Pedestrian
Villages are the most important all around solution for a vast range
of social, health, economic, and military problems. Many of these
problems are quality of life issues and include sprawl, increasing
traffic, environmental degradation, obesity, urban ugliness, inefficient
and expensive public transportation, oil-dependency, the foreign
trade imbalance, and crime.
The
important determinant in the degradation of our cities and surrounding
countryside is the role of the automobile. Americans spend twice
their gross domestic product as Europeans for transportation, but
the hidden cost to society is immeasurable. In the U.S. alone, twenty-seven
million motor vehicles are crashed every year, resulting in forty-two
thousand deaths and five million injuries. An automobile-dominated
lifestyle has increased the cost of living, polluted the environment
and raised the cost of health care. On a single health-related issue—obesity—our
country is in deep crisis. Two-thirds of Americans are overweight
or obese, resulting in 300,000 deaths from related complications.
A major factor in weight gain is we do not walk enough because we
drive everywhere. With a hostile urban walking environment, a deepening
cycle of inactivity eventually results in most people getting far
too little casual daily exercise from walking. Half of us spend
$33 billion a year trying to lose weight or keep it off. This amount
of money could build 165,000 homes a year in Pedestrian Villages,
costing on average $200,000 each, and resulting in new housing for
over 400,000 people.
The
negative effect on aesthetics and the livability of the cities has
also been severe. Our last three major wars, and most terrorist
acts against our nation are linked to our dependency on the oil
we use to power our automobiles. Worsening traffic jams, an immensely
costly highway infrastructure, vast parking lots burning in the
hot sun, hideous architecture, and various forms of pollution are
only the most obvious effects. The automobile has created the illusion
that people are free to live or go anywhere they want, anytime they
want. But the reality is that this freedom comes at a price that
we cannot afford and “anywhere” is beginning to look
like everywhere.
Although
automobiles will not disappear for the conceivable future, some
of the problems related to them could be mitigated. Cars could become
much lighter and safer due to technological innovation. Vehicles,
as well as homes, could be powered by fuel cells supplied with solar-produced
hydrogen that leaves only pure water as its byproduct. This shift
in fuel source would eliminate dependency on foreign oil and mitigate
most of the pollution-related problems. An enlightened energy policy,
powered by a national directive, could create an independent and
sustainable energy source within a decade. But even with the switch
to hydrogen there are still many automobile-related problems that
remain to be solved.
During
the last twenty-five years town planners and urban designers have
been studying these problems and trying to come up with ways to
make our cities livable. “New Urbanism” and “Smart
Growth” are two of the best-known labels for new ideas that
are basically a return to some of the old ways of doing things.
There is a renewed interest in preserving significant buildings
or neighborhoods from the past. Many new buildings and homes are
being constructed in more traditional styles, or at least with more
attention to design. Narrower streets calm traffic in residential
areas while space on the side is provided for street trees, sidewalks,
and bike lanes. Many new developments are built with greater density
so that amenities can be provided within walking or biking distance.
Alleyways are being added so that garages, utilities, and garbage
collection can be better concealed. Utilities are underground. Parking
lots are being landscaped and hidden behind buildings. Public transportation
is being improved. Natural features are being preserved or augmented
so that they can be enjoyed. New towns in Florida, such as Seaside,
Rosemary Beach, and Celebration are being built that reflect these
new principles. While this is all well and good, and a vast improvement
over post WWII sprawl development, there are still improvements
that could be made with Pedestrian Villages:
- Formal,
tree-lined pedestrian lanes, 12’ to 15’ wide, that
connect to plazas, amenities, water features, and a neighborhood
or village center. These lanes are texture coded. They have
a smooth portion for rolling conveyances (bicycles, Segways,
wheelchairs, skates, etc) and a textured portion for pedestrians.
- Cars and
motorcycles are only allowed at the rear of all houses and businesses,
on attractive, tree-lined streets with sidewalks.
- Carriage
houses are encouraged on the rear street, for aesthetics and
lower-cost housing.
- Solar energy,
where feasible, both on rooftops, and in solar parks.
- Public
transit need only connect one village center to another, with
stops in-between.
- Village
centers have higher density housing, and a wide range of businesses,
offices, and attractions including water features (e.g. beach,
public pool, river-front and/or man-made lake.
Pedestrian
lanes are linear parks that connect all the homes to each other
and to the village center. Some of the pedestrian lanes have landscaped
strips or forest on either side, especially where large trees must
be preserved. Motor vehicles are equally provided for on attractive
tree-lined streets that service the homes from the rear. Trashcans
are accessed directly from their enclosures and never seen on the
street. Rear-loading garages back up to the kitchen or pantry area,
or are connected with breezeways to the kitchen area. Every house
has a fenced garden with a garden gate at the rear where visitors
arriving by automobile may call. There is also the option available
to create a carriage house by putting an apartment over the garage.
The entire development is built to encourage walking and biking,
and reduce automobile usage. The average suburban household generates
ten to twelve automobile trips per day. In a Pedestrian Village,
this figure is cut dramatically as residents would feel comfortable
moving about on pleasant, shaded lanes for dining out, recreation,
visiting neighbors, or just taking a walk or bike ride. If all new
housing developments were built as Pedestrian Villages, with thoughtful
consideration of how the town merges with the countryside, the word
“development” would cease to be an obscenity.
Anywhere
where new subdivisions or new towns are being proposed can become
Pedestrian Villages. It is also quite likely that local planning
and zoning boards will be favorable to this attractive and sustainable
form of development. A change in zoning to Pedestrian Village (PV)
zoning across the country will be sought so that this form of development
becomes the preferred method, instead of the current zoning and
street patterns that perpetuate sprawl. Landowning interests desiring
to have a new neighborhood or town designed using the Pedestrian
Village model may contact me through PedestrianVillages.com. |