Urbanism to me.
Is urbanism cool or nerdy? Exciting or boring? The answer to me is yes. City Council and Planning Commission meetings can drag on for what seems like weeks, updating of land use plans can take months or years. Development codes are long, convoluted, full of legalese and jargon. It’s not popular, this is evident by the fact that most meetings include only the applicants and the officials reviewing it, normally you only hear about planning issues is if something “terrible” is going to be built by your home.
On the flip-side SimCity, and Cities Skylines are two very popular video games, Parks and Rec. reflect the public engagement process, and most convincingly, in my mind at least, one thing that both great and prosperous areas and poor and regrettable areas have in common is planning. The boring meetings, dense code, and years-long processes have real, tangible effects that are seen and felt for generations to come.
I got into Planning/Urbanism because I felt (and still feel) it is the best, and the most tangible way to serve the public, and have a real and lasting impact on society. Simply put, to me, the best way to leave a positive legacy isn’t to run for political office, go to Salt Lake or DC and play politics. The best way to make an impact is to get involved at the local level, and create the places where families live, work, shop, and play.
Urbanism to me is creating places where people want to live. Where you can go to work, school, the park, and to see friends without getting in the car, and fighting traffic. In my opinion, the best way to do this is:
- Think about places you want to go and visit or live.
- Go and immerse yourself in those places.
- Identify what makes those places great, and why.
- Identify what to do to encourage the development of those environments.
- Identify and remove obstacles that make it difficult or impossible to create those environments.
So for me this has really required spending months and years traveling and immersing myself in different places and cultures. I’ve lived in interesting places. I’ve traveled to international cities that have been famous for hundreds or even thousands of years. Exploring vibrant American communities, and interesting neighborhoods, as well as places that have faced blight and destruction and the ways that they have been rebuilt
What I have found is good, vibrant, exciting, vibrant communities include: People, lots of people, mostly on foot and bike, interesting buildings, density, tall buildings, shops mixed with offices, restaurants, and businesses. Very little car-dominated space, little to no parking, and certainly no enormous car parks, fountains, recreation, and green space. Activity in the morning, afternoon, and late at night. Think about it yourself do you want to visit Rome or Atlanta? Would you rather drive in LA Traffic, or ride the subway quickly and efficiently through Washington DC or New York? or closer to home, do you want to spend a weekend in Moab or Fairfield? Park City or Draper?
As someone who has lived in many states and countries, I can say the same is true of great places to live. They are interesting, you can walk or ride transit to work, get home, walk to park, catch some live music, stop in at a local restaurant for food, then pick up something from your local shop. In the morning you are able to walk your child to her school on the way to work, past the park where you picnic and play ball games on the weekend.
Through this blog, I will discuss what urbanism is to me, I will highlight why I think some places thrive, and why others don’t. I will touch on the 5 themes identified above, but will also address issues of housing shortage and availability. The economics of development and how the decisions we make today (smart or shortsided) are magnified over and over for ever and ever, that is why a bad decision made today can bankrupt our communities in the future, and to discuss what a good and a bad decision even are.
So thanks for reading.
