| Good Neighborhood Design | In America, there are two primary types of settlement today: the traditional neighborhood, which was the model in America from the first settlements until World War II, and suburban sprawl, which has been the model since then. In their work, the members of the design team seek to create traditional neighborhoods, rather than sprawl. To do this they follow some essential planning principles, culled from centuries of tradition, that distinguish America’s best neighborhoods and small towns.
The traditional neighborhood has the following physical attributes:
1) The neighborhood has a discernible center, usually a main street, public square or green, typically bordered by civic buildings, shops, and/or residences.
2) The neighborhood has visually discernible edges where the neighborhood ends, formed by transportation corridors (such as major streets or rail lines), or by natural and agricultural landscapes.
3) The neighborhood is limited in size so that a majority of the population is within a five-minute walking distance of its center (1/4 mile). The needs of daily life are mostly available within this area: convenient work places, stores, community events, leisure opportunities and transportation connections to more distant places. This allows independence to those who do not drive, especially the elderly and the young.
4) The neighborhood has a variety of dwelling types. These usually take the form of houses, rowhouses, flats, apartment buildings, coach houses, and flats-above-stores, so that the young and the old, singles and families, the poor and the wealthy, can all find places to live. A small ancillary building is typically permitted and encouraged within the backyard of each house. In addition to providing parking, this small building may be used as one rental unit of housing or as a place to work.
5) The neighborhood has concentrations of civic, institutional and commercial activity embedded within it, not isolated in remote, single-use complexes. Schools are sized and located to enable children to walk or bicycle to them.
6) Dispersed throughout the neighborhood are a range of parks, from tot-lots and village greens to ballfields and greenbelts. Conservation areas and open lands are used to define and connect different neighborhoods and districts.
7) The neighborhood has streets laid out in a network, so that there are alternate routes to most destinations. This permits most streets to be smaller with slower traffic, and to have parking, trees and sidewalks. Such streets are equitable for both vehicles and pedestrians, encourage walking, and reduce the number and length of automobile trips.
8) The neighborhood places its buildings close to the street, so that streets and squares are spatially defined as ‘outdoor rooms’. This creates a strong sense of the neighborhood's centers and streets as places, and of the neighborhood itself as a place.
9) The neighborhood utilizes its streets for parking. Parking lots and garages rarely if ever front the streets, and are typically relegated to the rear of the lot and accessed by alleys.
10) The neighborhood reserves prominent sites for civic buildings and community monuments. Buildings for education, religion, culture, and government either terminate street vistas or front neighborhood centers.
11) In the neighborhood, architecture and landscape design grow from local climate, topography, history, and building practice.
12) In the neighborhood, preservation and renewal of historic buildings and districts affirms the continuity and evolution of human society. |
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