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Reacting to Design: Getting to the Heart of the Issues

Reacting to Design: Getting to the Heart of the Issues
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Reacting to Design: Getting to the Heart of the Issues - 1

Mixed-Use Zoning Retail adds value to a community when it is designed right. Retail does not have to mean a shopping mall surrounded by a sea of parking; it can also mean sidewalk cafes and boutique shops. 19 Multifamily Housing Multifamily housing as a type is not bad; it is poorly designed apartment complexes that lower property values and create traffic. Streets of townhouses make up the highest property values in many cities throughout the world. It is all in the design. Avoid Use Avoid Use G e t t i n g t o t h e H e a r t o f t h e I s s u e s 18 While many of the restrictions and regulations that control development today were established with good intentions, some are driven by the fear that new development will make our lives more difficult. Sadly, there are many cases where new development has indeed lowered property values, increased traffic and detracted from our daily experience. But many of the fear-based fixes that we put in place address the symptoms, not the disease. The problem is that we are reacting to bad design. We know we’re not happy with what’s currently being done, but we aren’t sure how to fix it, so we limit what can be built, to protect ourselves. The problem with this method is that in the attempt to protect our lives from getting worse, we create regulations that often prevent things from getting better. If new development increased property values, reduced traffic and enhanced our quality of life, there would be no problem. We would see it as trading up rather than trading down and, therefore, we would embrace it. Clearly, we need to redefine the issue. Development is not the problem; poorly designed development is the problem. For example, a topic that brings neighborhood groups and residents out by the dozens is the development of new apartments and multifamily housing. It is natural not to want to live next to an apartment complex. They are often giant, poorly built monsters, caked with endless treatedwood balconies. The problem here isn’t multifamily housing in and of itself—it is poorly designed multifamily housing. Look at Georgetown, Alexandria, Charleston or San Francisco. These cities are full of apartment buildings and row after row of townhouses, yet have some of the most valuable real estate in America. Why is that? One reason—good design. We put regulations in place in an effort to protect our cities. NIMBYs (“not in my backyard”) come out to planning board and city council meetings with passion, not because they are meddlesome people by nature, but because new development very often does means trading down. Their concerns are valid. But without the tools to articulate why we don’t like things, we are only able to put up barriers, which compounds the problem rather than contributes to the solution. We need to redefine the issue. Development is not the problem; poorly designed development is the problem. R e a c t i n g t o D e s i g n

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