The New Facism

Presently there are two ideas running rampant in Architectural circles that may not be questioned or spoken against. All agree that these ideas are correct. Developers agree, Planners agree, Building Departments agree, and Architects, God damn them had better get in line and agree! Most are plyable and will. Clients will soon learn that they will agree or they will not be allowed to build. This is because the New Orthodoxies are right, they are correct. We all agree therefore it is.

The first of these new manditory orthodoxies is "the New Urbanism". Whats a "New Urbanism"? It is what Urbanism was when Modern and Organic Architecture freed mankind from Urbanism 150 years ago.

The sales pitch is that the New Urbanism will bring to cities "needed density". This needed density will result in lots and lots of well heeled polite people swilling Latte's at Starbucks while eating French pastry from a precious place nearby and managing their stock portfolio, all in a privately owned "public space". If those folks have a job as opposed to a portfolio, they will work downtown in a building within walking distance from where they live. Should they actually desire to go anywhere farther than walking distance from their wonderful little precious condo, they will take a fixed rail form of public transportation. There will be no crime. The downtown criminal classes, native since the start of every downtown will magically disappear. It will be so, because the planners, developers, electeds and governmental agencies have decreed it will be so. "New Urbanism" is the future, therefore it is good.

One must ask a issue or two....

First issue: What happened to the "Old Urbanism"? Why did people leave it? Well,if we are to believe the three generations that fled the Cities between 1850 and 1900, the Cities were not paradise, even for the Wealthy. In the first place, dense populations of humans spread disease quickly. While the improvements in sanitation and plumbing of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries make this problem less severe, the problem does exist. Further the last thirty years of Reaganomics and the ignoring maintenence on silly things like water delivery and sewer systems reduce the improvements oft he 20th Century considerably.

Second, criminals are not easily removed from downtowns and urban areas, especially in the long run, without a resulting decrease in the quality of life for everyone in the area. In order to keep crime down, police departments tend to institute draconian levels of control. If people have a choice between living in a downtown prison, even one with Opera and Museums, or a place not a prison, overtime they will tend towards more freedom.

Third, all Urbanism, new or old, is heavily dependant on a efficient, active, well run public sector. Anyone who has ever tried to determine what department was responsible say for trimming palm trees in a redevelopment zone, knows that this requirement in the America of the forseeable future will be a problem.

Fourth, This is really all about greed. The greed for rent. A building with a 10,000 sq ft footprint can yeild four, five, ten acres of rentable space. A small lot can generate acres and acres of taxation for local government, without a real increase in services. By framing this "new urbanism" as a cause, as luxury living, those gerbals in their high up cages can actually be convinced to pay ultra high price for a dinky, yardless, non cross ventilated, little box in the sky, unfit for human habitation.

Fifth, Folks ain't gonna give up their cars. In the OLD URBAN areas of Europe, each new generation is getting more cars, and while they rely on mass transit, they are using their cars more in each generation than the one prior. Humans desire mobility and the sensation of freedom. Make no mistake, the City, old or new urbanism, deprives them of same.

Sixth, dense urban areas are not easily remodeled. This means that when whatever the "style" of your "new urbanism" building or neighborhood goes out of style and isn't remodeled, those fashionable stylish latte drinkers will do what they have done from the start of time, migrate to the next fashionable place. This will tend to deminish the rental value of those large expensive buildings. As the rental value reduces over time,even less maintenence is done. This leads to SLUMS. That's right, incredibly dense populations of desperatly poor people attempting to eek out a living. The very people that the Landlords, governmental agencies and developers are busily attempting to remove from the inner core of the city, are it's eventual, and I would say, inevitable residents.

So thats why people left the City in the past, and why they will leave it in the future, no matter what the planners and developers declare,no matter how much they attempt to silence any other speech, and no matter how much they subsidize the downtown, human beings are not made to live in a gerbal cage, and they will escape whenever they can.

Our next brief essay will cover the other Facism of today "Green Building".