Sprawl vs New Urbanism

Sprawl uses more land than necessary; has a lower population density than traditional cities and towns (e.g., fewer people in larger houses); creates a dependence on cars for almost everything; results in fragmented open spaces, wide gaps between development, and a scattered appearance; separates uses into distinct areas (so, you don't usually have a store or a movie theater within walking distance from your home); is characterized by repetitive one-story commercial buildings surrounded by acres of parking; and lacks public spaces and community centers.

Traditional urban centers and towns have higher population density than surrounding areas; offer mixed use buildings (businesses and homes on the same block or at least within walking distance of each other); are pedestrian-friendly; are served by public facilities, services, and spaces (e.g., public transportation or community centers); consist of many different types of housing and businesses; have centers for community activities; and are surrounded by open spaces, including productive farm and forest land.

Comparing New-Urbanist and Sprawl Suburbs

REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION New Urbanism Mass transit—light-rail, buses, subways—is within walking distance of most homes and businesses. The goals: fewer car trips fewer highways shorter commutes more time for family and community life less car-exhaust pollution Mass transit can also bring city-based low- income workers into job-rich suburbs—“no car” doesn’t have to mean “no job.”

Sprawl Highways are often choked with traffic and its pollution, due largely to street plans that feed cars onto a few big roads, lack of convenient mass transit, and isolation of retail and residential complexes, which require a car trip for nearly every errand or visit. Roads are often widened to ease congestion, which attracts more drivers to the area, who soon fill the roads to capacity again, prompting appeals for further widening. Businesses relocate from traditional main streets and scatter along a few wide roads designed mainly for cars—few sidewalks, vast parking lots, and so on. Results: In the U.S. a two-car suburban family makes ten car trips a day, on average. In one year a commuter with a one-hour commute (each way) spends the equivalent of about 12 workweeks driving to and from work.

STREET PLAN New Urbanism An interconnected street network distributes traffic evenly and makes walking easy by offering direct routes between points. Connected streets ease traffic by providing drivers with alternate routes. With many alternate routes, streets can be narrower, making them safer to cross and less land intensive. Sharp street corners, narrow streets, and frequent intersections naturally induce drivers to go more slowly and be more alert. Each street follows one general direction— north-south for example—allowing for easier navigation and better orientation.

Sprawl Subdivision street networks and retail and office parking lots often connect only with a wide, pedestrian-unfriendly collector road. A result: quiet subdivisions, gridlocked main roads. Residents need a car for even the simplest errand. Streets designed for easy driving—wide lanes, vast cul-de-sacs, few and wide intersections, few trees or buildings that block lines of sight—may encourage speeding, endanger pedestrians, and discourage walking and bicycling. Subdivision streets often twirl back on themselves or dead-end, confounding even the best sense of direction.

SHOPS, CIVIC BUILDINGS, WORKPLACES New Urbanism Mixed-use zoning allows for shops, restaurants, offices, and homes all to be within walking distance of each other—or even in the same building. With most of life’s necessities within walking distance, fewer car trips are made, easing pollution and encouraging community interaction. The young and the very old—those carless millions— enjoy a measure of independence, bicycling to the soccer field, say, or walking to the movies. Allowing for apartments and offices above stores provides patronage for the shops, living space for lower- income residents, and activity for the sidewalk—and a busy sidewalk is generally a safer sidewalk.

Sprawl Zoning generally prohibits developers from building shops, restaurants, or offices within neighborhoods. Some characteristic results: A vast office park next to a sea of houses next to a massive municipal center beside a shopping mall—no town center and little sense of community to speak of. More homeowners have expansive yards. Kids remain dependent on their parents for transportation until they reach driving age. The loss of a driver’s license puts many seniors out of reach of the store, the restaurant, the theater—and into retirement communities away from their hometowns.

RESIDENTIAL DISTRIBUTION New Urbanism Different housing types—apartments, row houses, detached homes—occupy the same neighborhood, sometimes the same block. People of different income levels mingle and may come to better understand each other. A family can “move up” without moving away—say, from a row house to a single-family home. Property values don’t necessarily suffer when housing types are mixed. New-urbanist neighborhoods are generally outselling neighboring subdivisions, and some of the United States’ most expensive older neighborhoods—Washington, D.C.’s Georgetown, Boston’s Beacon Hill, for example—are marvels of mixed housing.

Sprawl Developers often fill whole subdivisions with one type of residence—say, $300,000 ranch houses. Zoning often outlaws apartments and houses in the same development. Sequestered in a narrow sliver of society, people may develop or maintain intolerance of those outside their ilk.

PARKING New Urbanism Parking is concentrated alongside curbs, in lots behind shops, and in garages off rear alleys. Parking behind, rather than in front of, shops allows buildings to be at or near the sidewalk’s edge— more welcoming and pedestrian friendly than a store in a sea of asphalt. Placing garages and driveways behind houses allows the houses to be brought closer to the sidewalk, enlarging backyards and adding interest and a feeling of enclosure to the street—a feeling that new urbanists believe adds to a walker’s sense of comfort. On-street parking insulates pedestrians from traffic, encourages street life by requiring drivers to walk the final steps to their destination, and lessens the need for parking lots and garages.

Sprawl Store and office parking is in lots in front of businesses, pushing buildings back from the street and farther away from each other. Residential parking is generally on street-facing driveways, which requires that the house be far back from the sidewalk. The resulting, rarely used front yard may offer a feeling of estate like spaciousness but discourage neighborly interaction. Parallel parking is often discouraged as a hazard to moving traffic.

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