Visualizing Density

1. The Density Problem

Sprawl is bad. Density is good. Americans need to stop spreading out and live closer together. Well… that's the theory, anyway. But, as anyone who has tried to build compact development recently will tell you, if there's one thing Americans hate more than sprawl, it's density. This is evident in the public planning process as regulations are written and projects are reviewed. Across the country, efforts to increase density have met with stiff resistance. One reason people reject density is that they don't know much about it-what it looks like, how to build it, or whether it's something they can call home. We have very rational ways of measuring density, but our perception of it is anything but rational.

This type of low-density detached housing faces fewer obstacles than its denser urban counterpart.

Public aversion to density often makes developing compact housing a difficult process

2. Preconceptions

When you think of high density housing what comes to mind? Crowding? Monotony? Too much asphalt and not enough green? No privacy? These are some of the negative characteristics that people often associate with high-density development. Some dense neighborhoods are bleak, but it's not necessarily because they're dense. Crowding and monotony are the consequence of poor design, not the inevitable result of density.

Monotony results when the same form is repeated without variation.

At higher densities, overuse of one building design creates a tiresome uniformity.

Shifting the building orientation does not provide sufficient variety or privacy.

The bleakness often associated with density stems from homogeneity and lack of green space.

3. Design Matters

Density expresses a ratio-most often the number of housing units to the area of land. It tells us something about how much activity is compressed into a given area, but it reveals nothing about physical form. Two neighborhoods with the exact same density can look as different as night and day. Although they measure out at the same density they are not necessarily perceived to be equally dense. What really matters is how the streets are laid out, how the land is subdivided, how the buildings are arranged and detailed, whether trees are planted, where the sidewalks lead. These are all functions of design.

These two neighborhood blocks couldn't be more different, yet they have the exact same density of 11.7 units per acre.

5. What Does Density Look Like?

In any discussion of density, mental images are formed. Oftentimes they are one small piece of the picture. What do we mean when we talk about six units per acre? Or 12? What does a 50 unit-per-acre neighborhood look like? The answer is that it depends on the design approach.

These four blocks have a similar density level (10 units / acre) yet each takes a different form and provides a different type of living environment.

A mix of single and multi-family homes on small lots, Newport Beach, CA.

Side-yard houses on long, narrow lots, Charleston, SC.

Town houses and large single-family homes converted to apartments, Sandusky, OH.

Multi-family development, Tampa, FL.

7. Location, Location, Location

So much of a neighborhood's appeal depends on its context. If you imagine that this house sits in a landscape sprinkled with barns and rolling meadows, you might be surprised…

to see that it actually forms one small piece of an unbroken fabric of one-acre lots that extends for a few square miles. Although the house and lot may be well appointed, the context doesn't offer much in the way of diversity or other amenities.

Although these houses have small yards…

…they are close to both urban services and mountain wilderness. Density in the right location offers people convenience. A nearby job, shopping district, or beach can make daily life more comfortable.

8. Choosing Density

Density can be the result of many people wanting to be in the same wonderful place. Consider San Francisco and Boston, two of the most sought after real estate markets in the country. What's so special about them? Both offer the type of vibrant street life not found in many American cities. Two prerequisites for urban vitality are a pedestrian-friendly streetscape and a mix of uses. The third essential component is density. Shops, restaurants, and cultural institutions can't survive without a critical mass of people nearby to support them. As residential density increases above certainthresholds, these services and amenities become viable.

A mix of street level shops and upper floor apartments, San Jose, CA.

Relatively high-density housing within walking distance of a commuter rail line, Shaker Heights, OH.

9. Parking

Parking is a major consideration when designing for density. In high-density developments, parking facilities must be more highly organized and space efficient. Several alternatives can give higher density residents access to automobiles. The challenge is to keep cars and the asphalt that serves them from overwhelming the neighborhood.

Parking is placed in the interior of this block, reached by a service lane. (Longmont, CO)

This block demonstrates a variety of ways to store cars: on the street, in surface lots, below houses and in garages. (Celebration, FL)

Parking is located below this building, reserving prime space at street level for other uses. (Denver, CO)

This building wraps itself around a parking structure, hiding it from street view and offering direct access to the garage from all units. (Dallas, TX)

10. Design Tradeoffs

Low-density neighborhoods have appealing qualities to many people. They offer spacious yards, privacy, quiet, and convenient parking. At the other end of the spectrum, urban neighborhoods offer access to a rich array of services. As density levels increase and living units move closer together, yards become smaller and parking space shrinks. High quality architecture and careful site planning can maintain the best qualities of low-density living in new compact neighborhoods.

At 50 units per acre, this development offers a surprising amount of parking, private outdoor space and greenery. (Mountain View, CA)

Carefully formed public space, interior block parking and a lively streetscape, help compensate for the lack of individual back yards. (Addison, TX)

11. Building Up, Not Out

Single-story homes eat up green space by consuming a large proportion of each parcel. (Delano, CA-1.9 units/acre)

In designing for density, placing houses close together is important, but building vertically is essential. A two-story house provides the same living space with half the footprint. Given our penchant for large homes (the average new American house size is 2,200 sq. ft.), arranging single-story houses in a tighter pattern does not yield much density. Even at modest density levels (4-6 units per acre) it consumes an inordinate amount of open space. Building up rather than out not only allows higher densities, it offers opportunities to create significant green space.

Multi-story homes allow for more green space. (Dallas,TX-3.2 units/acre)

Stacking units on four levels helps raise the density above 20 units/acre with plenty of green to spare. (San Francisco, CA)

12. Vary the Pattern: High, Low, and No Density

What determines whether a place seems too dense? One important characteristic is the overall settlement pattern. If there is little variation-an even wash of development from one corner of town to the other, or the same block shape or building type repeated relentlessly, it will feel crowded, even if it has a low density. Contrast and diversity, at the neighborhood as well as the regional level are vital components of successful density.

South Central Los Angeles extends for miles in an unbroken pattern of low buildings. Kansas City, on the other hand, features a range of densities that provides contrast and variety.

- from the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy http://www.lincolninst.edu/subcenters/visualizing-density/tour/t1.aspx

'New Urbanism' embraces Latinos

This is a slice of Orange County you won't see on TV's The OC. Bridal shops and corner grocery stores. Families strolling downtown. Workers walking to lunch. Store signs in Spanish next to the ubiquitous Starbucks shops. Street vendors. Professionals living in artists' lofts a block from Main Street.

Amid a suburban county's gated communities, three-car garages and megamalls, Santa Ana is a fledgling hub of "new urbanism," an increasingly popular antidote to sprawl that promotes dense, walkable neighborhoods where people live, work and play. But it's new urbanism with a twist: Latino new urbanism.

Advocates of this budding movement suggest that places where Hispanics are fast becoming the majority could help rein in sprawl by capitalizing on Latino cultural preferences for compact neighborhoods, large public places and a sense of community.

"I grew up in Mexico. We had a traditional urban square and plaza where everything is happening," says Mario Chavez-Marquez, 31, who lives in one of downtown Santa Ana's new loft apartments. "To me, it made sense to move back to the center, closer to my job. Now I can walk to a supermarket."

Builders and planners have largely ignored the cultural identity of this new wave of home buyers, says planner Michael Mendez, who coined the term "Latino new urbanism."As a result, many Hispanics moving up the economic ladder choose typical suburbs far from work, mass transit and shopping because it's usually the only path to home ownership, Mendez says. "They have to assimilate into what's available."

Hispanics are the largest minority in the USA and are projected to become the majority in California by 2040. How and where they live will shape neighborhoods, cities and suburbs for generations.California expects to gain 21 million people from 2000 to 2050 — 18 million of them Hispanic. Housing the booming population without putting more stress on land and water resources and a congested highway system is a big challenge.

The nation as a whole faces similar demands: The Census Bureau projects the U.S. population growing 49% to 420 million by 2050.Latino new urbanism is taking hold in California and Texas, the nation's two most populous states and the ones with the largest numbers of Hispanics. And it's starting to garner national attention among growth-control advocates and developers eager to tap the Hispanic housing market. The National Association of Home Builders, for example, plans to publish a book on designing for the Latino market.Almost a third of California homebuyers had Hispanic surnames in June 2004, according to DataQuick Information Systems. That's up from less than a fifth in 2002. The top surnames of buyers: Garcia, Hernandez, Lopez and Rodriguez.

Latinos are comfortable living near stores and businesses and riding buses and trains, says Katherine Perez, executive director of the Transportation and Land Use Collaborative of Southern California."There is a natural group of folks ready to embrace these ideas," she says. "(But) what happens to the Latino that has 'assimilated' and moves in to the single-family, detached home in the suburbs with the SUV in the driveway? What does that mean in air quality, land consumption and pure economics?"

Latinos already are reshaping old urban neighborhoods. In East Los Angeles, Mexican-Americans live in small wooden houses that were built more than 50 years ago by Anglos. They've added paint and stucco, put in large front porches, fountains and wrought iron, and turned neighborhood parks into the main social place outside the home.

In most communities, zoning and building codes prevent such ethnic touches. Now developers and civic leaders are trying to create these neighborhoods from scratch:

• San Diego approved five "Pilot Villages" last year. One of them, Mi Pueblo in San Ysidro near the Mexican border, is pure Latino new urbanism.Facades of new homes arevibrant red, blue, yellow and green. Mi Pueblo eventually will have 1,143 residential units, about a quarter of them moderately priced. Three-bedroom, two-bath homes built so far are selling for $270,000, about half the local median price.

• San Fernando, a small Los Angeles suburb that is 90% Hispanic, is working to attract housing, retail and services so residents don't have to go to Pasadena or Glendale for shopping and entertainment.There are plans for a mall and apartments, homes and condos downtown.About 15% of new housing will sell below the city's single-family home median price of $367,000 ($295,000 for condos).

Latino new urbanism has gotten the attention of Henry Cisneros, former secretary of Housing and Urban Development and now the chairman of American CityVista in San Antonio. The company develops homes in city neighborhoods that haven't seen new housing in decades. Moderately priced developments in Austin and San Antonio are built near established Latino communities.

Cisneros advocates designs that fit the needs of Hispanic families — from big kitchens with gas stoves for grilling tortillas to courtyards for social gatherings, multiple bedrooms for large and extended families, and driveways that accommodate numerous cars. So far, new urbanism has chiefly targeted white and higher-income populations in suburbs, he says."I think Latinos can be the ideal audience for a new urbanist conversation," Cisneros says.

Developments tailored to such lifestyles account for only 5%-10% of new construction, says Pasadena architect Stefanos Polyzoides, co-founder of the Congress for New Urbanism, a non-profit group.Differences in what Hispanics, blacks, whites or Asians want are subtle, says Gopal Ahluwalia, who tracks buyers' preferences for the home builders group. "I have my doubts about this Latino new urbanism thing," he says. "It's more socioeconomics and demographics that drive this marketplace than ethnicity and race."

Santa Ana, whose population of 342,510 is about 80% Hispanic, embraced Latino new urbanism before there was even a name for it.In the early 1990s, Santa Ana's downtown was dying. People came because they either worked in the county government center or had to serve on a jury.Then Hispanic immigrants arrived in large numbers. But many left as soon as they could afford to, City Councilman Mike Garcia says. Now the city is trying to keep them. It refurbished historic facades, built brick sidewalks with benches and replaced a methadone clinic and bus depot with artists' lofts.

Mario Chavez-Marquez and his wife, Karyn Mendoza, 29, were lured by the changes. He works as a planner for the city of Irvine, a 10-minute drive from Santa Ana. Mendoza, who grew up in a mostly white suburb of Chicago, walks two blocks to her job as a social worker for a non-profit organization. They also exhibit works by Latino artists in their diseño ART Gallery, on the street level of the loft they own.

"Who's to say Latino new urbanism should be just for Latinos?" says Dowell Myers, a demographer at the University of Southern California. "Maybe it's a general model for the whole region. "

from USA TODAY - http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-02-15-latinos-usat_x.htm

San Diego's Uptown District Turns 20

"This project is like a quilt," says Dave Lorimer, principle architect behind San Diego's mixed-use, pedestrian-oriented redevelopment called Uptown District. "There's a variety, yet everything is tied together. Uptown District has a city texture all its own."

"Hillcrest is an urban community that encourages people to get out and explore on foot," he continues. "To keep that feeling at Uptown District, we were intent on making the residences orient toward the streets and walkways within and around the perimeter of the project. This encourages the residents to interact with the street activities. It makes for a lively and vital community."

Indeed, with 318 residential units (townhomes, flats, and artist's lofts ranging from 652 to 1,249 square feet), 145,000 square feet of commercial and retail space, one of Southern California's most successful Ralph's grocery stores, and a neighborhood community center, Uptown District is a unique and lively community.

In September 1986, the City of San Diego purchased a 14-acre abandoned Sears store and surrounding parking lot for $9 million. Though the site was originally intended to house the city's new central library, the City Council—with input from citizens groups such as Uptown Community Planners and the Hillcrest Business Association—decided instead to issue a request for proposals for the acquisition and development of the site. Stringent land use and design criteria were written into the RFP, including ground floor neighborhood-oriented retail uses and limited upper level commercial uses, as well as a 3,000-square-foot community center.

A development team, Oliver McMillan/Odmark and Thelan, assembled design themes based on photos from the surrounding neighborhoods of Hillcrest, Mission Hills, University Heights, and North Park and utilized a community-participation process called "Project Head Start" that involved local residents in the planning even before the proposal was drafted. The team's proposal won, and in 1988 the property was purchased for $10.5 million.

Uptown District's design is notably European, "Mediterranean" some have said, with 318 different elevations (towers and up-and-down elevations), brightly colored awnings and banners, manicured public plazas and landscaped parks (including a central park as residential focal point), and public artwork throughout the site.

"What we tried to achieve," said Michael Labarre, principle architect primarily responsible for the commercial segment, "was the creation of a series of architectural images that worked together but do not give the sense that this was just one giant project built at the same time. We tried to provide a sense of streetscapes and a sense that the project is a diverse gathering of architectural images built over a number of years."

The local community and professional associations liked what they saw. Uptown District has greatly spurred development and redevelopment in the surrounding Hillcrest neighborhood, especially adjacent to the site along University Avenue, the main arterial road, according to the San Diego Daily Transcript. Uptown District was named the Project of the Year by the National Association of Home Builders in October 1991, and was awarded the Urban Design Award by the California Council of the American Institute of Architects the following month.

In addition to the urban orientation and architecture, Uptown District is unique for many reasons. The project places all residential parking underground, using a network of pedestrian-only streets around a central park. The redevelopment is anchored by a large supermarket, yet the grocery story has only a minimal sign on the arterial road, is not adjacent to a large parking lot (most parking is underground, thanks to a cart-moving escalator system), and is "designed to be inconspicuous," according to the City of San Diego Planning Department. Because home ownership was a goal of involved community groups, residents who rented during the first two phases were additionally given right of first refusal when the units came up for sale.

"I saw the model and fell in love with it immediately," praises Ron Hill, a resident and college literature professor. "There are very few places I've seen that have the same spirit, movement, atmosphere, and openness of this center."

Other items of interest: An artfully decorated pedestrian bridge was built between the project and the adjacent neighborhood, University Heights, spanning a busy multilane street many feet below. Now residents of that historic neighborhood have access to the grocery store, boutique retail shops, and the community center, while residents of Uptown District have access to other neighborhood parks and facilities. Parking is limited, further enhancing pedestrian access. Ratios are 2.0 spaces per townhouse, 1.7 per apartment, and 1 space for every 270 square feet of commercial floor area. The vicinity average is 2.25 spaces per residential unit and 1 space for every 250 square feet of commercial floor area. Higher density in Uptown District equates to more efficient land use. There are nearly 23,000 people per square mile at the project (about 500 live there), while the average in the City of San Diego is only 3,200.

But the mixed-use community is not without its criticisms. "This is a center that should have made it because it's very well designed," laments George Munger, owner of a restaurant located in Uptown District that was forced to close its doors for a lack of business. "It seemed like an exciting center, with its European flavor, but this part of the center now looks like south Beirut without the bullet holes."

Many of the retail and small office uses have failed from a lack of business in the project's commercial area. While Ralph's has been hugely successful, it hasn't anchored the entire commercial area as many had hoped. The relatively recent addition of Trader Joe's may help bring business in. Since Uptown District opened, a yogurt shop, women's clothing store, coffeehouse, Italian restaurant, chicken rotisserie restaurant, local clothing designers' store, evening gown rental shop, and travel agency have gone out of business.

"University Avenue [where much of the retail is located] desperately wants to return to more of a pedestrian orientation," explains Peter Katz, author of The New Urbanism: Toward an Architecture of Community, "but the dynamics there are still mainly auto-driven, and as a result the side streets will feel like a backwater. Although it's an uphill fight, things are turning in a direction that supports new urbanism, but the retail component has been the most problematic to pull off. The bottom line for these kinds of projects is that success requires a lot of tinkering over a lot of years."

Steve Mazlin, owner of Uptown Pharmacy, believes the problem is not so much design, but incorrect expectations of retailers. "The failings of some retailers may have had more to do with a lack of entrepreneurial savvy than anything else," he said. "Most of the people in the beginning didn't have serious retail experience for this environment, and we made our decisions based more on dreams than reality."

"I don't believe it's the center that's at fault," added Jeanett Saia, owner of the recently-expanded Uptown Pets. "I think the economy hurt a lot of the businesses. And I never counted on the center to promote my business. If you go in there thinking management will help make your business successful, you won't make it."

Still, the retail portion of Uptown District—with the exception of Ralph's and a few others—has faltered as much as the residential portioned has thrived. And Doug Hogan, one of the original leasing agents, does believe it's a design issue: "It's like an Indy 500 car, but you don't have any freeways to drive it on. It's a terrific car, but it's just too much car for the road. This was a case where the developer bent over backwards to fit what the planners really wanted, and they paid a price for that. Planners have great ideas, but that doesn't mean they're always functional."

Even with the struggling retail, the project is an outstanding example of good urban development, and in this case redevelopment, that is "UnSprawl" in nature. The project's neotraditional design, according to Juan Carlos Cenzano's undergraduate thesis at the University of California at San Diego, has even been proven to increase resident walking trips while reducing trips by automobile.

Designed with the community in mind and community participation in pocket, Uptown District blends the built and natural environments into a new urban landscape that coexists well with current neighborhoods, working subtly through positive example to enhance those neighborhoods, as well.

- article from www.terrain.org/unsprawl/1/

Making Urbanism Legal Again

Although compact, mixed-use urban form achieved such value before 1950, separate-use zoning codes and high-volume road standards subsequently helped to make sprawl today’s default development option. New Urbanists are providing leaders with tools to reverse course and strengthen the character, livability, and diversity of their communities.

Working with new urbanist planners, leaders of Gulf Coast communities such as Moss Point and Gulfport, Mississippi have been proceeding with the creation of form-based SmartCodes that guide development to take the form of coherent, compact neighborhoods featuring shopping, schools, and other uses within walking distance of residences.

The publication Codifying New Urbanism describes New Urbanist essentials, the steps to putting New Urbanism to work in your community, and the successes of 12 communities who have followed the approaches described in the report. It also contains an extensive interview with a practitioner about his experience in championing and implementing New Urbanism.

Countless communities across the country are suffering from the effects of formless sprawl. These communities need tools to combat traffic congestion, pollution, social and economic division, and loss of community interaction. Unfortunately, it is illegal to practice common sense new urbanist planning in many of these places. Smart Codes, aka Form Based Codes, is the method for reigning in sprawl and once again creating livable communities.

-from CNU (congress for the new urbanism)