NEW URBANISM & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

In considering the needs of Alexandria, we need to be highly motivated toward growth, but it must be inclusive, calculated, innovative growth.  As you well know, there are numerous ideas on the table now in Alexandria, but much work is left to be done. 

We need forward-thinking leadership.  Poorly coordinated and overlapping consultancies, often self-serving to the powers that be, must end through the vigilance of a hands-on mayor.  We need to quit the lucrative placement of consultants and place the right folks in our departments.    

Revitalization is a vital part of the growth needed as opposed to a focus solely on new construction.  And revitalization must not only benefit the new; it has to reach back and include the established—the backbone of Alexandria businesses and communities who have fought the good fight already.

While expansion is vital to our engineers and contractors, and hopefully new citizens, poorly planned development must continually be avoided. 

What is “New Urbanism”?

New Urbanism is best defined as a reaction to another term—urban sprawl.  Urban sprawl is simply the notion that communities tend to sprawl outward without a connection to the original town or city.  Throughout the past fifty years, American cities have tended to grow in this outward fashion.  The birth of the interstate highway system and advances in the automobile industry have allowed people to take better advantage of outlying areas, and cities have been forced to expand their infrastructures in order to keep up with this demand.  Incidentally, this can all be good.  But, it can come with a hefty cost, and indeed has in many instances. 

Our best local example is the growth of Highway 28 toward Kincaid.

As cities spread outward, resources are spread thinner.  Average commute times increase, forcing people to spend more on gasoline (particularly relevant lately), senior citizens and the disabled must travel longer for basic necessities, and all citizens are farther removed from shared spaces, city parks, and recreational activities.  This impacts a community’s sense of self and threatens its cohesiveness.

Alexandria is currently in a period of unprecedented growth with the potential for even more.  Major employers including Union Tank Car and StarTek, now call Alexandria home.  Other major industries, like Martco, Christus St. Frances Cabrini Hospital, Cleco Corporation, and Rapides Regional Medical Center, are making significant investments in our community.  Alexandria International Airport’s new terminal will certainly continue the sustainability of Alexandria’s growth.

Planned expansions on 28-West and Highway 1 will create new sections of Alexandria—potentially new neighborhoods, banks, roads, and new restaurants. It is critical that Alexandria proactively respond to this potential and actual growth.  We need to ensure that these new sections of Alexandria work seamlessly and cohesively with the rest of the city, and that residents and businesses who locate in these new sections do not feel disconnected from the rest of the community or indeed have trouble tying in to the existing infrastructure and overall plan.  We need to work together to avoid what I call a bunch of “little Alexandrias.”  In this regard, notions about “outer loops,” further “inner looping of our transportation system, FAST TRACK, and other projects are critical.  My problem with the process has been the reaction time is entirely too slow.  The system is already geared to be at a snail’s pace (for lots of innocent reasons), so it is critical that an energetic leader be prepared to quicken the pace.    

New urbanism is not just about infrastructure and transportation.  It also involves issues regarding quality of life, green spaces, zoning, traffic calming areas, bicycle paths, sidewalks, and our recreational facilities, parks, and sports complexes.

Alexandria needs to be prepared for the future of our growth.  We need to protect and preserve our parks, our recreational activites, and our neighborhoods.  We need to ensure that Alexandria flows cohesively from one neighborhood to the next, and that no one feels disconnected from our shared resources.  

We need to encourage the continued commitment to our downtown, and never be limited to one notion of what makes a city cohesive.  We must promote true mixed-use and planned-use developments, not mixed- or planned-use scenarios that promise “pie in the sky” results or that lowers property value.

For more information on how other cities have used new urbanism as a successful model, please visit the following websites:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Urbanism

http://www.preservenet.com/politics/NewUrb.html

http://www.smithsonianmagazine.com/issues/2006/august/newurbanism.php

Photos of New Urbanism in Action:

http://www.december.com/places/mke/images/rwvine.jpg

http://www.dkolb.org/sprawlingplaces/images/fullsize/seas.hss.st.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:DSCN3187_prospectnewtown_e_600.jpg

Tenets of New Urbanist Neighborhoods:

1. The neighborhood has a discernible center. This is often a square or a green and sometimes a busy or memorable street corner. A transit stop would be located at this center.
2. Most of the dwellings are within a five-minute walk of the center, an average of roughly 2,000 feet.
3. There are a variety of dwelling types—usually houses, rowhouses and apartments—so that younger and older people, singles and families, the poor and the wealthy may find places to live.
4. At the edge of the neighborhood, there are shops and offices of sufficiently varied types to supply the weekly needs of a household.
5. A small ancillary building or garage apartment is permitted within the backyard of each house. It may be used as a rental unit or place to work (for example, office or craft workshop).
6. An elementary school is close enough so that most children can walk from their home.
7. There are small playgrounds accessible to every dwelling—not more than a tenth of a mile away.
8. Streets within the neighborhood form a connected network, which disperses traffic by providing a variety of pedestrian and vehicular routes to any destination.
9. The streets are relatively narrow and shaded by rows of trees. This slows traffic, creating an environment suitable for pedestrians and bicycles.
10. Buildings in the neighborhood center are placed close to the street, creating a well-defined outdoor room.
11. Parking lots and garage doors rarely front the street. Parking is relegated to the rear of buildings, usually accessed by alleys.
12. Certain prominent sites at the termination of street vistas or in the neighborhood center are reserved for civic buildings. These provide sites for community meetings, education, and religious or cultural activities.
13. The neighborhood is organized to be self-governing. A formal association debates and decides matters of maintenance, security, and physical change. Taxation is the responsibility of the larger community.