Suburban Nation - Andres Duany [118]
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These single-use suburban pods are the real-estate equivalent of what biologists call a monoculture, characterized by its genetic poverty (Jonathan Rose, “Violence, Materialism, and Ritual,” 144). Environments this simple and homogeneous are not considered fertile ground for continued evolution.
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Interestingly, the suburban system, with its overly wide streets, requires no less pavement than the traditional network; often, it requires more. But it typically seems the opposite, since most roads are dead ends serving no connective function.
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The presence of the parking lot in front of the building, in addition to damaging the pedestrian quality of the street, gives the signal that the store is oriented less toward its local neighbors than toward strangers driving by. This impression is further fueled by the likelihood that the store is owned by a national chain—an absentee landlord—with no local ties. While one would hope that the national chains might eventually replace their anti-neighborhood building types with more compatible designs, an even happier solution would involve the replacement of the chain stores by local businesses. In most places, however, it is naïve to hope for such an outcome. Given the realities of modern business—people’s apparent preference for chain stores—it is far more productive to promote good design to the national retailers than to try to put them out of business.
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“Well designed” means characterized by a harmonious architecture and streetscape. “Well managed” means clean and safe, with a truly useful mix of stores. In any case, it must be acknowledged that highway-oriented commercial properties will always constitute some small part of the American landscape. A traditional town center is capable of incorporating one or two big-box retailers, but aggregations of auto dealers, homebuilding suppliers, and discount warehouses will probably always seek locations on the outskirts of town, as is appropriate. What is odd about the present situation is that, with few exceptions, all scales of retail are currently relegated to highway locations.
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An extreme example would be in Winter Park, Florida, where an aging suburban-era mall was “killed” by a resurgence in the city’s downtown shops. Credit for many main-street revivals is due to the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Main Street Program, which provides funding and advice to communities across the country.
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The fact that most visitors mistake this ensemble for something much older, and enjoy it for that reason, throws into question the current professional distaste for historical replication. Even architects and preservationists have been fooled.
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An exception to this rule is the municipal park for active recreation, typically the only type of park that suburban municipalities provide. Like the new schools already described, these sports fields are often designed for ease of maintenance rather than for accessibility. As a result, they tend to be consolidated into excessively large parcels well beyond pedestrian range.
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It bears mentioning that this disorientation is by no means unintentional. Designers of the first curvilinear subdivisions, before the days of gated communities, promoted confusingly curvy streets as a means to discourage unwelcome cruising by strangers. Similarly, cul-de-sacs first became popular as a means to eliminate cut-through traffic from residential neighborhoods, and there are still instances where they