There is a new architecture and urban design movement that addresses the ills of our current sprawl development pattern and promotes the restoration of community and sustainable development practices. The movement is called the New Urbanism. The New Urbanist approach seeks to provide design alternatives to avoid the sprawl and isolation that is caused by poorly managed and poorly planned suburban growth. The purpose of this paper is to give a brief overview of the ideas and concepts that form the foundation of the New Urbanism and to see how they are applied to real developments. A comparison of Orenco Station in Hillsboro, Oregon and McKenzie Towne in Calgary, Alberta will be the basis of an analysis of current developments that employ New Urbanist principles and will show how the implementation can differ between America and Canada. The Problem The problem is poorly managed urban growth, also known as urban sprawl. The symptoms are numerous: cookie-cutter houses, wide, treeless, sidewalk-free roadways, mindlessly curving culde-sacs and a streetscape of garage doors are just a few examples. (Duany, 2000 p.x) These could be considered as subjective issues as not everyone would agree that they are problems however it is generally accepted that the development patterns of the last 50 years in North America are unsustainable and expensive. Other characteristics of growth include endless clusters of residential suburban subdivisions called communities that are utterly lacking in communal life; strip malls, big box chain stores and power centres that are set within barren seas of parking, city centres that become ghost towns after 6 p.m.; and miles of Ben Mercer December 2002. 1
clogged collector roads. (Duany, 2000 p.x) If Urban Sprawl is an example of bad growth, and if it is assumed that urban growth is definitely going to occur, then some form of good growth is required. The New Urbanism claims to be good growth, sometimes even referred to as smart growth, and advocates a type of model that represents the polar opposite to suburban sprawl: the traditional neighbourhood. The following sections will discuss some of the concepts previously mentioned including urban growth, urban sprawl, and the traditional neighbourhood. Urban Growth Urban growth in very general terms is when a city experiences an increase in one or more characteristics. It is usually measured by the number of new housing starts for the year in question but in order for new housing to be required, there must obviously be an increase in the population. For the purpose of this paper, urban growth should be interpreted as the way in which a city or town responds to the needs of its increasing population based on how it organizes those needs physically and geographically. The needs include the basic necessities: food, shelter, work, education and recreation. It has already been mentioned that this growth can be managed either poorly which results in sprawl or well which would result in sustainable, mixed-use traditional communities the New Urbanist approach. Urban Sprawl In addition to the list of symptoms previously mentioned and the underlying assumption that it is a negative phenomenon, there is plenty more that needs to be said about urban sprawl. What is now the standard of urban growth in North America, urban sprawl originated after World War II when industry was booming and architects, engineers and planners saw it fit to do away with old forms of development. (Duany, 2000 p.4) Urban sprawl is sometimes also referred to as suburban sprawl when it is concerned specifically with suburban development. The most common result is a ring of suburbia that can often surround a city and is constantly expanding to Ben Mercer December 2002. 2
fill untouched land. The analogy of the blanket being unrolled over a floor is often used to describe the effect that suburban sprawl creates. Another key aspect and criticism of sprawl is its homogenous nature. Land use in this model is usually segregated into exclusive zones that can contain one of five different components. These components include housing subdivisions, shopping centres, office parks, civic institutions and roads. Housing subdivisions are possibly the number one culprit that contributes to sprawl. They are sometimes called villages, towns and neighbourhoods by their developers, which is misleading, since those terms denote places which are not exclusively residential and which provide an experiential richness not available in a housing tract. (Duany, 2000 p.5) Shopping centres include everything from the strip mall to the shopping mall to the power centre with the big-box retail but in all cases the developments are not located close to residences. The land use is separated and requires the use of an automobile to gain access to it. Office parks and civic institutions are very similar to the previous examples large in scale and independent of each other. There is a fifth component of sprawl that ties the previous four together roadways. When the different components of daily life or the needs of the citizens are separated by great distances, individuals must inevitably use roadways to get them where they need to go. The need for roads and new public infrastructure increases exponentially as residential subdivisions get further away from employment centres. The problem is also amplified by the fact that most vehicles on the road occupy only one person thus creating monumental traffic congestion. Ben Mercer December 2002. 3
One final point to discuss with regard to urban sprawl is the inefficiency and high costs inherent with it. These costs are not only economic but social and environmental also. For example, the daily process of commuting to and from work, which is quite common to millions of North Americans, requires that the individual spend a considerable amount of time driving, a considerable amount of money on a vehicle, gas and insurance and the environment pays a price when it is consumed and polluted by roads and cars. In addition, the growing demand for infrastructure is not always met by the tax revenue generated by the area that it services. This creates an economically unsustainable system. The environmental implications are obviously unsustainable also. If cities were to expand endlessly into the countryside, eventually entire continents would become urbanized. The Traditional Neighbourhood As previously mentioned the traditional neighbourhood represents the ideal form of development supported by the New Urbanism movement and distinguishes itself as the opposite of urban sprawl. Like the preceding description of urban sprawl there are several elements that combine to form the traditional neighbourhood. In Suburban Nation by Andres Duany et al., he identifies six fundamental rules for the traditional neighbourhood pattern. They include the centre, the five-minute walk, the street network, narrow, versatile streets, mixed use and special sites for special buildings. The centre means that each neighbourhood has a clear and defined centre where activities like commerce, culture and governance take place. (Duany, 2000 p.15) The five-minute walk is also known as a pedestrian shed. This is to say that ideally, a local resident has their living, working and shopping needs all located within a five-minute walk from Ben Mercer December 2002. 4
one another. This arrangement greatly reduces the need for automobiles, as citizens do not need to travel great distances to satisfy their daily needs. The street network, rule three, advocates a grid like arrangement of streets that emphasizes interconnection like a continuous web. This is in contrast to the numerous dead-ends and culde-sacs that can be found in contemporary suburban development. The grid pattern allows for multiple routes for the driver or pedestrian to choose from and can also aid in relieving traffic congestion. If one way of accessing a destination is blocked, the driver has the option of taking an alternate course. If streets are interconnected this is possible, if they are not then drivers are limited. Narrow, versatile streets mean two things. Streets should be a maximum of two lanes to slow down traffic and provide a pleasant and safe environment for pedestrians. Streets should be complex and serve a multitude of functions in addition to the movement of automobiles. These additional functions include the gathering and movement of people, the parking of cars, the entering and exiting of buildings and even being the home of trees and plants. The absence of these additional uses for the street can result in a sterile inhospitable environment for pedestrians and can promote the use of automobiles. The term car sewers is often used to describe these roads that have the sole purpose of moving traffic and provide little else to make the trip interesting. Mixed-use is the solution for the homogenous land use problem with suburban growth that was mentioned previously. Instead of single land-use zoning, blocks should allow for a mix of uses. Even buildings themselves can have mixed use. For example, a development with commercial retail use at the ground level may have residential use on the second floor. This arrangement has the effect of creating a 24-hour population because there are people living and working in Ben Mercer December 2002. 5
the same buildings. Mixed-use neighbourhoods also provide the local residents with the amenities that they may otherwise have to drive to reach. Rule six for traditional neighbourhoods is that special buildings deserve special sites. Churches, schools and other civic buildings should be located in positions that contribute to their prominence. (Duany, 2000 p.17) They are special places where entire communities can gather and therefore should not be aimlessly constructed wherever there is a free parcel of land. ***Insert some images of the six rules of traditional neighbourhoods*** Orenco Station Now that a brief discussion of urban growth has been made and some of the key concepts defined, it is necessary to examine some case studies in order to see how the New Urbanism principles can be implemented in real community developments. The first subject of this comparison is called Orenco Station and is located in Hillsboro, Oregon. Hillsboro is located just outside the city of Portland. Orenco station is a good candidate for an analysis of urban growth strategy because the state of Oregon and specifically the city of Portland and surrounding areas have received considerable recognition for achievements in smart urban growth management. Smart growth principles can be found at all levels of government from the local to regional levels. Ben Mercer December 2002. 6
Orenco Station is a transit-oriented development located approximately thirty minutes by light rail from Portland, Oregon. The master developer, Pacific Realty Associates, LP (PacTrust), envisioned a pedestrian-oriented community that depends on the light rail system as the dominant means of transportation to Portland and surrounding workplaces such as Intel and Nike. The community includes a mixed use "main street" town centre with ground floor retail and offices, and second story lofts. A diversity of housing types is offered including live/work row house units, single-family houses, townhouses, apartments, condominiums, and duplexes. Houses are designed close to the street with garages located at the rear of the house and accessed by an alley. A large village green is the central feature, which serves as the terminating vista for the town centre "main street." Ben Mercer December 2002. 7
Orenco Station Master Plan - Fletcher Farr Ayotte, 1995 Orenco Station Town Centre - Fletcher Farr Ayotte, 1995. Ben Mercer December 2002. 8
Project Team Orenco Station was created by PacTrust real estate developers with the help of Fletcher Farr Ayotte architects and urban planners and Costa Pacific Homes, the homebuilder. PacTrust worked with Tri-Met (Portland Transit Organization) and the City of Hillsboro to develop a master plan for the 190-acre area adjacent to the Orenco MAX light rail station. The design team carefully studied successful neighbourhoods in Portland and around the United States and consulted with nationally known planners. In addition the team took a few lessons in liveability from the original town of Orenco that existed in the early 1900 s. As a result, in 1999 the National Association of Home Builder s National Sales and Marketing Council named Orenco Station the 1998 Master Planned Community of the Year. Site History Almost a century ago, one of the largest commercial nurseries in the United States was located in Washington County, Oregon. On this site the Oregon Nursery Company grew ornamental trees, landscape plants and fruit and nut trees for sale across the United States. The company formed one of the first planned communities on the west coast, nicknamed Orenco, to house its 500 employees and their families. The town featured cozy bungalows, walkable tree-lined streets, and a small downtown that included a grocery store, dry goods store, barber, hotel and other shops and services. The original town of Orenco is southeast of the current Orenco station. In the early 1900 s an electric railway extended from Portland to the town and beyond, and the stop became known as Orenco Station. Residents could hop on the train to go into Portland for shopping or cultural events, or to catch other transportation. The company fell on hard times during the great depression, and by World War II, little was left of the town. The electric railway was abandoned as streetcars gave way to freeways, and small neighbourhoodoriented towns like Orenco were replaced by the familiar pattern of postwar sprawl development. (Orenco Station Tour Handout) Ben Mercer December 2002. 9
***Insert image of old Orenco Town*** Planning Context This section will provide some insight into the type of planning policy influencing the Orenco Station development and some of the driving forces that have affected its creation. Ben Mercer December 2002. 10