The Oil Drum

When it came time to draw up a plan for Biloxi and surrounding towns, the people in charge decided to call on the Congress for New Urbanism. What happened then was a real study in how American values can clash.

Last weekend I went to visit my girlfriend's family near Allentown PA in Bethlehem. As we drove through the area, she explained how there had been a shift which is still in progress from prime farmland to development land for strip malls, residential housing, even trucking depots and warehouses, etc. Instead of being something forced on the local area, I started to think that probably all of this was just a product of people's collective desires in the local area.

Then on the last morning, I caught this letter to the editor in "The Morning Call" the local newspaper which sort of cheered me up a little because it seems to present the end of the exurban experience of development, traffic congestion, segregated zoning, etc could come full circle to a type of new urbanism if people start taking an active voice in the development of their communities.

I have lived in Bethlehem Township for almost a decade. The development that my family moved to, King's Crossing, used to be virtually in the middle of nowhere. Today, Bethlehem Township is very different. Route 33 was built, now serving as a vein to Route 78.

This has spiked the value of our homes and created much more convenient routes for traveling. However, with the new access and the expanded Freemansburg Avenue came a flashy new strip mall.

It's just as important to give praise when something good happens as it is to criticize when something bad happens. Today, the Department of Transportation deserves praise for some of their recent activities that are embracing some of the new urbanist principles of creating pleasant walkable downtown areas. One example is their new plan near the Fulton Mall in Brooklyn to create a more pedestrian friendly area.

Work on a temporary plaza, which will be separated from traffic using planters and will include benches, chairs, tables and bike racks, is scheduled to begin in early May. If the project is successful, a permanent, raised plaza will be constructed, providing nearly 7,000 square feet of new, attractive public space for Downtown Brooklyn.

All I can say is "amen" and thanks DOT! Can we get some more of these spread out across every neighborhood?

Also check out Brooklyn resident [Aaron Naparstek's post http://www.naparstek.com/2006/03/pedestrian-mall-revolution.php].

I've excerpted some of the key slides and figures below the fold. Do their ideas have merit? Will they ever get implemented?