It is nearly inconceivable to EMR why otherwise intelligent humans continue to intentionally confuse themselves about the basics of human settlement patterns.
In comments on TWO NOTES ON SKETCH COMMENTS
Groveton says “facts are stubborn things.”
Facts ARE stubborn things and the facts Groveton presents appear to be correct.
However, as applied these fact are IRRELEVANT. With respect to human settlement patterns and other complex systems, a Comprehensive Conceptual Framework and a robust Vocabulary are essential to understand and apply facts.
MUNICIPAL BORDERS ARE IRRELEVANT AND PROFOUNDLY CONFUSING IF ONE IS TRYING TO UNDERSTAND HUMAN SETTLEMENT PATTERNS as the comments on TWO NOTES ON SKETCH COMMENTS document very clearly.
EMR has found that only a Comprehensive Conceptual Framework based on the organic structure which reflects the actual economic, social and physical activities of humans – and not arbitrary lines that reflected profoundly different conditions 250 years ago – is useful.
The serious consideration of human settlement patterns does not require use of the New Urban Region Conceptual Framework (NURCF). A scholar can develop a new framework if they invest the effort. But those concerned with achieving a sustainable trajectory for civilization should not delude themselves that they can make any progress without Comprehensive Conceptual framework.
In addition to the NURCF, the only other framework widely referred to in current discussions is the much more simplistic “Transect” developed by proponents of New Urbanism. New Urbanism is a well articulated design philosophy championed by founders and members of The Congress of New Urbanism and is only tangentially related to the work of SYNERGY/Planning.
As luck would have it, Groveton lives within a few miles of a place – Greater Reston – that has examples of most of the human settlement patterns components – Unit, Dooryard, Cluster, Neighborhood, Village and Community – that are the foundation of the NURCF. The developers, managers and many residents of Reston use the NURCF Vocabulary for all the components except “Dooryard” which is often neglected. The same is true for Burke Centre where the largest component is of Village scale. The Dooryard turns out to be very important both historically and in contemporary social and physical interactions. Dooryard was added to the Vocabulary after Burke Center and Fair Lakes were planned, designed and developed.
Greater Reston is still a Beta Community but, as is the case with The Woodlands, TX, Peachtree City, GA, Irvine, CA, Columbia, MD and other Planned New Communities (PNCs), if one understands what they are looking at they can understand the rudiments of the NURCF and thus of human settlement pattern functions. When one tries to apply these understandings to whole NURs – especially very large Urban agglomerations such as New York NUR, Paris NUR, Berlin NUR or even Stockholm NUR or Toronto NUR it is difficult without a firm foundation and an understanding of the scale of components. Groveton has traveled the world and says he has not seen the light, yet.
Those who have read EMRs columns and posts to this blog should have no trouble applying the concepts outlined in GETTING TO A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE – A SKETCH or in TWO NOTES ON SKETCH COMMENTS.
For those who want to catch up, a reading of STARK CONTRAST including a review of the Mid-Atlantic (Washington-Baltimore NUR to Central Carolina NUR) map that accompanies that essay and ‘reading’ the PowerPoint “New Urban Region Conceptual Framework” (both contained in PART FOURTEEN of TRILO-G) will answer every question and clarify every misunderstanding raised in the comments on TWO NOTES ON SKETCH COMMENTS.
EMR has stated that he does not have time to go back and repeat what he has already written, however, he will add a few notes from memory which should erase any lingering questions.
Reston and The Woodlands are the closest places to those who commented on the post so EMR will refer to them. (NB. The Woodlands follows the component Vocabulary of Columbia, MD – when The Woodlands was laid out the primary planning consultant, the firm for which EMR was VP for Planning and Design, was headquartered in Columbia. Community and Village are similar to Reston but “neighborhood” is applied to Cluster scale components and there are no Neighborhood scale components. This was also done in Franklin Farm, VA for ‘sales’ purposes over EMR’s objections.
The overall density of Reston is 13 persons per acre EXCLUDING the 1,100 acres + / – in the office / commercial area and EXCLUDING the Town Center. Cluster density ranges from 6 to 70 persons per acres. Over half the residential Clusters in Reston have over 30 persons per acre.
At the Neighborhood scale density ranges from 10 to 50 persons per acre. That includes the Common OpenSpace WITHIN Neighborhoods.
The Village Center Neighborhood of Lake Anne Village has the highest density and the greatest mix of uses.
As Joel Garreau pointed out in Edge City, NO ONE thinks Reston (or The Woodlands) are ‘high density’ yet that is the base number for STARK CONTRAST based on development between 1960 and 2000. With the end of cheap oil, the base density might have to be doubled to support more extensive use of shared-vehicle systems. This fact was pointed out in SKETCH. Even at twice the density at the Cluster scale, few would find the density ‘high.’ See READ IT NOW review of Green Metropolis. This increase in density would mean a one third reduction in the amount of land needed for Urban fabric even if the OpenSpace area remained the same. This is also noted in SKETCH.
Reston Town Center which is outside the 13 persons per acre (PRC) zoning (TNT Please Note) has Clusters that exceed 100 persons per acre. If the Town Center had a METRO station platform under Market Street and all the vacant land were built out at the current FARs within half a mile of the platform, Reston Town Center would be a prototype Village-scale station area and would have residential densities in the 80 to 130 person ranges and COULD achieve a relative Balance of J / H / S / R / A.
The requirement for a sustainable trajectory — the objective of SKETCH — is sustainable NURs made up of Balanced (Alpha) Communities. That means inside the Clear Edge agglomerations of Alpha Communites that look a lot like Reston plus some that look like North Arlington, South Arlington and Federal (Monumental) Core.
Accurate is in ‘the business” so he can translate all this to The Woodlands. By the way, while in the Woodlands, check out the same-house, same-builder data for houses in The Woodlands vs ones in scattered “subdivisions” west, north and east of the Centroid of the Houston NUR.
Back to Groveton, EMR has noted over and over that Fairfax County includes all or part of 11 Beta Communities. The comment on payment to Fairfax County is meaningless.
Net and Gross densities can be confusing. OpenSpace is often credited both within a component and to the next highest component for any given area of Urban fabric. Making this allocation clear is one of the is one benefits using the New Urban Region Conceptual Framework.
So that there is no confusion:
As clearly stated in STARK CONTRAST, The five persons per acre density is the GROSS density INSIDE Clear Edge around the Core of the NUR. It is assumed that there is 50 percent OpenSpace (water and land) inside the Clear Edge in the STARK CONTRAST calculations. That leaves 50 percent of the area in Urban fabric with a gross density of 10 persons per area AT THE COMMUNITY SCALE. (See note above concerning the impact of increased density.) Within any Alpha Community there would be from 30 to 50 percent OpenSpace made up of Community, Village, Neighborhood and Cluster scale serving land. All of the Planned New Communities (PNCs) listed above have around 40 percent OpenSpace within the communities.
Finally, Larry:
EMR understands the enormous scope of the education process necessary to erase generations of Myths. You may have heard of PROPERTY DYNAMICS? Any additional suggestions you have will be welcome.
But first to get the web site done.
EMR
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