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Architects strive for livable communities without
overdevelopment
Strip development, traffic congestion has affected
much growth in the Coastal Bend
By Brooke Sween-McGloin and Patrick McGloin
American Institute of Architects
Sound Familar?
Traffic is a part of your daily life; your commute seems to keep getting
longer and more congested. You have to drive everywhere, whether it’s to pick
up a gallon of milk or to take your children to their activities.
There is no place to ride your bike or go for a stroll with your family.
If you do walk anywhere, people are likely to treat you like you just got out
of jail or ask you if your truck broke down.
The community is losing the unique character and historic buildings that
gave it a distinct identity, and many of the new developments going up are characterless,
unattractive or unwelcoming.
The beautiful environment that attracted you to your community is being cleared
to make way for more development.
With the exception of offices or a few good hotels and restaurants, downtown
is practically a ghost town, characterized by lack of shade, few pedestrians and
little development.
10 principles of smart growth
Mix land uses
Take advantage of compact building patterns
Create a range of housing opportunities and choices
Create walkable neighborhoods
Foster distinctive, attractive communities with a strong sense of place
Preserve open space, farmland, natural beauty and critical environmental
areas
Strengthen and direct development toward existing communities
Provide a variety of transportation choices
Make development decisions predicable, fair and cost effective
Encourage community and stakeholder collaboration in development issues.
Source: Smart Growth Network
For more information
Find out more about smart growth and livable communities at:
www.quality places.marc.org
www.lgc.org/center/
www.cnu.org
www.smartgrowth.org/
www.aia.org
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Many towns are beginning to look the same across the nation. A sense of bland
homogeneity is creeping over our landscape that many of us find disturbing.
Don’t get us wrong, we like convenience, superstores and our cars; we just want
to have choices. And as it turns out, so do most other people.
Nationally, numerous surveys show that government officials, businesses and citizens
are concerned about their community’s quality of life and how they can preserve
or improve it.
Grassroots movements
Smart Growth and Livable Communities Initiatives are interrelated grassroots movements
that have rapidly increased in importance to communities across the country. These
initiatives focus on physical development, which impacts human and economic development.
Smart Growth and Livable Communities focus on providing people with choices and
improving quality of life conditions that make profound differences.
Communities that have chosen to focus on these ideals are thriving both environmentally
and economically.
Entire states have developed physical development codes to promote smart growth.
Several Texas cities have developed codes to promote development, infill construction
and new neighborhoods that conserve natural resources and promote transit-oriented
development.
The importance of quality of life issues in the Coastal Bend is no exception.
But quality of life has different meanings to different people.
Current growth patterns
This is why smart growth promotes the development of choices. Providing people
with the opportunity to select from a variety of livable communities that feature
a variety of transportation options and housing and neighborhood types is the
basis of the Smart Growth movement and Livable Communities Initiatives.
Our region is often cited for its "great potential." However, much growth in the
Coastal Bend consists of auto-dependent separate land uses, strip development
and traffic congestion.
We must ask ourselves, "What will our region look like in 50 years?" "Are we preserving
our natural beauty and our resources?" "Are we creating vibrant public spaces?"
"Are we adding value?"
According to the Smart Growth Network, "smart growth" describes efforts across
the United States to create more resource-efficient and livable communities, with
more accessible land use patterns that reduce the amount of mobility required
to reach goods and services.
Smart growth provides an alternative to urban sprawl; it is growth from within.
Getting smart growth
Architect members of the AIA Corpus Christi believe that embracing the elements
of smart growth and livable communities is fundamental to providing a foundation
for social stability, economic growth and quality of life for our region.
Implementing the 10 principles of smart growth and providing choices are key.
Successful planning is a long and committed process.
According to Howard Peak, the former mayor of San Antonio, it has taken San Antonio
25 years to reach the level of success with its planning and development that
it has today.
Built by design
Raising the level of community awareness and the amount of community involvement
in the planning process is what got San Antonio started on its path to managing
its growth and achieving its potential, Peak says.
Livable communities don’t just happen, they are built by design.
Whether a building or community, it must function well and it must be beautiful.
It is not just the trends and ingredients that are important, but how they are
put together.
Every community has the potential to be better, but community improvement requires
the commitment of concerned citizens. Planning is a community process. When the
residents of a community create their own plan for the future, they are more likely
to trust it and feel a sense of stewardship that will keep the plan relevant,
useful and adaptable to change for many years.
‘Valuable resource’
Architects are a valuable resource to communities seeking to improve their quality
of life.
Working together, community members can create a vision of what they want their
community to be and then implement it.
Architects can help tap into a community’s potential to help fulfill the economic
potential of the Coastal Bend.
Find a local architect through AIA Corpus Christi at aiacorpuschristi.org
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