Allowing for what works

The New York Times > Real Estate > National Perspectives: Why 'New Urbanism' Isn't for Everyone

The New York Times has an article in today’s online edition by Robert Johnson called “Why ‘New Urbanism’ Isn’t For Everyone.”

…Although new urban communities are relatively hot sellers in some areas, new urbanism in its purest form remains essentially an idealistic model that does not appeal to the vast majority of buyers…

The above link is to the article, which is evenhanded with both detractors and proponents. After all, different strokes for different folks.

The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs, c.1961, available new in a reissue edition trade paperback from Random House, ISBN 067974195X, addresses much the same topic in greater detail. The author decided to put common sense ahead of theory and went out and studied city neighborhoods that worked, and then tried to figure out what made them work. Too many urban planners, she thought, were working against human nature instead of with it, if I may summarize one of her central themes that way.

She also lamented that too many planners did not seem to understand that cities were not big towns, nor were towns merely smaller versions of cities. There is also a difference, she proposed, between smaller cities and great ones. Different things made them tick, she said.

She asked that planners keep their eyes and ears and minds open, and not call a functioning, neighborly area a slum based on density statistics, nor call a brightly rebuilt neighborhood a success if the people did not feel safe on the streets. At heart, it is a book asking for the application of common sense and a willingness to see, if you will, that not all that glitters is gold.