*8. THE NEIGHBORHOOD AS A SETTLEMENT UNIT: MEANINGS AND RELEVANCE

*THE NEIGHBORHOOD AS A SETTLEMENT UNIT Is it meaningful way to differentiate the metropolitan area?Frequently used concept by planners, urban analysts, and laypersons.Ingrained in our culture: Mr. Rogers (TV. show Mister Rogers Neighborhood1968-2000)Metropolitan Area: A mosaic of urban neighborhoods.A way to describe and evaluate the social, economic, and ethnic diversity of locales within the metropolitan area.

*DEFINING NEIGHBORHOOD No consensus among either residents or scholars on how to define neighborhood.It is legitimate to ask if in this internet age, neighborhood plays a less significant role.Certainly, neighborhood or neighbors may not necessarily have a positive connotationS. Keller:

"a good neighbor is not necessarily a friendly or nice person, but one who conforms to the standards of the neighbor role according to an agreed-upon conception of that role. That role, however, can vary from that of a "friendship" role to that of being a "borrower and lender". Alternatively, a good neighbor may be someone who "keeps to one's self, staying out of people's affairs, and neither giving nor asking for favors."Thus, good neighbors merely have to conform to agreed-upon conception of role to be desirable.

*WHAT CAN WE SAY WITH SOME CONFIDENCE?Physical place stretching over a contiguous area.An arena for personal, social, or organizational behaviors & relationships.Smaller, rather than larger size.

*LARGER GEOGRAPHIC CONTEXT DEFINITIONS OF NEIGHBORHOOD The use of the concept of neighborhood often conveys a reference to a larger geographic context:The immediate neighborhood: the small cluster of houses right around one's own house.The homogeneous neighborhood: the area up to where the property values of housing or the mix of housing types and land uses change.The institution-oriented neighborhood: residents share the same social institutions, such as elementary school, church, police precinct, or political ward.The regional neighborhood: is an entire suburban or district within a big city, such as the north side of Chicago, the Northwest of Gainesville.

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A TYPOLOGY OF NEIGHBORHOODS DESIGNED TO DISTINGUISH THEIR MEANINGS OR SIGNIFICANCE TO RESIDENTS

(in this discussion think about the implications of the absence of positive aspects)

*Neighborhood TypologyNeighborhood as an arena to sustain individuals everyday needs.Neighborhood as a place offering stable geographic fulcrum.Neighborhood as a distinctive physical place.Neighborhood as territory.Neighborhood as social community.Neighborhood as an organizational base to help formalize common interests.Neighborhood as a way to impose standards of behavior.Neighborhood as a source of persons social status.Neighborhood as a source of memories: Connection with the past.

*(1) Neighborhood as arena to sustain individuals everyday needsAccess to places close to homeWalking distance to grocery stores, restaurants, dry cleaning, churches, restaurants, health care, transportation access.Walking distance to schools, civic centers.Availability of public services (sewers, water supply, police, fire, street cleaning, snow removal).Automobile access to other placesShoppingDoctorsFriendsReligion

*(2) Neighborhood as a place offering a stable geographic fulcrumA reliable compass heading or reference point from which we interpret the locations, distances, and accessibility of everywhere we seek to go.A place we can always return after we leave.A place we know and are familiar withthe center of our personal world.A place in which we feel a modicum of control.A place to escape from the uncertainty of the outside world.

*(3) Neighborhood as a distinctive physical placeBuilt environment: types, shapes, and density of houses, apartments, schools, playgrounds, parks, churches, stores; natural amenities, physical design.Street corners, parking lots, trash dumps. Arrangement and capacity of streets, sidewalks.Homogeneous physical form (similar sizes and architectural styles of residences, landscaping).Traffic separation patterns

*(4) Neighborhood as territoryPlace with strong identity & Clear-cut boundariesPersonalization of space (distinctive yards, buildings)The physical container of uniform populations.Demarcation of insiders vs. outsiders (who belongs?)Screen/avoid various groups of peopleprivacy, exposure.Gated communities, defended communitiesSpatial privacy:Private spacewithin dwelling, balcony, yardSemi-private spacefront porch, front yard of houses, hallway of same floor of apartment buildingSemi-public spacelobby and circulation areas of apartment buildings, courtyards of garden apartmentsfor occupants and visitors, neighborhood clubhousePublic spacesstreets/sidewalks near buildings

* River Creek in Northern Virginia

* Shorebird Island in Redwood City (S. of San Fran), California is surrounded by a moat

*(5) Neighborhood as social communityFamily relationships, close friends, neighbor relations define neighborhood.Major social attachments.Shared social values, life-styles.Person's peer group influences.Childrens peer group influences.Exchanges of help among those living in close proximity. Locale to obtain educational opportunities.Civic engagement (volunteering)

*(6) Neighborhood as an organizational base to help formalize common interestsNeighborhoods offer organizational opportunities to create membership groups or associations (block clubs; Crime-Watch).As a setting for a power base.May define or help create a voting bloc.Neighborhood associations reach out and act as advocates.Often manifests itself in disaster situations.Creation of interest groups.

*(7) Neighborhood as a way to impose standards of behaviorSocial controlTranslation of shared individual viewpointsBuilding and yard uniformityAllowable dwelling activitiesCorrect use of spaceLimits on life-styles, pressures for conformityTradeoff: predictability, controlPOSSIBLE REBELLION TODAY: The inordinate power of neighborhood associations.

*(8) Neighborhoods as source of persons social statusSymbol of status or occupational prestigeMirror of personal achievementpride Key material indicator of making it

*(9) Neighborhood as a source of memories: Connection with the pastContinuity with the past.Strong emotional attachments, connections.Salience of the environment as part of individuals self-concept.Both psychologically healthy and unhealthy response.Living in the past may be indicator of poor coping skills to deal with present incongruities.

*THE ROLE OF NEIGHBORHOOD AT DIFFERENT STAGES OF LIFE OF RESIDENTSNeighborhood thought of differently depending on individuals stage in lifeA child of 4 to 6 has an extremely small neighborhood.Later years of childhood, from eight to twelve, the neighborhood takes on many rich associations.Adolescence and teen years lead to an expanded conception of neighborhood. May be the basis for peer influences.Older youth and unmarried young adults have the least amount of neighborhood consciousness.Adults with children are among the most neighborhood-conscious Americans.In old age, the neighborhood may also take on considerable import because of mobility constraints.

How Neighborhood Environment Can Influence Child Outcomes*

*From Trina R. Shanks, University of Michigan, School of Social Work

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* THE NEIGHBORHOOD PLANNING UNIT Neighborhood planning in the U.S. strongly influenced by the ideas of Clarence Perry.Based on chapter he wrote in 1929 for New York City plan (Regional Plan of New York and its Environs).Considered an important landmark in urban planning.The neighborhood unit was an attempt to provide a substitute for the nostalgic attraction of the village or small town and its compact physical design.According to Perry, a neighborhood unit:"is that area which embraces all the public facilities and conditions needed by the average family for its comfort and proper development within the vicinity of its dwellings.

*Design Elements of Perrys Neighborhood Unit (1) SizeShould provide housing sufficient to efficiently populate one elementary school. A 1/2 mile radius would be the distance from the center of the unit to its circumference. Accommodate about 1,000 families.(2) BoundariesThe unit should be bounded on all sides by arterial streets so that traffic bypassed it.(3) Open SpacesA planned system of small parks and recreation spaces.

*Design Elements of Perrys Neighborhood Unit (cont)(4) Institutional SitesGrouped around a central point should be school, church and community center.(5) Local ShopsOne or more shopping districts should be at the circumference of the unit, preferably at a traffic junction where adjacent neighborhoods might share diversified services.(6) Internal Street SystemThe unit should have its own street system designed to create a hierarchy of traffic flows, so that nonlocal traffic is kept out, and is kept separate from walkingorigins of the super block, cul-de-sac and hierarchy of streets.

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*SOCIAL ENGINEERING INTENT OF PHYSICALLY DESIGNED NEIGHBORHOOD UNIT Physical design requisites linked to principles of convenience and safety. Essential daily service features would be provided within easy walking distance (less than 1/2 mile) of all residents.Note relevance of proximity to schools.Routing of traffic arteries along boundaries provided for street safetychildren in mind.Separate pedestrian from vehicular traffic.A way to adapt city neighborhoods to the automobile age.

*Achieve various social objectives:

Boundaries enhance the ability of residents to visualize their neighborhood as a distinct entity.Boundaries helped them better define their area of local attachment and stimulate local loyaltiesthus residential stability.

Boundaries provide a basis for participation in community affairs and cultural eventstoday called civic engagement.Common facilities would make possible neighbor and friendship formation. Reintroduce local, face-to-face contacts into the anonymous urban societyand thus community.Controlled physical design linked to residents homogeneity and the desirability of having shared values and interestsi.e., community. Stimulate feelings of identity and rootedness.

*Other Motives of Perrys Neighborhood UnitHis goal of a self-contained neighborhood was his code word for social homogeneity. Exclusion was a goal.His neighborhood unit sought to insulate affluent city residences from the disruptive influence of forced interaction with incompatible social groups.Other code words for minorities and the poor.He maintained that a homogeneous residential environment provided a necessary counterpoint to the overwhelming diversity of modern city lifeoffered a desirable social model.Many 1920s studies from the University of Chicago (Sociology) had shown that heterogeneous city neighborhoods were a source of pathological behaviors.DISCORD: Perry's design was later criticized (in 1948) as a deliberate instrument of racial and social class segregation, that is, as an exclusionary neighborhood.

*Practical ApplicationsHis ideas put into practice during the 1930s (e.g., Sunnyside, Long Island, Radburn, N.J., Chatham Village, Pennsylvania) designed by Henry Wright and Clarence Stein (architects/planners). After World War II, numerous suburban developments applied features of planned neighborhoods.Extensive parklands and pedestrian path system, however, never widely adopted by private sector.Nor was walking distance to shopping and other stores.

*DISCUSSION CAN A NEIGHBORHOODS ENVIRONMENT INFLUENCE THE HEALTH, SOCIAL, AND MENTAL WELL-BEING OF ITS OCCUPANTS? Are their really contextual effects that make a difference beyond the compositional effects?

*THE NEW URBANISM NEIGHBORHOODS A reaction to the three previous stages of suburban development.

Stage 1: Bedroom Suburban Communities--Pre 1960sStage 2: Independence and High Rises1960 to early 1980sStage 3: Town Centers/Edge CitiesMid-1980s to presentNeighborhoods were distinguished by their rigorous separation of residential and nonresidential usesknown as conventional suburban development (CSD).

*Conventional Suburban Developments (CSD)The majority of US citizens now live in suburban communities built in the last 50 years.Their design requires the use of the automobile for most trips.This suburban American landscape where most people live and work is dominated by:large regional shopping centersstrip mallsauto-oriented civic and commercial buildingsrelatively homogeneous subdivisions

*Trade-Off Questions Designed to Elicit Neighborhood PreferenceNo. 1WHICH DO YOU PREFER:

1a. I like living in a neighborhood where people can walk to places like stores, libraries, or restaurants, even if this means that the houses and commercial areas are within a block or two of each other.

OR

1b. I like living in a neighborhood where the commercial areas are kept far from the houses even if this means that people cant walk to places like stores, libraries, or restaurants.

*Trade-Off Questions Designed to Elicit Neighborhood PreferenceNo. 2WHICH DO YOU PREFER:

2a. I like living in a neighborhood with single-family houses on larger lots, even if this means that public transit is not available.

OR

2b. I like living in a neighborhood with a good bus and train system, even if this means a neighborhood with a mix of single-family houses and multifamily buildings that are close together.

From Jonathan Levine, Zoned Out.

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*New Urbanism Neighborhoods and CommunitiesThe New Urbanism is a reaction to CSDs.

Beginning 1980s, strongest in 1990s+A growing movement of architects, planners, and developers.The New Urbanism combines principles of planning and architecture to create human-scale communities that maximize foot traffic.Envisages small, pedestrian-friendly, close-knit communities countering the Levittowns.

http://youtu.be/VGJt_YXIoJI

*The Heart of the New Urbanism is in the Design of Neighborhood

No clearer description than the 13 points of town planners Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk

Neighborhood has a discernible centera square or sometimes a busy or memorable street corner. A transit stop would be located at this center.2. Most of the dwellings are within a five-minute walk of the center, an average of roughly 2,000 feet.3. Variety of dwelling typesusually houses, rowhouses and apartmentsso that younger and older people, singles and families, the poor and the wealthy may find places to live.

*13 Points (continued)4. Shops and offices at the edge of the neighborhood to supply the weekly needs of a household.

5. A small ancillary building is permitted within the backyard of each house. It may be used as a rental unit or place to work (e.g. office or craft workshop).6. An elementary school is close enough so that most children can walk from their home.7. There are small playgrounds near every dwellingnot more than a tenth of a mile away.8. Streets within the neighborhood are a connected network, which disperses traffic by providing a variety of pedestrian and vehicular routes to any destination.

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*Cul-de-Sacs or Super Blocks

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*13 Points (continued)9. Streets are relatively narrow and shaded by rows of trees. This slows traffic, creating an environment suitable for pedestrians and bicycles.10. Buildings in the neighborhood center are placed close to the streetsmall setback.11. Parking lots and garage doors rarely front the street. Parking is relegated to the rear of buildings, usually accessed by alleys.12. Prominent sites at the termination of street vistas or in the neighborhood center are reserved for civic buildingssites for community meetings, education, religion/cultural activities.13. The neighborhood is organized to be self-governing. A formal association debates and decides matters of maintenance, security and physical change.

*New Urbanist Design Features Linked with their Behavioral and Psychosocial Goals HIGHER DENSITY (COMPACTNESS): (e.g., small lot sizes; residential over commercial uses) means GREATER ECOLOGICAL SUSTAINABILITY/SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: (e.g., less land consumed; less auto dependence).

MORE MIXED USES: (e.g., different residential types; residential mixed with commercial or public uses) mean MORE SOCIALLY INCLUSIVE NEIGHBORHOODS (e.g., owners interact with renters; diverse neighbors interact) PEDESTRIAN ORIENTATION (e.g., more sidewalks; front porches; shallow setbacks; interesting streetscapes) means MORE NEIGHBORHOOD ACTIVITY AND SENSE OF COMMUNITY

*Kentlands in Gaithersburg, Maryland http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRrl7LwNUtw

*Haile Village Center in Gainesville, Florida, combine modern homes and businesses with compact, walkable, streets and public spaces.

*The new urbanist Redmond VA Town Center contrasts with the typical strip commercial development of suburbia, below.

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*Sacramento, Step by Step

As part of its planning, the Sacramento Area Council of Governments used photo imagery to show how different parts of the city could be brought in line with their pedestrian-friendly vision

*Hurley Way and Fulton Avenue The original photo of the intersection of Hurley Way and Fulton Avenue, east of downtown Sacramento, shows a narrow sidewalk, street front parking lots, poorly marked crosswalks and no protection from the sun.

*Hurley Way and Fulton Avenue Clearer crosswalks, wider sidewalks, bike lanes and streetlamps make for a safer pedestrian experience.

*Hurley Way and Fulton Avenue Trees bring needed shade

*Hurley Way and Fulton Avenue Storefronts replace parking lots along the side of the road

*SEASIDE, FLORIDA, The First New Urbanist TownSeaside, Florida began development in 1981 on 80 acres of Panhandle coastline.(The Truman Show1998with Jim Carrey/a nightmare of social control)Lots began selling for $15,000 in the early 1980s and over a decade later, lot prices had escalated to about $200,000. Today, some lots sell for close to a million dollars, and houses sometimes top $3 million. The town is now a tourist Mecca.

*Other well-known New Urbanist communities in FloridaCelebration in Orlando, FloridaMiami Beachs South BeachHaile Village Center in Gainesville, FloridaTown of Tioga in Gainesville

*CELEBRATION, FLORIDAIn June of 1996, Disney unveiled its 5,000-acre town of Celebration, near Orlando, Florida10 years of planningPlanned community from the ground upWhile using designers and principles closely associated with the New Urbanism, Disney has shunned the label, preferring to call Celebration simply a town.It has since eclipsed Seaside as the best known new urbanist community.Currently, a thriving community of over 11,000 residents, with a projected population of 20,000. It is located about 5 miles south of Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.

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*Utopia?Celebration Village, surrounding the town center is located on the largest piece of developmental land.

Encircled by a 4,700 acre greenbelt and features an extensive network of walking and bicycle trails.

Development sites are confined to 4,900 acres of environmentally nonsensitive land. Office park, health center, and highway-oriented large-scale retail development are located near interchanges with I-4 and Route U.S. 192.

*Utopia? (cont)Less than a 10 minute walk from every Celebration Village residence is the town center.Compact array of commercial and civic buildings (town hall, hospital, post office, school, hotel).Modeled after traditional small-town America.Reproduces a typical Midwestern American street at the end of the 19th century, complete with ice cream parlor, theater and candy store.

*Other FeaturesSeveral neighborhoods/villages make up Celebration Village.Each contains parks and squares that establish a unique identity.Wide sidewalks. The street system ranges from wide boulevards connecting the development areas to narrow residential streets and alleys in the residential villages.The road layouts: general strategy is a curving grid punctuated by parks that act as focal points.

Each neighborhood/village has wide mix of different housing types and sizesfrom mansions to apartments.

*Other FeaturesHouses with front porches set close to tree-lined streets.Nearly all the single-family houses have rear-alley access for parking.

Higher density housing predominates, whether it is attached condominiums, or detached single-family dwellings (on smaller lots).Assumption: Residents will accept less space in their own properties and smaller gardens in return for more communal space (parks, walking and cycle paths)Dwellings are intended to promote resident interaction through their site and architectural characteristics.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oko7qh7m0fc

*OverviewDisney has come under attack for what some perceive as heavy-handed rules and management.Only white curtains; lawns mowed regularly; limited citizen participationHousing is expensive!

THUS MOST LOW-INCOME WORKERS INCLUDING THOSE WHO STAFF DISNEY WORLD WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO AFFORD TO LIVE THERE.

*Overview (cont)Artificial, plastic feel according to some.

Its downtown works because it attracts tourists from outside to community as consumers. Many stores for tourists not residents.

Critics like Alex Marshall: Celebration is part of the sprawl of U.S. 192. Residents depend on highways stores/malls to exist. Businesses have links to wholesalers.

*Overview (cont)Like the shopping centers, hotels, and other subdivisions that line U.S. 192, Celebration is one more pod off of it.

Celebration is fully dependent on U.S. 192 and could not survive without it.

U.S. 192 along with the interstate is Celebrations lifeline.

To call Celebration a town is dreadful conceit. It is an automobile suburb.

Putting alleys and garages behind houses will not magically create a streetcar system.

Celebration is part of the sprawl that surrounds Disney World and in turn Orlando.

*Every town has a central gathering place that functions as the hub of activity, and in the case of Celebration that would be the Market Street area. Signs around the community point visitors in the right direction, making it very easy to find. Market Street is an attractive collection of shops and restaurants nestled around a lakeside promenade. It's the perfect place to park the car and just wander around before or after a good meal.

* Various shops line the street. Market Street is themed as a traditional retail and business district in small-town America. Currently there are retail shops, restaurants, the town hall, a post office, a grocery store, offices, a cinema, and a hotel. One- and two-bedroom rental apartments are located above some of the retail shops.

*Movie buffs need not leave Celebration to watch current movies. Along the lake is a small AMC movie theater. Being able to avoid the tourist traffic in nearby Kissimmee and Orlando has to be a big advantage for seeing movies right here in Celebration.

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The lake and fountain are prominent features in Market Street.

*A limited supply of boats are available for rent, and rocking chairs are set along the promenade.

****************************************Brown & Cropper, 2001 ************************