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Wednesday, May 24, 2006
For those who think New Urbanism is a Conservative movement...
New Orleans architects call New Urbanism "the Halliburton of architecture," because we're supposed to be tied in to all the Republican politicians. The American Enterprise editors disagree:
(One might naturally think Snob = Conservatives, but the magazine is is making the Conservative Republican "liberal elites" argument. Those are wild-eyed, tree-hugger radicals with beards on the cover.)
May 24, 2006 in Culture, Current Affairs, New Urbanism, Urbanism | Permalink
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So the traffic problems in LA are because the "elites" slowed down the growth machine that tracked more interstates than anyone can count through the city?
Holding up LA as a great example of good urban planning that's been "hijacked" by the cultural elites is almost as funny as when Bruegmann called Versailles "sprawl" in his latest book.
And to think I had no idea that I was actually a liberal, democratic, culturally elite snob. Guess I'll have to sell my truck, grow a beard, buy a Jetta, go vegetarian, make more money, renounce Christ and join the ACLU.
Posted by: Bill McNeal at May 25, 2006 12:48:40 AM
Hi John,
I wanted to comment on the Conservative/Liberal/Libertarian aspect of neighborhood design.
I am someone who has a great interest in walkable neighborhoods and towns and I got this interest from a libertarian political view.
Long story short, I was curious to find out what our towns would look like if they had little to no gov't interference, and the answer is that they would probably look a lot like neighborhoods did in America before (approximately) 1910.
And so it has always been interesting to me that Libertarians may hate Zoning and restrictive Building Codes, but without them, I think most of our towns would look a lot like the ones New Urbanists are building and proposing today.
I would love to hear your thoughts on this.
Thanks,
Ian
Posted by: Ian Lewis at May 26, 2006 10:56:06 AM
Ian, my fellow libertarian friend, if you want to see a big city without zoning, go to Houston. It will break your heart. That town is uuuuuuuug-ly!
A little planning goes a long way, but it must be brilliant and humble planning. I think John and his crew are on the right track. They must be, because they're pissing off all the 'right' people ;-)
Posted by: pedro at May 30, 2006 7:16:48 PM
Ian,
There's a lot to say on this, but I've been busy, and tomorrow I leave for CNU XIV in Providence. So it will have to wait.
Posted by: john massengale at May 30, 2006 9:03:31 PM
Buried in this particular issue is a very different piece by Catesby Leigh covering the notion of subsidiarity in public policy, (some nice quotes from Phil Bess) making New Urbanism legal so that those who would provide it can be at par with those who build conventional sprawl, etc. The piece took a long time to make it into print. Catesby Leigh came out and looked around here in Northern California a couple months befor Hurrican Katrina hit the Gulf. Unfortunately the essay does not appear in the on-line version.
best,
John
Posted by: John at Jun 11, 2006 2:40:25 AM
