CNU XIII - No items for The Gutter

The Gutter had lots of news from the recent AIA Convention in Las Vegas. But there's no controversial news to report from CNU XIII in Pasadena — we're all just having a good time.

Continuing its policy of embracing what works, the CNU gave an urban design award to Frank Gehry (who frequently criticizes New Urbanism), listened to rising California Democrats Los Angeles Mayor Elect Antonio Villagairoso and California Treasurer Phil Angelides (developer of an early New Urban project), and talked to some conservative Republicans who wrote a nice reply in the OC Register (below).

Urbanists at play in LA's Union Station.

Sunday, June 12, 2005
Orange County Register

New Urbanist legends

Southern California remains a highly urbanized, growing region. Questions of how best to accommodate the new population are perhaps the most significant public policy matter local governments face.

In our view, the pre-eminent issue is freedom. Individuals need to be able to choose the lifestyle that suits their needs and budgets, whether that's a suburban house on a large yard or a condo in a high-rise in a densely packed downtown. Developers need the latitude to respond to such consumer choices.

One influential new ideology is called New Urbanism. The academics, planners and developers who promote it argue that suburban "sprawl" is unhealthy and an assault on the environment. They want to preserve open space, reduce car dependence and create higher-density urban areas.

The Congress for the New Urbanism on Saturday concluded its annual conference, this year in Pasadena. The congress refers to Orange County as "the epitome of sprawl." A few delegates visited Fullerton and Brea last Thursday to assess how those two cities revived their deteriorating downtowns.

The New Urbanists argue that highways lured people out of cities, and that explains cities' decline. We'd question whether the highways caused sprawl or whether people chose to move to the suburbs to flee foolish government policies that oftentimes made living in cities undesirable.

New Urbanists claim that they are only suggesting a design alternative, and want to work within the market. But we've seen too many instances of New Urbanist ideas being imposed by government in the form of growth controls that undermine property rights, debt spending to build new downtowns and the abuse of eminent domain to clear away properties for the new plans. We also fear that New Urbanists want to use government to expand low-income housing and to create new zoning requirements that make it untenable to build the single-family homes most people prefer.

Orange County is one of the finest places to live in the world, offering an unparalleled quality of life. It's not just the weather but our suburban lifestyle that is so appealing. If this is the epitome of sprawl, then it's hard to see a problem.

Nevertheless, New Urbanists make some reasonable points. They complain about zoning requirements that restrict the ability to build high-rises. They complain about the abuse of eminent domain to build big-box stores. They support school vouchers as a way to encourage families to move back into central cities. We agree with all of those points.

To the degree to which New Urbanists promote market alternatives to current designs and deregulation of land use, we'll defend them. To the extent that they promote subsidies, growth controls and other coercive features, we'll oppose.

Copyright 2005 The Orange County Register