Role of Architect in Smart Growth and How Can Architects Influence Smart Growth?
Who here in this room thinks that sprawl is a problem in America?
Who thinks sprawl is a problem in your community?
Who thinks that sprawl is created by growth?
Factoids:
- When I started studying architecture we discussed with fervor the findings of the Club of Rome published in their 1972 book: Limits of Growth in which it was pointed out that we have unsustainable growth patterns.
- I come from Germany which is about three times the size of Pennsylvania but has six and a half times PA's population. US visitors to Germany usually come back impressed about the amount of undisturbed open space.
- Chester County with over 500 people per square mile is close on the heels of Germany with its 574 people per square mile.
- Last year I had an architect in my office who's family came from Bangladesh which is only 20% larger than PA and has more than ten times its population.
- Urban areas decline in density. In 1920 urbanized areas in the US averaged 6,160 people per square mile (10 per acre) in 1990 it was down to half 2,589 people per square mile (4 per acre). This decline in density is not only a major contributor to sprawl but also leads to a decline in the quality of our built environment improvement.
The above shows us that growth is a very relative matter and that really matters where and how it occurs. I also like to think that growth and density are closely linked issues and that it is the lack of density that gets us into trouble in terms of sprawl and the lack of quality of life.
1. Why should Architects care?
- Because sprawl has
wide ranging implications that affect all of us as they affect the entire society and our
competitiveness in the world. Just to name a few:
- Urban decay. The alternative is urban revitalization, something we are seeing a lot lately, just think of Philadelphia's Renaissance
- Social justice. With urban decay comes the disenfranchising of whole segments of the population. The alternative is healthy mixed income communities
- Gridlock. The alternative is less need for mobility through proximity but maintaining essential mobility for all.
- Architects have long complained that more and more experts nibble away from our turf. Along comes an issue that more and more people care about and which sits squarely in our turf: Smart Growth once we realize that
- Planning undergoes a paradigm shift. Across the country people demand planning to be more than zoning codes and two dimensional land use plans, people want 3D plans for the future of their communities. Who is better suited to provide illustrative plans for future communities than architects? Here we have a chance to o9vercome the divide between planners and architects and, indeed, get back some lost territory!
- Planning and urban design have esthetic implications just as the design of buildings, in fact, esthetic buildings are generally only possible in quality communities. This is fact we forgot for a while during modernism but think of the Taco Bells, Shell Filling Stations, Home Depots, Walmarts Home Depots, and McMansions and you know what I mean.
- The lack of esthetics in the landscape of convenience has long been decried. early by my fellow Baltimorean H.L. Mencken in 1927 in his "Prejudices" in the chapter "The Libido for The Ugly": "Here is something psychologists have so far neglected: The love of ugliness for its own sake, the lust to make the world intolerable. Its habitat is the United States. Later by James Kuenstler in the Geography of Nowhere.
- The Surest Test of the civilization of a people is to be found in their architecture. (Wm Prescott, American Historian)
2. What can we do?
2.1 As citizens get involved! 1973, I was still in architecture school the historic part of my hometown Stuttgart was threatened by wrongheaded urban renewal. Along with others I founded an initiative to save the historic core of the town and became a little later a Borough Council member in the process. The area was declared a historic district and mostly saved from the wrecking ball. Today nobody can imagine how the destructive alternative could even have been considered. In my new hometown of Baltimore I started working with the AIA Urban Design Committee. After many years of work we are considered a resource in the City and beyond. Right now we have representation in the following situations and Committees:
- Governor's task force for transit oriented development in Maryland
- Governor's task force on Smart Codes
- State Planning Commission Ø the Regional Transportation Opportunity Blue Ribbon Panel which discusses the transportation solutions for the Baltimore Metro area
- Baltimore downtown West Side Revitalization Project Area Committee
- Baltimore Comprehensive Plan and City re-zoning
- Downtown Baltimore masterplan
- Related to MD's smart growth laws we testified for them before the state house and senate.
2.2 As professionals in your line of work:
- develop expertise in infill, rehabilitation, revitalization and adaptive reuse projects. These tend to be smart growth projects and they are the projects of the future and they will expand your practice
- develop expertise in urban design and land development. Your buildings will be better if they sit in the right context. Don't leave masterplans, re-zoning, design guidelines and code interpretations to the experts.
- look at smart growth as a business opportunity
Examples:
- Baltimore Metropolitan Council on a land use - transportation study for the region in which we investigated how land use changes will influence transportation performance.
- Subsequently we developed a pilot plan for a TOD in Edgewood to illustrate how the areawide land use change would translate on the ground in one specific community. This community has now adopted a revitalization masterplan and creative new zoning.
- Chester County invited me to speak about density at their Growth Conference in 1999. The Phoenixville project ensued.
- Allenwood
In summary: Did I get rich in doing all of this? No. Does my wife complain that she doesn't see me enough? Yes. Are there architects that have made the line of smart growth thinking, community oriented town planning and sustainable design a very successful line of business? You bet. Think of Duany in FL and MD, Calthorpe in California, Urban Design Associates in PA, McDonough in VA, Anton Nelesson in New Jersey to name but a few. Is it fun to get involved and expand architecture and show others that architects care? Yes. Architects can uniquely contribute to the create, re-create and maintain of livable communities! Let's do it together, here in PA, in Maryland and all across our beautiful country. Thank you.