3-Minute Video about New Urbanism

Welcome back!

New urbanism is one of those concepts that can be difficult to grasp. It’s a term that’s not part of our daily conversation, yet its meaning is very much a part of what most people engage in every day.

If you go to work or are looking for work that you can afford to get to every day, you’re involved in new urbanism.

If you worry about the safety of your community, activity options for you, your kids, your family, recycling and other green living initiatives – you’re thinking about new urbanism.

I just came upon the Congress of New Urbanism’s 2009 Video Award winner and that’s exactly what it is – a winning definition for “new urbanism:”

And…Action! Teens Calling the Shots

One of the things I love about our “new urban” town is the effort that community organizers put into engaging and focusing on the needs of all residents, from toddlers to seniors.

Last year I published a post about the dangers of creating age specific or segregated communities, like those 55+ communities scattered across the nation especially in Florida.  That discussion was part of a review I did of Andrew Blechman’s novel Leisureville (to listen to a discussion I had with Andrew on this topic you can listen to the New Urban Podcast).

While sometimes it can be a pain sharing a theater with giggly teenagers or maneuvering through a group of awkward teens at the mall….our “positive” interaction with them does “them” a world of good.  They learn from us and we learn from them.  That’s a good system for preparing good citizens for the future.

Of course it helps when some thought goes into engaging our teens in meaningful ways and that’s what our town has done.  We actually have a teens’ council and this weekend the teens’ council is sponsoring a 24-hour film challenge.

The challenge works like this: Interested teens including my 16 year old son, were invited to gather at our local art gallery on Friday evening to receive some resources and guidelines before setting off to create a short film in 24-hours.  Cameras had to be provided by the teens themselves (well their parents).

Since last night parents, including ourselves, have been driving groups of teens from one destination point to another (based on their scene plan).

At the 24 hr point (9 p.m. tonight) they have to hand in their finished film on VHS tape or DVD.  The really exciting thing is the winner will be announced at a ceremony the kids will be attending in our town hall tomorrow evening.  So there’ll be no long wait to find out who won (a definite sign that kids put this together).

Here we have a youth driven initiative, supported by parents (as chauffeurs and gofers) and the community as a whole to ignite and inspire our youth to do something creative and constructive.  Our local art gallery, town hall and other facilities were all made available for the teens to use for networking, getting information and for ultimately celebrating this great artistic, community based initiative.

I’ll keep you posted on the winner…

Tough Economy Threatens Growth of New Urban Shopping Centers

After decades of dealing with the blandness of indoor mall shopping, new urban developers found a way to bring the joy of city sidewalk shopping and strolling to the suburbs with the creation of “new urban shopping centers.”

Now further development of these shopping oases is being threatened because of the crumbling status of our economy and the impact this has had on developers needing bank financing for these expensive developments.

The new urban approach to development is in fact more expensive than typical developments and is more time consuming because of the legal issues and zoning details involved in building/redeveloping communities that have mixed uses (residential and commercial).

I hope we won’t see any regression in the progress we’ve made in building shopping destinations and neighborhoods for people vs. cars because of the state of the economy.

Here’s what one industry insider is saying (courtesy of cbc.ca):

North American developers will have to negotiate financial uncertainties if they want the mixed-use models to succeed, said Stephen Messinger, a senior partner with the commercial leasing group Minden Gross.

“It’s not the end,” he said, acknowledging nervous investors will likely be cautious given the tightening economy.

But he noted many municipalities continue to actively seek out these developments because of their functionality and design.

“In the end, if it gives consumers what they want, it could work out,” he said.

That last sentence caught my attention.

New urbanism is the new standard for community development. That is what consumers want.

As consumers we ought to be consistent and vocal in ensuring our cities, suburbs and towns know our preferences for healthy, green and sustainable communities – no matter the financial challenges before us. Considering what the alternative would cost to our lives and the environment this should be a non-negotiable stance.

This financial mess we’re in may end up being one test for determining just how rooted the new urban-green-living movement is in our society.