6. Build Beautifully and Steward the Environment

Build beautifully

Beauty is more than skin deep. Looks count. The physical environment, both natural and built, from the flowers in the window box to the ratio between street width and building height, have enormous effect on our psyche and even our productivity. Remember: "A city is the greatest work of art possible."

Creating that work of art is, of course, no easy task. Many of the traditional tools are woefully inadequate.

"Zoning is a clumsy tool for creating art," Katz said, "because it focuses only on density and use. It does not help us get the kinds of buildings we want." According to Andres Duany, zoning works against the very type of neighborhoods we want - places where "you can find what you need on a daily basis within walking distance."

Instead of zoning, which "separates everything from everything else" the New Urbanists argue for - among other things - the use of building typology codes, which define a building’s massing and appearance and fit it into the overall context of the place.

Indeed, the importance of buildings - their type and their look - should not be underestimated.

"Buildings have meanings," real estate expert Donovan Rypkema pointed out. "They reflect our values. If we are going to have valuable towns, we have to have buildings that reflect those values. In order for a community to be a good community it must look like a good community."

Transportation systems are another essential element in the physical design of place. Alex Marshall, in How Cities Work, wrote, "How we get around determines how we live. ... Transportation determines the form of our places."

Unfortunately, the design of transportation is all too often left to engineers whose primary concern is maximizing the flow of traffic. The results? Highway bypasses that spawn acres of discount stores and drive-thru’s at the off-ramps while leaving downtowns with boarded-up storefronts and empty sidewalks, overly wide city streets that encourage speeding and discourage walking, and parking lots that hollow out the cityscape.

Steward the Environment

Admonishments abound to "protect the environment" and "green the city." Good intentions noted, the slogans fall short of the mark. It is not enough to exclude acreage on the edge of town from development and call it a preserve. Nor is it sufficient to require planting strips in parking lots. What is needed is a call to stewardship - what Webster calls the "careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one’s care."

The notion of management is critical. But by that term we do not ally ourselves with any of the various movements for wise or multiple use. Nor do we mean that nature is of value only when it serves humankind. Rather, we use it to call for thoughtful decisions and active care - for stewardship.

Like the practice of citizenship, the practice of stewardship leads to benefits for society as a whole and for the individuals who practice it, as well as for the environment itself. The benefits range from aesthetic enjoyment to emotional/spiritual replenishment to recreational opportunity. However, they also include economic prosperity.

In the Old Economy, natural resources were viewed primarily as inputs to industrial production, as income to live off of. Trees were lumber, mountains were minerals and streams were a handy mechanism for transporting things (including noxious byproducts).

In the New Economy, natural resources still serve as industrial inputs. But they also serve not just as income but assets - assets that create a high quality of life, attracting people and businesses who create jobs and income.

The quote from Henton and Walesh bears repeating: "In the New Economy, quality of life has become a community’s most valuable economic asset."


Principle In Action

Universities and cities are collaborating in order to build and blend the lives of the community and students.  This has resulted in a combination of structural innovation and environmental stewardship that have left the city and university more culturally attractive and marketable.