An Interdisciplinary Solution to the Problem of Creation and Development
1. An Interdisciplinary Solution to the Problem of Creation and Development
of Sustainable Communities.
INTRODUCTION
The connections between urban design, municipal development policies, and sustainable community
development has not been thoroughly researched; the disciplinary boundaries have been separated to the extent
that any efforts at comprehensive community development appear to be compromised by automobile oriented
design, local zoning laws and mediocre planning practices. Urban design, site planning, and architecture is the
backbone of any sustainable community, and the municipal zoning laws currently enforced do little to create the
traditional and diverse communities that once made up the great American City. {{11}}
Urban Design suggests a serious collective concern for three-dimensional space and as much
consideration given for public spaces between or beneath buildings as for the buildings themselves. The long-
standing tradition of designers working within the realm of community development is now the exception and
not the rule. Urban designers have long understood the importance of the human scale and our sensory
perceptions of cities and neighborhoods as it relates to our everyday lives. Traditional methods of employing
form, space, and order has proven over time to have a profound effect on the very safety, health, and beauty of
our built environments. {{1}}
For decades exclusionary zoning and economic segregation policies employed by municipal planning
boards whether intentional or not, have promoted and subsidized sprawl. The results of such planning and
decision making by bureaucrats and pro-business politicians is the growing divide between the affluent gated
communities, the shrinking middle class, and growing concentrations of poverty inhabiting the core of our
nations cities.
Does place matter? If self-fulfilling prophecy is defined as the false definition of a situation that
produces behavior that turns a false perception into reality, then one could conclude that “place” does matter,
and all residents are entitled to live in a safe, nurturing, and economically stable environment. Good design and
planning practices help to create great places of enduring quality capable of accommodating people of all
2. different ages, incomes, and family structures while attracting and maintaining stable economic growth within
our cities. {{11}}
As our cities, continue their unplanned growth outward, the socioeconomic problems facing
municipalities continue to mount, coupled with the realities of dwindling resources, more and more cities face
the difficulty of finding solutions to their complex situations. A review of the literature in various
disciplines shows that the academic areas of architecture, political science, and sociology are the most relevant
in understanding the dynamics involved in the design and development of sustainable communities. Each of
these disciplines has its own theories and explanations as to the current problems facing a great number of
American Cities. While each set of theories reflect their particular discipline none of these explanations can
independently or collectively address the complexity of today’s urban problems.
This model will then serve as a basis for a proposed solution to the problem of design and development of
sustainable communities by going beyond traditional disciplinary boundaries.
I. BACKGROUND / DEFINING THE PROBLEM
We shape our cities and then our cities shape us
-Andres Duany
Traditionally the design and development of cities have always fallen under the discipline of
Architecture and dates back to the earliest of civilizations as city builders and architects considered the physical
form of the city as important as the city itself. Long considered a refined art, the interdisciplinary method of
urban design, town planning and architecture remained the significant social act that successfully reinforced our
sense of place and strengthened our community ties. (Kostoff 2002, Jackson 1986)
This pattern began to change as the complexity of building cities began to respond to the increasing
layers of bureaucratic red tape, building codes, municipal regulations, zoning laws, and the politics of land, all
designed at raising and maintaining the value of property. By the turn of the century, cities began to dominate
the population as once rural populations began to migrate to industrialized cities.
3. The more industrialized modern society became the larger the factories grew and the grimmer the cities
became, filled with corruption, pollution, poverty, and disease. The deteriorating conditions plaguing most
cities, real or prorogated by reform rhetoric only reinforced the romantic idea and desirability of that house in
the suburbs. A healthy natural landscape isolated from the problems of other people seemed idyllic.
Ultimately, the new mass-produced community developments that promised a sense of wellbeing quickly
evolved into the present destructive trend designed only to accommodate the automobile, big business, and
various political agendas. (Jackson 1985)
The power structure and class domination within the United States, compared to other democratic
capitalist countries, reveal that economic elites have had a long history of decision-making power concerning
our political, economic, and social ideologies. At no time has this become more evident, as Giant Corporation’s
ability to successfully eliminate attempts at any meaningful social policy reform or seriously address the
inequality of wealth and income distribution that remains the statue quo. (Molotch)
Consequently, the traditional definitions of place and community has had very little significance on
those at the top of the local power structure who set the agenda affecting land use, public expenditures that
encourage sprawl, and urban social life. The most obvious barrier is the lack of understanding the value of land,
the literal foundation of place and a market commodity providing wealth and power. The history of the United
States, riddled with violence and corruption in the name of land acquisition and the rights of property
ownership, an ideology deeply engrained in the American Dream. (Molotch)
Past research on community power struggles illustrates the inability to conceptualize the physical
connections of a healthy city and the social dynamics that occur when connected to property values. In order to
gain a better understanding of the dynamics of power, economic growth, and land use, it is necessary to define
the problem through the investigation of the politics of land, the competitive nature of decision-making and
growth coalitions, the reality of the American Dream, and the social and economic consequences of sprawl.
(Krueckeberg 1995)
4. The same holds true on the local level, as physical growth is the clearest indication of a cities economic success.
Unfortunately, a large amount of growth decisions at this level has resulted into a quantity over quality issue
and in reality; it has placed many cities in a position to “build their way out”. (Swanstram)
One of the primary roles of local government is to promote growth, create jobs, provide the necessary
streets, sewers, and other public improvements while maintaining and attempting to increase property values.
Property taxes, determined by a properties value, is the main source of revenue for local governments, therefore,
cities use their powers of zoning, building standards, and other regulations to control and manipulate the value
of land. (Swantram)
A basic description of the economic growth cycle of the typical city begins as an initial location or
expansion of industry followed by a supporting labor force that need housing, schools, roads, and other public
services. The cycle continues as more outlying and increasingly intensive land development occurs along with
higher population densities. This phenomenon of economic growth along with the supposed success places
increased demands on city services and their budget. (Swantram)
Through the last several decades of growing and building under this idea has proven inefficient and
resulted in the growing scarcity of resources at the local level. A great majority of cities now faced with serious
financial concerns placed in the political arena with land-use interest groups competing for public money and
favorable policy decisions that determine land-use outcomes. This line of reasoning only heightens the
competition between local powers and place entrepreneurs to attract corporations, in hopes of increasing the
cities tax base. (Molotch)
Power at the local level then becomes the politics of distribution, so land use and growth becomes a critical
variable in the race for the highest land values, highest quality residents, and the best amenities, at least for
those who can afford them.
The problem with rapid uncontrolled growth is the increased demand for public services usually at the
expense of disadvantaged older communities. Unfortunately, these increased demands with new development
only intensifies while the needs of older neighborhoods move further down the list of priorities and for some
neighborhoods, taken off the list entirely. A good example of city-instituted neglect for older communities
5. recently played out in New Orleans revealing a national reality of inequality, poverty, and desperation in the
events following hurricane Katrina.
Prominent in membership are the local businessmen, property owners, and investors in local financial
institutions who need local government in their daily money-making routines. Based on past and present trends
of government concerning local growth patterns are frequently made by private corporations, resulting in a
serious conflict of interest between profit and the community at large.
(Molotch)
Because government decisions influence the cost of doing business, local officials are generally
attentive of their governmental powers as they seek to create conditions and policies that best serve industrial
growth and promote a “good” business climate, resulting in a hierarchy that places industry at the top and
community at the bottom.
The increasing incidences and casual use of such tactics places a real and constant threat to city leaders, and
ultimately contributes to the constant competition among rival cities and their suburbs. Unfortunately, the result
is often a "race to the bottom" as rival cities offer enormous tax breaks to wealthy industries while blocking any
social or environmental regulations and policies that would prove beneficial to its citizens.
Unfortunately, the burden of increased utility and government costs caused by this type of growth,
coupled with the partnership between elites generally results in large public debts paid by citizens, as the burden
rarely falls on those responsible for its creation. Consequently, this partnership between government and
corporation in growth coalitions prove to be unequal and ultimately detrimental to cities and communities as
these alliances, more often than not, are willing to give the lion’s share of power to corporations while leaving
taxpayers with the bill.
This obvious lack of consensus based decision-making helps explain the failure of most local
governments to direct essential economic growth and jobs to the locations that is most needy The result is
fragmented power structures of competing self-interests while residents lose in the land game of winner taker
all.
6. Past federal programs and tax incentives for homeownership offered most middle-class residents the
ability to achieve the American Dream. Today, the concept of the American dream seems superficial,
meaningless, and ultimately unattainable as we continue to confuse the idea of domestic happiness for the
accumulation of material wealth, rising property values, and class status. The disillusionment of the suburban
good-life seems to have increased as local politicians slowly replaced the once coveted American Dream of
homeownership with the unfulfilled need for community and civic life. (Kuntsler)
Communities and neighborhoods throughout the U. S., weary of current growth trends and suddenly
realizing the difficulty of fighting city hall are giving rise to citizen rebellions in the form of residential growth
revolts. Residents are all too familiar with the politics of growth and the mindless clutter of junk buildings,
increased traffic, and general destruction to their communities.
Middle-class residents, ultimately forced to represent themselves against the growth-coalition
juggernauts and political disenfranchisement are rapidly joining in the power struggle of self-interests.
Americans placed in this losing power struggle and forced to consider their individual needs, desires, and often
their property values rapidly lose sight of the community and its common good. (Baldassare)
There has always been a close relationship between American social, political, and economic institutions
demonstrated by our individual pursuits of self-interest and happiness, believing that it will somehow result in
the best for both the individual and for society as a whole. Ironically, Americans claim to value the ideals of
individual liberty through self-sufficiency, equality, democracy, and patriotism; however, this individual pursuit
of the American Dream has left many disillusioned with civic life and little to no regard for the public realm,
community, or the common good. (Kunstler)
Through the actions of decision-makers and property owner has resulted in the serious lack of decent
employment opportunities and basic public services for those living in the inner city. Those past decisions and
failed policy attempts have ultimately affected every aspect of the community as a whole, as once vibrant
communities remain abandoned and boarded up crime zones, leaving behind the extreme poor. (Wilson p. 37)
7. The resulting social stratification of suburban development, compounded by racially based white flight
continues today and demonstrated by the continuous cycles mentioned above. The flight of factories,
businesses, and services to the suburbs, located away from the central cities, leaves behind concentrations of
those who are chronically out of work and out of mainstream society. (Wilson)
The growing spatial isolation of the urban poor and the continued exodus of middle class families and
low-skilled jobs to the outer fringes of metropolitan areas make the rhetoric of comeback cities ring particularly
hollow. (Katz)
II DISCIPLINARY THEORIES OF HOW CITIES GROW
In the tradition of fine arts, architecture is essentially abstract and involves the manipulation of
relationships that define spaces, volumes, planes, masses, and voids. The art of building that investigates the
human requirements with the available construction materials to furnish a practical use as well as an aesthetic
solution to everyday life.
Due to intimate relationship between architecture, urban design, and planning the emphasis of physical
and spatial theories of city building were researched, the theory of New Urbanism and The Hannover Principles
of sustainable development are both comprehensive while attempting reintroduces community development into
the discipline.
The theory of New Urbanism envisions the physical form of community and the reinstatement of the
public realm by reorganizing sprawl into increments of villages, towns, and cities, New Urbanism as the
commonsense attempt to connect the physical creation of society and the environmental causes of social decline
by adapting existing models to meet the practical needs of society.
New Urbanism theory proposes a coherent and supportive physical framework as the foundation needed
to sustain economic vitality, neighborhood stability, and environmental health. A few of the basic principles is
public policy reform of current zoning laws and building codes that allows diversity of population. Currently,
8. the ratio in many cities is 5:1 meaning five parking spaces per one thousand square feet. A second principle
addresses both the community and the pedestrian through design and better transportation options, specifically
the dependency on the automobile, social isolation, pedestrian safety, and mobility. Because settlement
patterns have always been dependent on transportation routes, the basic theory of street design is imperative
when defining “sense of place”. New Urbanism design places the needs of the pedestrian ahead of the
automobile by supporting tree-lined streets that create spatial definition by narrowing the perception of the
space to provide a natural enclosure.
New Urbanism theory places great emphasis on public space as the most important requirement in
community building stating the need for citizen responsibility and participation in the maintenance and
evolution of their neighborhoods. The public realm or community space encourages citizens to gather
spontaneously, needed to reinforce community identity and the culture of democracy. (Duany 265)
COLLEGE HOMES (BEFORE) COLLEGE HOMES (AFTER)
In areas marred by vacant lots and empty streets, these proposals seek to restore the types of lively urban spaces that reinforce a sense of
security.
Courtesy of Urban Design Associates.
The Hannover Principles are a set of maxims that encourage the design professions to consider sustainability
and based on the enduring elements of Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and Spirit, in design decisions. In design, the
earth is both the context and the material. Design solutions should benefit flora and fauna as much as humans
and have the ability to care of themselves best when left alone and promote an overall sense of community.
New construction should be considered an extension of the present built fabric.
Local pollution has global consequences, so the overall design must not contribute to further atmospheric
denigration. Transportation requirements are considered for their overall energy consumption. Pedestrians and
bicyclists should have priority. Water is the most basic element of life on the planet, seen as a fundamental life-
9. giving resource. This most ineffable of elements is also the most human illustrating and fostering the sense of
place essential to any human experience of the meaning of sustainability. Living in sustainable architecture is
nothing less than an appeal to accept our place in the world, mediated between human and natural purposes.
The presence of spirit ensures that design is seen as only part of the solution, building on the principle of
humility.
POLITICAL SCI THEORIES
Public Choice Theory examines the social phenomena of individuals in groups when faced with the choice of
doing what is best for themselves or best for the group, sometimes referred to as Voter’s Paradox. Public
Choice often acknowledges the problems with government as a direct result of ignoring the reality of self-
interest, while other aspects are used to explain democracy, voting patterns, political manipulation, and group
behavior. (Felkins 1997)
One of the basic insights that underlie the public choice theory is the phenomena of “rational ignorance”
by voters. Voters, when faced with the dilemma that there is a small probability that one vote will change the
result of the elections, therefore, gathering the relevant information necessary for a well-informed voting
decision requires substantial time and effort. Unfortunately, the rational decision for each voter is to remain
ignorant of politics or withdraw completely from voting and explain low voter turnout.
Political manipulation helps in the explanation of interest groups that have strong incentives for
lobbying the government to implement specific inefficient policies that would benefit them at the expense of the
public. Author and urban critic James Howard Kunstler, describes the politics of road building in the following
statement as an example:
(Kunstler, pg. 106)
Public Choice Theory helps explain current trends in decision-making between politicians and others who may
profit by sprawl.
Fiscalization of land use, defined as the tendency of cities and suburbs alike to prioritize development
projects that can contribute most to local sales tax revenues. This practice often results in zoning large tracts of
land on the urban fringe as commercial to attract major retailers. Fiscalization of land use exacerbates sprawl,
10. weakens the retail and tax base of central cities and older suburbs, and reduces available land for open space
and housing. Fiscal zoning also promotes costly competition among neighboring jurisdictions to attract
corporations through subsidies. The result is often a decision to locate on sites in wealthy suburban
jurisdictions over sites in poorer urban jurisdictions. Better land use and infrastructure arrangements have
tremendous potential to counteract the current regional inequities.
Regionalism is the theory that addresses a possible solution to fragmented decision-making that
currently exists between competing cities and suburbs; by introducing a third, party decision-making body
whose primary focus is the benefit of an entire region, not individual cities, or towns. Regional equity relies on
a broad voice to represent both poor and wealthy communities alike.
The main principle supporting regionalism is the integration of people and place strategies that stabilize
and improve community by reducing local and regional disparities, causes by competition; therefore, the goal is
improving outcomes for lower income communities while building healthy metropolitan regions. Policy
analyst, Bruce Katz describes regionalism and metropolitan agenda as “the first effort in years that offers cities
the opportunity to be part of majority coalitions pushing for genuine, big, systemic changes”. (Bruce Katz)
Smart Growth Initiatives, adopted by the Environmental Protection Agency as a governmental solution
to the past and present trends associated with sprawl. towns, conserve natural resources and open space, and
discourage sprawl development. A key feature is limits placed on the state funding for infrastructure, economic
development, housing, and other programs, by requiring that development areas meet minimum performance
standards for efficient land use or risk loosing state infrastructure funds.
Commercial linkage strategies tie new economic development to the construction and maintenance of
affordable housing or other community needs. Enacted as part of local land use regulations, most linkage
programs do this by requiring developers of new commercial properties to pay fees to support affordable
housing. In exchange for compliance, developers receive building permits.
Tax Revenue Sharing is Another equity strategy of regionalism that suggests a regional revenue sharing
arrangement aimed at significantly reducing disparities among the richest and poorest community within the
11. region. Smart Investments initiative, that state infrastructure investments support both sustainable development
and sound environmental practices and has called for increased investment in low-income communities.
Municipal zoning codes are key for school, open space, and other infrastructure grants implementing
land use regulations. While many codes are outmoded and may directly or indirectly produce sprawl, some
jurisdictions have adopted smart growth provisions explicitly designed to reduce sprawl and regional inequity.
Such zoning codes encourage development that is more physically compact; located on urban “infill” sites
rather than on undeveloped land in the suburbs; more heterogeneous with regard to income; and containing
more plentiful affordable housing.
Sociology, considered the scientific study of human social behavior and the study of humans in their collective
aspect relating to economic, social, political, and religious institutes. Sociology helps study such areas as
bureaucracy, community, deviant behavior, family, public opinion, social change, social mobility, social
stratification, and tries to determine the laws governing human behavior in social contexts. There is an
enormous amount of research concerning the urban environment and social impacts of urban life, many
overlapping other disciplines to specifically examine society as a group.
The complex dynamics of society and community have been narrowed to examine the theories of Social
Engineering, Broken Window, and authenticity.
What Social Science Can Tell Us About Social Change
What does the social science literature have to say about social change, especially for democratic countries like the United
States? Second, historical case studies of social change show that a very small number of highly organized and disciplined
people, drawing great energy from their strong moral beliefs and supreme confidence in their shared theoretical analysis, can
have a big impact.
Third, the change agents have to understand a key difference between themselves and other people. Most people are focused on
the joys, pleasures, and necessities of their everyday lives, and will not leave these routines unless those routines are disrupted,
whereas change agents sacrifice their everyday lives -- family, schooling, career -- to work on social change every waking
minute. This means that change agents must be patient for unexpected social circumstances to create disruption, or else find
effective ways to disrupt everyday life without alienating those they wish to become supporters of their cause.
Fifth -- and this one is my own personal conclusion from reading the literature -- the next generation of change agents should
take the findings of the social sciences seriously. The other ways have had their chance, and they have failed to bring about
12. large-scale social change. This is partly another way of saying that social structure, history, group dynamics, and strategy do
matter.
The theory of Social Engineering In a broad sense, refers to attempts by governments, or private groups to
change or "engineer" the views and behaviors of citizens, for example, by the use of advertising, through active
support of culture, or though the legal system, a phenomenon that William Julius Wilson attributes to sprawl
and social inequities now facing inner cities. The devastating impact on our communities and social institutions
consequently continues to undermine our civility through its current social programs; programs that
governmentally sanction the absence of fathers by subsidizing one-parent households, further marginalizing the
role of men in poor urban communities and reinforced the cycle of poverty for single-parent families, the
majority now headed by women. (Wilson 1999)
Children are unable to acquire social skills unless they circulate in a real community among a variety of
honorably occupied adults. (Wilson 1999)
broken window thesis
James Q. Wilson and George Kelling developed the "broken window" thesis.
"One unrepaired broken window is a signal that no one cares," Wilson and Kelling have written, "and so
breaking more windows costs nothing."
The suburbs, seen as the homogeneity of society and culture and institutionalized by American culture in the
early 1950s and 60s continue to dominate the urban landscape. Today, the majority of Americans now lives in
some form of suburbia, built within the last 50 years, and remains popular; however, it carries a significant price
at the expense giving up our need for authentic communities, our social responsibilities, and our highly regarded
individualism. Author and urban design critic James Howard Kuntsler describes his observations concerning
14. Bibliography:
John W. Reps, The Making of Urban America: A History of City Planning in the United States (1965); Stanley
K. Schultz, Constructing Urban Culture: American Cities and City Planning, 1800-1920 (1989).
Author:
Reviving Cities: Think Metropolitan
by Bruce Katz
June 1998
Promoting Regional Equity: A Framing Paper
Promoting Regional Equity: A National Summit
On Equitable Development, Social Justice, and Smart Growth
November 17-19, 2002
Los Angeles, California
