New Pedestrianism - Research Paper Example

The new urbanism approach’s ability to attain these goals of sustainability at the same time is its greatest strength. New Urbanism and its Principles For a long time, urban sprawl that is dependent on cars has been criticized due to its contribution to social isolation, degradation of the environment, and long term financial un-sustainability. Architects, beginning in the early 80s, started to fight this sprawl through new urbanism with significant developments coming up alongside the concept’s principles3.

These neighborhoods started to take on a European and pre-war urban model, often resembling typical small towns or earlier inner city neighborhoods. For this reason, these neighborhoods are usually referred to as TNDs, or traditional neighborhood developments. These neighborhoods are built on several fundamental planning principles. The first fundamental planning principle of new urbanism is mixing of uses with institutional, civic, and commercial spaces located in community corridors, as well as centers, which are surrounded by close-by housing that provides service and job access sans use of cars4.

This normally takes on the form of a town square or main street. The second fundamental planning principle is diversity. Urban sprawl can lead to separation of the populace by the level of their income. New urbanism seeks to provide for various housing in one area that range from high to low cost5. It is possible to accomplish this through townhouses, detached one-family homes, and mixed apartments in one neighborhood. This also promotes affordable housing inclusion. The third fundamental principle of new urbanism is that it should encourage walking6.

This comes with increased benefits to the community and environment, while also creating supportive social networks through daily interactions with fellow local acquaintances and neighbors. The concept encourages those living in these neighborhoods to walk through a mixing of uses, while also making sure that there are plentiful and wide sidewalks with well designed streetscape, minimization of curb cuts, and compact blocks. Mass transit and bicycling connect pedestrians with other areas within the larger urban region and are, thus, important as well.

The fourth fundamental planning principle of new urbanism is definition of public space7. Streets are normally considered as space that is vital for public life and are important for the occurrence of daily interactions of the community. To make the area attractive, landscaping, lighting, and materials must be detailed carefully. New urbanism also holds public squares and parks in high esteem. The fifth and final fundamental planning principle of new urbanism is complimentary architecture8. Public space is defined by the private property facades that abut it and new urbanism takes into account the importance of a street wall that is strongly defined by close-up and attractive buildings that offer spaces and services.

Houses in traditional neighborhood developments are normally close to the streets, while they are built on lines in downtown areas. Because of the importance of public interaction in new urbanism, front porches are a common feature. Majority of traditional neigh