2.2 Defining Neighbourhood Design and Theories that Underpin it
2.2.3 Sustainable Urbanism
Buckminster Fuller in Farr (2008: 31) is quoted to have said, “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete”. Sustainable Urbanism can be viewed as a concept that provides a new model and approach to designing human settlements that is relevant to the times in which we live. Informed by numerous studies on the living patterns of people in urban environments in America, the present spatial patterns of cities and the challenges these bring about, it highlights the importance of design in shaping sustainable human settlements that enable people to live long, healthy and pleasant lives in urban settings. A simple definition for Sustainable Urbanism according to Farr (2008; 42) is that
“Sustainable Urbanism is walkable and transit served urbanism integrated with high performance buildings and high performance infrastructure”. It acknowledges that sustainability cannot be achieved through the traditional silo processes and approaches of the past focused on environmental conservation, social sustainability or sustainable building without much consideration of the integrated development impact on human settlements and human living. One such example would be the idea of highly sustainable houses fitted with numerous energy saving technologies but built within a suburban area promoting sprawl, with the inhabitants owning three cars which they use daily to go to work or even the grocery store. The settlement is still considered unsustainable because while the actual house may be very energy efficient, the greater settlement pattern is unsustainable.
Sustainable Urbanism thus proposes a more unified approach to the design of human settlements that Farr (2008; 41) believes “if successful will not only vastly reduce environmental harm but also offer stunning enhancements to the quality of life”. It grows out of three movements of the 20th century namely, Smart Growth, New Urbanism and Green Building, so that its core values are compactness (higher density) and biophilia (human affiliation with nature). By using the knowledge of human and natural systems, it integrates walkable and transit served urbanism with high performance buildings and high performance infrastructure (Farr, 2008). When looking at the neighbourhood level, Sustainable Urbanism emphasises that the personal appeal and societal benefits of neighbourhood living such as, “meeting daily needs on foot - are greatest in neighbourhoods that integrate five attributes: definition, compactness, completeness, connectedness and biophilia” (Farr, 2008: 42). It is based on this that the following attributes are viewed as being key for sustainable neighbourhood design through Sustainable Urbanism.
2.2.3.1 Defined Edge and Centre
The idea of a neighbourhood having a defined edge and centre is not a new idea as it can be traced to the earlier discussed neighbourhood concept by Clarence Perry. It is thus significant in that it emphasises and supports the generally accepted character of the neighbourhood as a walkable place of face to face interactions among residents. The idea of a defined edge and size of the neighbourhood, brings about the possibility of finite but strong social networks as there is a greater chance noticing and being noticed by the same people each day.
While Perry’s neighbourhood concept defines the neighbourhood size based on population size, Dover in Farr (2008) proposes a minimum neighbourhoods threshold size of 40 acres and a maximum of 200 acres with the neighbourhood centre taking up 6% - 10% of the total neighbourhood area. An example of .
Plate 1: An Image of a Neighbourhood Edge and Centre, Plan and 3D Imagery
Source: Author informed by http://evstudio.com/the-neighborhood-unit-how-does-perrys-concept-apply-to- modern-day-planning/
2.2.3.2 Compactness
Compactness in its simplicity looks at the issue of density within a specific area. Sustainable neighbourhoods are those that promote high densities because of the multiple benefits this brings to the neighbourhood.
Farr (2008) points out that Sustainable Urbanism is only possible at densities that are 4 times more than the average new U.S. density of 2 dwelling units per acre which translates to approximately 5 dwelling units per hectare. Higher densities that promote Sustainable Urbanism are achieved by offering divers housing types within the neighbourhood. This can be controlled through the application of different development controls such as Floor Area Ratio’s (F.A.R) on different sites. The idea would be to have the highest densities closer to the neighbourhood centre and along the main transit routes. Compactness also enables the neighbourhood to be more walkable. Apart from the social and health benefits this brings to the residents, it also presents the opportunity for mixed use development and promotes the viability of local neighbourhood business. The images below reflect examples achieving higher densities on the same plot by adjusting the development controls, as well as the idea of higher densities along a main transit route.
Figure 3: Densification – Some Examples from Practice
Source: Iyer Urban Design (2014)
Figure 4: An Example of Higher Densities along Main Movement Routes
Source: Iyer (2014)
2.2.3.4 Completeness
The notion of completeness refers to the neighbourhoods’ ability to support and accommodate the diverse needs of all residents over a lifetime and giving choice to the residents. Choice may be in the diverse land uses and activities, building and housing types as well as services and facilities all accessible on foot within the neighbourhood. In terms of housing, neighbourhoods displaying completeness would be those that offer housing types for all groups over a lifetime. Examples of this are a young couple recently married and needing an apartment to rent as they start off, a larger family moving from an apartment into a detached home or even an elderly couple whose children have all moved out and are looking to downsize to a smaller semi-detached home.
Completeness in a neighbourhood would also be observed through the variety of services and facilities such as schools, a park, community hall, transit stations, offices, corner stores and other commercial facilities.
Figures 8 and 9 both show examples of choice in terms of the unit types as well as land use activities to ensure the completeness of the neighbourhood.
2.2.3.5 Connectedness
The issue of choice is very important in Sustainable Urbanism. Having mentioned the importance of choice in achieving completeness in a neighbourhood, the issue of choice is also important when achieving connectedness. Neighbourhoods need to allow people to both internally connect in the neighbourhood and to adjacent neighbourhoods or regional destinations through multiple modes of movement. In order to achieve internal connectedness, Farr (2008) highlights the importance having pedestrian walkways on both sides of streets and ensuring that streets in the neighbourhood are no more than two travel lanes accommodating traffic speeds of not more than 25–30 miles per hour. This allows the streets within the neighbourhood to be safer and people to access different parts of the neighbourhood on foot. Cycle tracks also need to be accommodated so that children and other residents have the option of either riding or walking to school or work. Public transportation is also important, especially in ensuring that people are connected to the adjacent neighbourhoods or other regional destinations through means other than the motor vehicle. Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems are an example of a modern means of achieving this, while complete streets can also be seen as an example of street design that accommodates multiple movement typologies.
2.2.3.6 Sustainable Corridors
Sustainable corridors are an essential aspect of ‘Sustainable Urbanism’ because of its aim of achieving transit served urbanism by linking neighbourhoods together with districts and other regional destinations (Farr,2008). his is largely hinged on establishing transit corridors that are supported by the appropriate adjacent land uses and densities to make public transport along the corridor viable. This aspect is important in order to reduce the dependency on private motor vehicles.
2.2.3.7 Biophilia
Biophilia is considered to refer to the extent to which human beings are wired to need a connection with nature and other forms of life (http://biophiliccities.org/). Nature provides multiple free benefits to human kind, the most basic of these being oxygen we use to breath, sunlight, water and the plants that give us food. Sustainable Urbanism acknowledges this important role that nature plays in the lives of human beings and thus also aims to promote the connection between humans and nature through design. While nature provides functional benefits to human kind, it also provides certain passive benefits. A basic intervention
such as ensuring that streets and pedestrian walkways are landscaped can lead to the streets being more attractive for people to walk on and to increase the value of adjacent properties by 3–6 percent (Farr, 2008). Dense vegetation near residential areas provides a viable habitat for birds and provides benefits for both aural and visual senses. Farr (2008) highlights the aspect of resource flows that support human life and provides that in order for human interdependence with natural systems to be strengthened, there is a need for human settlements to be designed in a way that allows resource flows to be visible and experiential. An example of this would be a waste water system that extracts nutrients to grow food in one’s neighbourhood creating an incentive not to dump toxic chemicals down the drain (Farr, 2008).
2.2.3.8 High Performance Infrastructure
Infrastructure in this context refers to roads, storm water systems, sewer, buildings, public transportation systems, ventilation techniques and other infrastructure services. The notion of High Performance Infrastructure as part of Sustainable Urbanism, aims to promote the provision of the various infrastructure services necessary to support human life in the most environmentally friendly and financially sustainable manner as possible. It combines principles from multiple strains of reform, such as the financial implications of providing infrastructure to new developments in a sprawling city versus the cost of providing the same infrastructure for a more compact city (Farr, 2008). As such sustainable urbanism promotes the development of new and more sustainable and efficient techniques and technological advances in the provision of various parts of infrastructure.
2.2.3.9 Integrated Design
With its roots in the green building movement, integrated design looks at optimising the performance of a building as an entire system at little or no added cost by shifting the direction of investment in a project (Farr, 2008). The approach is highly dependent on interdisciplinary teamwork and budget discipline as it would involve reassigning the budgets to cover an alternate area that may be viewed as having the potential to contribute more to the efficiency of the system as a whole. Under Sustainable Urbanism, the same principle is applied at a neighbourhood level. The neighbourhood is seen as system and as such, in designing it, Farr (2008) believes that there is a need for interdisciplinary teamwork in achieving the greater vision of creating sustainable urban environments. In essence one could see this element as being the one that brings together all the issues described thus far.