The year in New Urbanism

We Create Here was an initiative within the Gazette Company to develop evolving narratives and authentic conversations throughout Iowa's Creative Corridor. read more

It's the time of year where you look back over your work, tie a neat little bow on it and give it back out to the world.  I've spent the past year working on the question, "how do cities work?" What were the themes I saw when I dove into New Urbanism this year?

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There is a growing consensus towards new urbanist principles both locally and nationally.

Cedar Rapids is creating a brand new zoning model that incorporates many of the principals behind New Urbanism. The city adopted a comprehensive complete streets policy. City council also wants to amend city code so that new buildings face the street and abut the sidewalk. These are big changes that will make the default mode of development, at least according to the city code, one that aligns with New Urbanist principles. Iowa City formalized the form-based zoning plan for Riverfront Crossings and a number of projects have been announced for the area.

Other cities across the country are incorporating New Urbanism policies and ideas into their plans as well. Pittsburgh and Portland started decades ago and are reaping big dividends now. Cities across the country are investing in streetcars and light rail. Downtowns are booming. Suburbs are looking at ways to create walkable neighborhoods out of sprawl development.

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Most people want to live in a walkable neighborhood. They don't care if this neighborhood is in a city or a suburb, because the city versus the suburb is a false choice.

In Cedar Rapids Westdale mall is undergoing a massive redevelopment that will turn it into a town center, including housing. Iowa City wants to turn the beleaguered Sycamore mall into a more urban, walkable place.

Most of what we've built in the past 70 years is sprawl. We've built sprawl on the edges of our cities and we've torn down neighborhoods to bring sprawl into the cities. Sprawl doesn't refer to where something is built, it refers to how it's designed. The big problem with sprawl as a development model is that it creates places where it doesn't make financial sense to reinvest in a place once it starts to age, it makes more sense to let it decline and start again somewhere new. How do you counteract this disinvestment and make the suburbs sustainable communities?

The D.C. suburbs offer a roadmap on how to redevelop. They've encouraged transit-oriented development, allowed increased density, and brought the urban to the suburban. They're a national model for how you bring the best parts of cities into the suburbs.

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We also learned this year that historic preservation is economic development.

The Cedar Rapids metro has two Main Street districts; The Czech Village New Bohemia Main Street District and the Uptown Marion Main Street District. The main street program works by getting private and public entities to focus on restoring a specific historic area. Historic preservation is investing in what makes your community unique. It encourages investment in traditional main streets, and promotes the development of local businesses.

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What ties all of these themes together? Placemaking and walkability.

Placemaking is about making places worth caring about.

Walkability is making a place easy to maneuver on your feet. When these powers combine they form CAPTAIN NEIGHBORHOOD. You need to build places for people, and you need to make it possible to get to those places on foot, or with a bike, or on a bus, or a train. If you start from those principles you create great places to live.