Design vs. Develop

Washington’s housing bubble has burst, with the largest stock of housing available from the last two decades. Washington’s sales of new homes has risen 13%. Both according to the Post, both for the month of October

I’m guessing that these new homes are mainly in Loudon County, where long-distance and Tyson’s Corner commuters are settling in, while we’re running out of financially-adventurous young professionals to fill those “luxury condos.”

An update to the Podcasting Suite is now available. For those of you already using it, please read the upgrade notes very carefully so you do not disrupt your feeds.

Portland, a poster child for smart growth, has a problem: how do you provide safe, affordable housing for families?

The primay tool used by Portland, an urban growth boundary, apparently interferes with the ability for home builders to purchase suitable land for affordable single family homes. Acting as the voice of dissent for over three decades, Don Morissette is spearheading the effort to “save the suburbs” of Portland. He has his work cut out for him:

Not everyone believes single-family homes should be such a high priority, however. Metro Councilor Robert Liberty thinks Morissette is out of touch with the way people live these days.

“Ozzie is dead, and Harriet is a working mom,” Liberty said. “What we need are homes for single-parent families who want to live near where they work, shop and go to school.”

I wouldn’t be making comments like this if my city were rapidly losing children. Even so, do single parents categorically prefer condos?

It would be nice to see Portland work with developers as it sounds as though surrounding counties are sprawl-prone. Single-family homes can be built in compact, sidewalk-lined neighborhoods and very attractively. You don’t have to build them in secluded cul-de-sacs. Sure, the yards will be a little smaller, but at least you’ll have an option available for larger families.

I think I’ll use this post to introduce the phrase “Perfect City Syndrome”: the belief that all urban development and traffic problems can be avoided by oh-so-careful, down-to-the-inch zoning and planning, resulting in overly-expensive suburbs. Maryland is another example of an area plagued by PCS: a lot of compact, New Urbanist “style” developments surrounded by grassy moats and highways.

This Washington Post article details the plight of hundreds of independently owned and operated businesses in now-trendy neighborhoods. Rising property values means huge, sudden tax burdens on the very people who have helped make their neighborhoods desirable places to live. What can we do? (Thanks to Mari at In Shaw for the article tip)

It’s unwise to permanently prop up unsuccessful business models. However, it shouldn’t be too hard to “float” property taxes for a few years as a neighborhood gentrifies. If you have property values that double within a year, this is obviously not normal or sustainable. It’s also reasonable to believe that the market will cool and return to something independents can handle.

Therefore, why not raise property taxes for locally owned businesses on a graduated scale? Truly unsustainable businesses would fall away quickly and provide some real estate for the inevitable national chains to move in. On the other hand, independents willing to hold through the tight times would be able to grow their businesses while remaining as anchors of the neighborhood.

So listen to it.

{enclose 29colm44.mp3}

Any search for good literature on the topic of urban development will inevitably lead to this book. After seeing numerous references throughout other books and blogs I’ve read, I decided to make a stop at the National Building Museum’s bookstore, as the library copy was constantly checked out and Barnes and Noble didn’t seem to carry it.

Mrs. Jacobs published this book in 1961, soon after the first large wave of suburbanization in the US after WWII. Refusing to discuss urban development in glittering generalities, she cites abundant example of interesting, lively neighborhoods (the North End in Boston and Greenwich Village in New York City) as well as dull monstrosities (Central Business Districts with “dense” towers and certain long blocks also within New York City). She derides the then-emerging philosophies of “Radiant Garden City” planning: tall mixed-use towers surrounded by large park-like plots. She also tackles the issue of racial discrimination in neighborhood building and “renewal,” where existing residents are unable to obtain financing for renovations and construction in deteriorating sections of large cities. Jacobs isn’t afraid to criticize efforts to sort citizens out by income, which ultimately exacerbate poverty.

The book is entirely based off observations, rather than vague theories of how utopias can be constructed. Local offices with specific authority are effective, while general city-wide offices requiring ever-expanding bureaucracy are not. Short blocks with many intersections and buildings at the sidewalk are easier to navigate and more interesting than long ones with large building setbacks.

The timelessness of this book is self-apparent when considering current exurban developments of McMansions and still-failing “projects.” Jacob’s practicality and candor make this book easy to understand and relate to actual situations readers have no doubt observed.

Specific examples are cited where “eyes on the street” have fostered safe neighborhoods where a variety of citizens live comfortably. As more people use a particular street throughout the day, it becomes safer and even more lively. Likewise, areas with long, unwalkable blocks with uniform uses and limited hours repel people and become dangerous.

The only drawback to this book would be its heft. Weighing in at 585 pages (Modern Library Edition), it can take quite a while to finish. For the merely curious, this may not be an appropriate introduction to urban development, although definitely worthwhile. David Sucher’s City Comforts, comprises a narrated, photographic look at practical urbanism much in the spirit and influence of Jacobs and is a much quicker read. However, any decent book on the topic will ultimately point back to Jacobs’ reflections on real, safe, lively, interesting cities and the organized effort to kill them in the name of “orderly planning.”

Thanks to craigslist (and the person on the other end trying to get rid of an old computer), I’m now back online.

While I was without a PC, I finished off reading some books, bought a car, visited with friends, and kept writing. Expect a book review early next week.