Design vs. Develop

I dislike
homeowners associations (Baltimore Sun article, registration required, or use BugMeNot.com), mainly because they sap the life out of small towns. However, this quote from the article disturbed me even more:

For all its pitfalls, association living has blossomed, in part, because local governments encourage and, in some cases, require them. The neighborhood organizations spare taxpayers the burden of providing community services and upkeep.

So, instead of trying to integrate new residents into the fabric of a local town, they are encouraged to live in their own secluded worlds. These developments are a product of utopian, Perfect City dreams, where people believe that if things are “just so”, they can preserve their property values and the physical appearance of their homes. Unfortunately, they give up a rash of personal liberties to ambiguous authorities, which often fall short of these promises. If you’re thinking of moving into such an arrangement, please read the “covenant” very carefully and make sure you know what you’re getting into. These things are rather ridiculous.

Over at Right Reason, there’s a fantastic discussion about the conservative response to New Urbansim. What do do about Wal-Mart? Do we need to take “the market” out of urban planning? Scroll down about halfway through the comments and you’ll find this comment:

The food and eating-and-cooking worlds aren’t bad models and metaphors for what we’re talking about. American cooking and eating got wiped out through the mid-20th century by modernist approaches to agriculture, and by an addiction to convenience-values. Today, there’s lots and lots of really good stuff available — in grocery stores, at restaurants. We have large numbers of well-trained pro chefs, and tons of people who are good home cooks. The [Food] Network is popular, cookbooks and food mags are beautiful. We have an enjoyble and rewarding food culture again. A person who wants to do so — who has the interest and the resources — can have a terrific eating-and-cooking life again. A nice cultural development, no? As many of the American arts have floundered, the foodie scene has flourished. So why not learn from it?

Head over and read at least that comment. The thread is getting kind of long if you’re only reading it out of curiosity.

From the New York Times, In Exurbs, Life Framed by Hours Spent in the Car. This report goes on to talk about the typical lives of exurbanites and the dizzyingly fast pace of construction in once quaint small towns. However, what I find interesting about this article, is where it explores the high daytime population of these places.

So we find that exburbs are frequently settled by not only people who commute long distances, but also by telecommuters who want to live in safe communities. Consequently, the daytime population of these places rises as does daytime traffic.

If you take an overhead look at Frisco, TX (the exburb mentioned in the article), you’ll notice a huge blob of houses to the east, with the town at the west. If you zoom in on the blob, you’ll notice that the houses are very tightly packed in, even more tightly than the original town. Of course, as most modern exburbs, the roads loop around and create little residental alleys, that lead to residential roads, that lead to some sort of boulevard, that lead mainly to more residential roads. People report that it can take 15-20 minutes to drive to anything but a residential neighborhood.

Hazarding a guess, these homes were most likely built en masse by a single developer. Now, what would prevent this (or any other) small town from laying out the road system in advance with frequent intersections? If you’re living and working in an exburb, why on earth should you have to drive more than 15 minutes to get a half-gallon of milk?

A grid. It’s not that hard to build. You don’t even have to build it all at once: just lay it out and enforce it. If large developers come along and decide to build houses, great, they can follow the layout. You can even reserve land ahead of time in strategic locations for public uses (schools, parks, etc…).

According to the results of a quiz at FindYourSpot.com, Jacksonville would be the ideal place for me to live. Somehow, I wouldn’t think that the largest city by square mileage would appeal to me. All I’ve ever heard of Florida has been sprawl, Disney World, and beaches. But I guess I sholdn’t be quick to judge.

No, I’m not planning on moving for a while, but I wondered what kind of results I would get with my preferences. Some of the runner ups:

Charleston, SC (heard good things)
Cincinnati, OH (doesn’t surprise me)
Knoxville, TN (lotsa sprawl baby, no thanks)
Denver, CO (will have to visit sometime)
Carlisle & Harrisburg, PA (hrmm, interesting)
Seattle, WA (still haven’t been back)

Down at the bottom of the 24 city list was none other than Tulsa, Oklahoma.

I’ve changed the design of the blog so I can throw more information at you in one screenshot.

I think this kid from Dallas is wired the same way I am. Good luck, man.

Metro has decided to get rid of the androgynous “doors closing” announcement, citing a “yellow traffic light” effect where people rush towards the trains instead of standing back. Additionally, “stand to the right” will be officially reinstituted on escalators (finally). They’re also planning on putting little arrows telling you where to line up for trains. Don’t know how effective that will be…