live or frequent such areas? They are the ones who are afraid to actually live in or visit a real city. The areas that these communities are copying have existed for generations and evolved organically to become the neighborhoods they are. This is an attempt by corporate america to bypass all those generations of history and just manufacture the same experience. Then ’sell’ the experience to you the consumer so that you too can be a funky, progressive, new urban professional carbon copy of everyone else.
Posted on August 10th, 2008 by phaedrus
Filed under: general taste
Yes, and no. When done right, ‘New Urbanism’ can save on energy and space, increase a sense of community and rehabilitate blighted areas. It is particularly effective when done around University campuses, since it integrates housing, commerce, and public transportation. I will take New Urbanism over suburban or ex-urban sprawl any day.