This blog asks a question: What is the process of attracting
a following whom understand the importance of sustainable urban growth? This understanding comprehends that transportation
is the foundation to all urban growth and sustainable
transportation is the basis for sustainable urban growth.
In recent years, popular discussion in community planning has
produced many new terms, phraseology and ‘green’ legislation. New Urbanism is the brain dead political
direction which forces metropolitan residents into compressed living spaces with
fatigued 19th Century transportation. Sustainable urban growth requires personal
enrichment of all residents, rather than the profiteering of avaricious politicians
and developers at the cost of the suffering general public.
Interesting statement. While urban mobility would be a great offering in a 21st century motif, I do not see that as a first step toward sustainability. You did hit it on the head when you touched on the "environmental, economic and social" aspects. It is my opinion that if a city were to dedicate an area in it's DT to develop, it would behoove them to consider these three as questions rather than answers.
ReplyDelete1. Environmental - What are the key issues to the environment for that particular city?.. Water, Sewage, Waste disposal, Air Quality, Connectivity, Convenience, etc.
2. Economic - What businesses would thrive in this environment?.. Architecture, Construction, IT, Dining, Retail, Modern Transportation, Food and Fresh Produce Markets...
3. Social - What kinds of social spots would congeal in this mix? Theatre, Cinema, Sports Events, Pubs, Restaurants, Parks...
These would be my first considerations. Then I would think the amount of space necessary and location to be the next consideration. It's just a thought.
First of all, thank you for a comment and the beginning of a conversation.
ReplyDeleteTo clarify; urban mobility is merely the type of transportation used in an urban or metropolitan area.
As automobiles are used in Western Society as the fundamental source for travel and the automobile is wholly unsustainable (environmentally - pollution, economically - dependence to non-local financial extraction, socially - isolationism) the car culture has declared a demise to the car culture by its nature.
There has to be a sustainable form of transportation that can replace the automobile. This has to be realistic and viable.
Your reference to a downtown area dedicated to; say a small new technology transit system, as that area's core public transportation mechanism would be exceptional. The downtown areas already have necessary infrastructure to support a large congestion of development. A localized transit network has the wherewithal to not extract finances out of the region to support travel.
ReplyDeleteMy complaint: here in Fresno, one of the Councilmen who dared to be honest enough to recognize that Fresno is dependent upon automobile centric urban growth was recently lambasted in horrible name calling by the people who fail to recognize what land-use is. This doesn't mean the methods or politics of that Councilman are correct or incorrect, it is merely a statement that Fresno's growth is unsustainable. The conversation about its new General Plan is filled with complete ignorance. It seems there are a lot of people who want sustainable growth without understanding what sustainable urban growth is. The foundation of all urban growth is its mobility, or more simply its source of transportation. In an automobile centric society all growth is sprawl. With a transit oriented design, urban growth has the ability to be vertically oriented. The ignorance being vocalized as political vitriol is the lack of understanding that transit oriented land-use can not be used in an automobile centric design.
The disgusting aspect of this useless attack is that Fresno has $36million in specifically allocated fund to build such a project.