Welcome to CNU26
I’m spending this week in Savannah, Georgia for the 26th Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU 26). I’m hoping to write a few short posts throughout the week related to urbanism.
This morning I flew into Charlotte, NC for a layover. Looking out the window as we came in for a landing, I was struck by just how different the land use patterns are that I’m most familiar with in Southern California than they are in so much of the country. Many of the solutions I have for the myriad of urban problems we face are based on the existing conditions in SoCal. In many ways, SoCal has significant advantages over places like Charlotte.
Southern California cities are largely fully built out. There are buildings, roads, and parking lots from horizon to horizon. This is distinctly different from what I saw looking out the window flying into Charlotte. Charlotte had pockets of development, with large areas of green space separating each development.
The advantage that Southern California has is that improvements to our commercial corridors will also benefit the adjacent residential neighborhoods. Places like Charlotte will not get benefits to their residential neighborhoods when their commercial corridors are improved because they are not adjacent to one another. This means that many of the strategies I’ve developed will not work as well in Charlotte or most other places that are not Southern California.
However, places like Charlotte are much better prepared for the introduction of autonomous vehicles. Autonomous vehicles will encourage both longer commutes and the creation of dense, urban, walkable neighborhoods. Charlotte will allow for the development of distinct neighborhoods that are buffered from one another. I can imagine many auto oriented shopping centers at the crossroads of major streets will one day be redeveloped to be walkable, mixed-use communities where the majority of residents work a considerable distance from their homes.
It is always good to have a reminder that the reality of Southern California is not the reality everywhere, and that the solutions for our urban problems that may work in SoCal may not work elsewhere.
[Note: This post about CNU26 is a departure from my normal series on how local communities can address global issues related to climate change, housing affordability, the local economy, the fiscal solvency of cities, and public health.]
