Poundbury and the Urbanized New World Order

The City Paper article about Leon Krier provokes me to say this:

I agree with Krier (gasp!) in one point: Modernism has failed cities. Modernism has advanced building design, technology and style but it hasn't brought much in terms of plausible or desirable urban form., 101 year old Oscar Niemeyer (Brasilia) notwithstanding.

But beyond that, I'd like to send Krier on a long journey to China, South America, Africa and India or anywhere where the action is.
The euro-centric debates wafting around Prince Charles' taste are irrelevant. So are the increasingly stale word acrobatics of Mr. Kuenstler who started out so refreshingly concise and has now expanded to be a clown on every stage. (oops!)

The world's population is rapidly expanding with over 2/3 people now living in urbanized areas. No way that Poundbury (the Prince's TND in England's countryside) can be the solution for Hongkong, Shanghai, Mumbai, Sao Paulo or Kinshasa. Rem Koolhaas (for example) has so infinitely more to say about this than Krier. Just think of Euralille, the new high speed rail town between London and Paris.

When Vetruvius wrote his opus De Architectura the world had maybe 300 million people. We are now at 6.7 billion. Time to figure out what this means for cities, transportation and architecture. Let the D:Center, Morgan, MICA and College Park get on board with this. I think it is worth a vigorous inquiry!

Langley Park Transit Center, MD

Bus Transit Center, concept design prepared by ArchPlan for MTA, Maryland.
For more detail see www.archplan.com

Stuttgart 21, High Speed Rail Station and TOD

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/03/arts/design/03railway.html?_r=1

Stuttgart-21: the plan is about much more than train station architecture. It is about whether Stuttgart Center remains connected to the Euro high speed rail system or is being bypassed with a station only at the airport. The now proposed solution has been agonized over since 1994. It turns a dead end station (turn back and out) into a through station and envisions TOD over the entire surface track area. The main parts of the historic Bonatz station building remain, not just facades. All in all I think S-21 is what Stuttgart needs, although I am not well versed in the details of the proposed preservation or the new station design.

See these links for Stuttgart 21:
http://www.gmfus.org/doc/Praes_S21_Englisch.pdf
http://www.ecofriend.org/entry/stuttgart-21-clean-project-gets-a-green-signal/. There is lots more but it is in German. The Green Party, opposed to the project, won in June elections the most seats in the City Council. Strange world.

Demonstrations for (rarely) and against S-21 (weekly)

Protester's booth at the North Entrance in 2010



The large track area that can  be developed after the tracks will be
realigned and buried

Additional Entry:
After t woadditional years of turmoil, weekly demonstrations, water cannons, pepper spary and an arbitration session that turned into a TV hit the matter was finally brought to referendum in November of 2011. For the monent it appears as if this settled the matter. The majority of voters in the state of Baden Wuerrtemberg voted for continuation of the project. News. The irony is, that this topic helped this state to become the first and only state in Germany with a Green Party Governor. (The Green Party is opposed to Stuttgart 21). Now this Governor has to implement the people's will and build the project he opposes.

This would be another example of investment versus just spending money. America's cities were in the middle of a comeback and are now in danger of sliding again. Focus on our cities is needed and welcome!

Obama Sets Sights on Urban Renewal

Source: www.washingtonpost.com October 7,2009

President Obama is putting a new emphasis on revitalizing U.S. cities with a coordinated effort that involves stimulus funding and getting multiple agencies to work together to improve schools, housing and neighborhoods.

Smart Growth and Farms

September 2009

We, the 1000 Friends of Maryland have understood all along that Smart Growth are two sides of one coin, a viable and healthy countryside on one side and thriving cities, towns and villages on the other.
We know that Towns and Cities will never be the vibrant places we want them to be, no matter how many incentives for redevelopment, as long as the floodgates are wide open to convert farm after farm and forest after forest into yet another subdivision, yet another shopping center and as long as town and country continue to dissolve into the homogenous hodgepodge of sprawl.
We also know that there will never be enough money to buy our way out of sprawl through buying enough development rights to really make a sound balance between town and countryside work.
Who is a natural steward of the land? Who is dependent on keeping land free of erosion and of sprawl? Who understands healthy soils, clean water and the weather? Who can produce food close to our homes? Who can grow healthy local food we can trust? But also: Who has been under economic pressure to the point of that extinction is a real possibility?
Yes, you guessed it, the Maryland family farmer, this figure which we recognize from our children’s books but rarely encounter anymore in real life!
What if farmers wouldn’t be forced to grow houses as their last crop? What if they and their children kept seeding, feeding and planting? What if they preserved with their farms our cultural landscapes and heritage? What if they continued to be one of Maryland’s strong economical pillars?
Not a bad idea, is it?
The point of our event tonight is, that with farmers remaining farmers and farms remaining farms, both, our rural places and our urban places will be better off.
Jim Baird of the Farmland Trust can assure us that this isn’t just a romantic notion born in the minds of a few urban granola yuppies or a reactionary throwback to times past. Helping our farmers to stay farmers is a sustainable, safe and progressive solution and as such vital for the future of our State and indeed, our country.

Cool all electic bus with diesel generator (turbine) only to recharge battery. Will run in Baltimore before the end of the year as a downtown circulator. Is also tested in New York City by MTA.
This is an example where Baltimore is a leader not a follower with this cutting edge bus design combined with the progressive parking demand management strategy which allows to connect more remote and suitable parking with the central areas of the city (where there should not be parking but a "highest and best use") via a very pleasant and "green" bus.