(c) 2006 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. Reproduced with permission of copyright owner. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission.Instant communities have tapped into consumers' disillusionment with suburban sprawl by offering compact, sanitized luxury environments with the reassuring predictability of national chain stores ("City Lite: Fake Towns Rise, Offering Urban Life Without the Grit," page one, May 31). These fake towns seem oddly appropriate for a generation that grew up with shopping malls as their downtown. Not only can they purchase mass-market reproductions of antiques, they can now live in homogenized versions of cities without grit -- residences that offer amenities without character or history.
Would Hippodamus, the fourth-century father of urban planning, be surprised by today's faux towns? Not likely. We shouldn't be surprised either. The history of cities is largely the story of people trying to build communities of like-minded people. Indeed, these instant towns have significant historic precedent. Gated communities are just the latest expression of Greek city-states or medieval castle complexes. And mixed-use developments evoke the lively colonial town centers where merchants lived above their shops.
Many of the most charming neighborhoods were developed before modern zoning and building codes. These places grew organically into complex, irregular and fascinating urban forms. Advances in building technology make it possible, perhaps even easier, to rebuild them in a single run. But it seems a pity that to duplicate Harvard Square or Beacon Hill today would be a nightmare of variances and zoning relief.
I can't help but wonder how future generations will look at their ancestors who lived in shopping malls, and whether they will regard these developments as worthy of preservation.
Constantine A. Valhouli
Principal
The Hammersmith Group
Bradford, Mass.
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There is a certain arrogance afoot that presumes that we have now learned all the lessons from the past and can, therefore, short- circuit this natural process and "get it right the first time." As a consequence, remarkably little thought is given to what changes may be necessary 10 or 50 years hence and how they will be accommodated. Increasingly, zoning and land-use policy seems aimed at limiting change for political purposes, not facilitating it. We live in an age when change isn't popular. Government has responded by giving the people what they think they want.
Whether or not this will lead to the better urban environment that we all claim to want remains an open question; the true result may not be evident for another century.
Pat FitzGerald
Managing Principal
FitzGerald Associates Architects
Chicago
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Your article describes these "faux downtowns" as a New Urbanist backlash against sprawl. But the force creating these new shopping centers isn't a change in style but a change in market forces -- not New Urbanism, but simply urbanism.
In metropolitan areas across the country, highways are reaching the limits of how much traffic they can handle and people are reaching their limits of how far they're willing to drive, especially as gas prices continue to climb. In response, developers are looking to develop land more intensively. Infill development is going up on parking lots, and one-family houses are being replaced by multiple dwellings. Consequently, close-in developable land is becoming scarce, and land prices are rising. In this environment, spread-out shopping centers aren't just unstylish, they're inefficient.
This dense reurbanization has created pent-up demand for a public realm, that space where citizens meet one another, move around, play and relax. Those who provide it become competitive. Those who don't, close down. That's not a style. That's the market at work.
Alex Garvin
Professor of Urban Planning and Management
Yale University
President, Alex Garvin & Associates
New York
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Thank heavens for the New Urbanist movement that is helping to create new villages, not "fake cities." These new villages have the same DNA as the beloved streetcar suburbs (think Park Hill in Denver, Brookline near Boston, or Belhaven in Jackson, Miss.), and with proper care will become beloved in their own time.
My town was recently smacked by Hurricane Katrina and assisted by New Urbanist planners in recovery. In helping us rebuild, the planners have provided an invaluable service. They have helped us identify what makes our vibrant, tree-lined downtown so wonderful and how we can create new village centers that have the features we love.
Julia Weaver
Alderman at Large
Ocean Springs, Miss.