Suburban Nation - Andres Duany [56]
The American tendency toward building ever anew is most damaging to the poor because it is inextricably linked to the abandonment of the old. As we neglect our older neighborhoods, we also neglect their residents. Those who can leave the deteriorating city behind are quick to do so; those who can’t are stuck, without the support or inspiration of success around them, doomed to the generational cycle of poverty. The disposable city will thus continue to dispose of its citizens until we embrace a healthier form of growth, one that treasures existing places more than imagined ones.
8
THE CITY AND THE REGION
THE POSSIBILITY OF GOOD SUBURBS; SUBURBS THAT HELP
THE CITY; THE EIGHT STEPS OF REGIONAL PLANNING;
THE ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT AS A MODEL
There can be no doubt … that, in all our modern civilization, as in that of the ancients, there is a strong drift townward.
—FREDERICK LAW OLMSTED (1877)
… we shall solve the City Problem by leaving the City.
—HENRY FORD (1922)
THE POSSIBILITY OF GOOD SUBURBS
We have discussed the evolution of cities and the two contrasting models for growth, focusing thus far on the design of new places rather than the improvement of existing places. Insofar as new places are being built at an astonishing rate—and are also influencing the rebuilding of older places—this approach has been useful. But it raises some important questions: Can suburban growth be organized in a way that is not detrimental to existing cities? What are we learning from new developments that can help make our cities better places to live? What can be done to refocus development from the rural edge back to our neglected center cities?
We can begin to answer these questions by noting that most of the old neighborhoods within America’s cities and towns are made up of elements that could be described as suburban. With the exception of the core business districts, almost all of the land within urban America is covered with the very same components discussed in this book, foremost among them the single-family house. With a few notable exceptions, a tour of any American city, be it Boston, Chicago, Minneapolis, St. Louis, or Seattle, would confirm that the typical American urban street is lined with buildings one to three stories tall, most of them freestanding.
The suburban city: acre for acre, most American cities are composed primarily of freestanding houses
Evidently, in the right form, suburban-scale growth is a healthy and natural way for cities to develop, as we will show. In Chapter 9, we will argue that many of the principles already described for making new places apply equally well to the improvement of existing neighborhoods. This cross-fertilization has proven effective in the best inner-city work of the past ten years. From the revitalization of downtown West Palm Beach to the rebuilding of low-cost housing in central Cleveland, the rules of neighborhood design are the most effective tool for bringing life back to older neighborhoods. Furthermore, since most American cities evolved from small towns, and since most American downtowns began as common main streets, many of the principles that apply to smaller neighborhoods also apply to the inner city. The difference is one of density, not of organization; in fact, one of the great virtues of traditional urbanism is that increased density only makes it work better. Of course, some problems and conditions are unique to the inner city, and these, too, will be addressed in the next chapter.
Traditional planning in the traditional city: new low-cost homes (81 in all) blend in with existing houses in central Cleveland
SUBURBS THAT HELP THE CITY
Many of America’s cities include their suburbs, which contribute in no small