Feb
18
Here’s an excerpt from “Cities: A Smart Alternative to Cars” by Alex Steffen, published by Business Week on Feb. 11:
The best car-related innovation we have is not to improve the car but to eliminate the need to drive it everywhere we go. In the U.S,, we need to stop sprawl and build well-designed compact communities. The land-use patterns in our communities dictate not only how much we drive, but how sustainable we can be on all sorts of fronts.
Read the full story here.
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“Cities: A Smart Alternative to Cars” is a thought provoking article. I must point out, though, that these ends are not always met by the means. Thus we must be careful in changing zoning laws and regulations without looking at some exceptions.
“We know we’re capable of building really dense new neighborhoods with plenty of open space, welcoming public places, thriving neighborhood retail, and a tangible sense of place.” And then: “We’re also capable of using good design, infill development etc.”
It is the phrase “infill development” that brings me up cold. On the Islands we have seen some of this so-called “infill”. A large lot containing one house magically blossoms into a large lot containing four or five houses. No attempt is too ridiculous to request a variance to add more real estate on these highly priced lots. Too often these variances are granted. Unfortunately variances have the ability to act in place of rezonings which require more scrutiny.
Instead of the welcoming public places, thriving neighborhood retail and tangible sense of place, with these variances we get more of the obnoxious dangerous traffic mentioned in the first paragraph of the Cities article. In these suburban areas, there was never retail in walking distance and as the density increases there is still no retail — or much of anything else — in walking distance.