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The New Urbanism: Toward an Architecture of Community by Peter Katz, I have been carrying around this book for weeks.

Many years ago (2001), while working at Half Price Books 007, I ran across a new book about a couple who lived for a year (the first year) in Celebration Florida. Their book (Celebration, FL: Living in Disney's Brave New Town)is not an entirely favorable review of the planned community. After flipping though, I was left with what could be called a seething hatred for this type of development. When I think of New Urbanism, I think of what is, literally, Disney World. Maybe not Utopia if you are the guy under the very hot Mickey Mouse Costume, but fun for the kids. After reading Franz and Collins book I got the impression that Celebration was New Urbanism and that New (sub)Urbanists are much like my loved ones. They have good intentions, if not good taste. They work. They drive. They drive the economy. They are trying to be conscience parents. They value the American Way and seem to want to create a facsimile of what might be remembered as simpler times. So...taking a look at Peter Katz's book, I was already trying to suppress my Celebration nausea and loathing for everything that is wrong with rabid consumerism, suburban sprawl and neo-colonial architecture.

Katz's book, published in 1994, is a collection of essays and case studies. The case studies are divided into A)Establishing the Urban Pattern and B)Reconstructing the Urban Fabric. The division represents a philosophical difference. One an effort to make higher density suburbs (Celebrate!) the other to create "infill" housing within city limits. To the book's credit, there is a final critique by Vincent Scully which points out some of the flaws in exclusionary and/or cost prohibitive commuter housing developments.

Establishing the Urban Pattern looks at Seaside, Laguna West, Kentlands, South Brentwood Village, Bamberton, Windsor, Communications Hill, Rosa Vista, A New Village in the suburbs, and Wellington. Reconstructing the Urban Fabric looks at Cite International, Downtown Hayward, Rivera Beach, Rio Vista West, Lake West, Downcity Providence, Orange Tree Courts, Atlantic Center, Mashpee Commons, Playa Vista, Jackson-Taylor, Highland District, Clinton, and Downtown Los Angeles.

The preface written by Katz, takes us back to 1991 when Kats saw a movement taking shape that some were calling Neo-traditional. Time Magazine wrote an extensive article on Andres Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk and Peter Calthorp. Katz reminds us of our history with out mentioning segregation. He mentions the early formation of towns along rivers, the development of industry, crowding, crime and disease, and car culture without mentioning white flight or red-lining. He mentions the cots of sub-urban sprawl and the broken bonds of community caused by the "suburban paradigm". He mentions the Geography of Nowhere by James Howard Kunstler. New Urbanism, Katz says will return us to the Higher Quality of pre-WWII building and life. High Quality Apartment Buildings, town houses, boarding houses, duplexes and quadraplexes of 1900-1920 are the cure for what ails us in 1994.

Katz speak of the new urbanists as a mass, class or school:

"Far from suggesting that we turn our backs on the benefits of modern living, the return to community that they advocate may, in fact, be empowered by new technology."

Katz mentions diminished global resources, Penturbia by economist Jack (LES-singer?) and advocates telecommuting.



I wonder how this 1990's movement relates to our "Housing Crises" housing crash in 2008?