1. Planning & Urban Design
Principles for Non-Planners
Based on “The Charter of the New Urbanism”
Ben Zellers, AICP, CNU-A

2. The New Urbanism
• Look towards successful past design to
inform new development patterns.
Cars
Live
Here
People
Live
Here

3. The New Urbanism
• Look towards successful past design to
inform new development patterns.

4. The New Urbanism
• Look towards successful past design to
inform new development patterns.

5. The Transect
From http://www.transect.org

6. The Transect
From http://www.transect.org

7. The Charter of The New Urbanism
• http://www.cnu.org/charter
• 27 planning, design, and development
principles broken down in to 3 categories:
– The region: Metropolis, city, and town
– The neighborhood, the district, and the
corridor
– The block, the street, and the building

8. The Region
• Development patterns should not blur or
eradicate the edges of the metropolis.

9. The Region
• Direct investment to smart growth priority
areas.

10. The Region
• Most codes outlaw construction of compact,
diverse, walkable cities and villages.
• Make good design legal.
– Too many downtowns are illegal.
– Requiring over provision of parking.
– Zoning doesn’t match pre-existing lot/site
conditions.
– Minimum lot size too big.
– Jumping through hoops for mixed-use
development.

11. The Region
• Reject road planning and projections that
ignore induced traffic.
• Induced traffic = new road capacity
absorbed by drivers who previously
avoided congested roads.
• “Trying to cure traffic congestion by adding
more capacity is like trying to cure obesity
by loosening a belt.”

12. The Region
• Beltline in Madison/Monona
“Old” Beltline: 4 lanes; 45 mph speed limit; many curb cuts; stoplights
“New” Beltline – opened in 1988: 6 lanes; 55 mph speed limit;
freeway; free-flow interchange with I-39/90

13. The Region
125,000
115,000
105,000
95,000
85,000
75,000
65,000
55,000
45,000
35,000
1988: 6-lane
bypass opens
1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010
Data from WisDOT; CARPC
54,685
69,850
111,000
78,890
1984:
EIS
44,700 54,500
27%
41%

14. Neighborhood, District, Corridor
• Plan in increments of complete
neighborhoods.
• Neighborhoods should be compact,
pedestrian-friendly, and mixed-use.
• Many activities of daily living should occur
within walking distance to allow
independence for those who do not drive,
especially the elderly and young.
• Retain & protect major natural features; have
a variety of public places.

15. The five-minute
walk
Park

16. School
The five-minute
walk
Park
Wetlands
& Park
Preserve
School
Senior
Housing
Grocery,
Bank,
Etc.
View
Preserved
for Public

17. Neighborhood, District, Corridor
• An interconnected network of streets with
small block sizes should be designed to
encourage walking, reduce the number
and length of automobile trips, and
conserve energy.

18. 4,140’
(~3/4 mi)
450’
(~2/25 mi)

19. 7 miles!

20. Neighborhood, District, Corridor
From http://www.charlotteobserver.com
Annualized per-capita
life cycle costs

21. From http://www.charlotteobserver.com

22. Neighborhood, District, Corridor
• Have a broad range of housing types and
price levels in a neighborhood.

23. Neighborhood, District, Corridor
• Concentrations of civic, institutional, and
commercial activity should be embedded
in neighborhoods and districts, not isolated
in remote, single-use complexes.
Schools should be sized and located to
enable children to walk or bicycle to
them.

24. Neighborhood, District, Corridor
• The downtown
Hotel Office Retail
Post
Office
City
Hall
Library
Senior
Center
Fire
Dept.
EMS
Church
Church
Brewery
Housing
Housing
Bank
Farmer’s
Market
(summer)

25. Village
Village
High
School
1.4 miles
1.7 miles
No
sidewalks
or trails . . .
Pupil Transportation
Budget: $633,000
1969: 41 percent
of children either
walked or biked to
school
2001: 13 percent

26. Neighborhood, District, Corridor
• Economic health and harmonious
evolution of neighborhoods, districts, and
corridors can be improved through graphic
urban design codes that serve as
predictable guides for change.
• Consider form-based zoning, especially for
mixed-use areas like downtowns.

27. • Better to show people
what you do want than
tell them what you don’t
want.

28. Neighborhood, District, Corridor
• Sidewalks are not the only ingredient for
making a place walkable. Pedestrian
routes must be:
– Useful – aspects of daily life located close at hand.
– Interesting – sidewalk lined with unique buildings
– Comfortable – buildings create “outdoor living
rooms”
– Safe – peds have a fighting chance against autos.
From: The Walkable City, by Jeff Speck

29. Block, Street, Building
• Design complete streets: streets are for
pedestrians, bicyclists, and autos.
• Streets should be safe for all modes of
transport.
– Autos travel at the speed the street is designed
for, not at the posted speed limit.
– Pedestrian fatalities at speeds of 36-45 mph are
22 TIMES HIGHER than when cars are at
≤20mph.

30. 3280 Feet 315 Feet

33. Block, Street, and Building
• Georgia pedestrian charged with vehicular
homicide in the death of her 4-year old son
because they were j-walking when hit by a
drunk driver who left the scene.
• Crossed street at bus stop instead of
walking 2/3 mi to cross at a crosswalk.
• Could have done more prison time than
the driver.

34. Block, Street, and Building
• Development must adequately
accommodate automobiles; it should do so
in ways that respect the pedestrian and
the form of public space.
• Streets and squares should be safe,
comfortable, and interesting to the
pedestrian.

35. • NO SIDEWALKS, no parks, no schools, no
mix of uses . . .

36. Kudos on the
sidewalks and
crosswalks, but . . .
School

37. NO!
On street parking: essential for businesses.
Well-managed street parking can generate tens
of thousands of retail sales per stall; ideal to
manage parking to maintain 15% stall vacancy.

39. Block, Street, Building
• Preservation and renewal of historic
buildings, districts, and landscapes affirm
the continuity and evolution of urban
society.
• Or: do everything you can to preserve your
historic buildings – that’s what makes your
community unique.

41. Downtown block area: 1.7 acres
Assessed value: $3.87 million
Value per acre: $2.3 million
Big box parcel area: 5.8 acres
Assessed value: $2.1 million
Value per acre: $362,000
More than 6 times as
valuable per acre!
Newer!
Even when compared
to a brand new big box
store with freeway
access in a bigger city,
the downtown block at
right is more than 2x
as valuable per acre.

42. Block, Street, Building
• A primary task of all urban architecture
and landscape design is the physical
definition of streets and public spaces as
places of shared use.
• The revitalization of urban places depends
on safety and security. The design of
streets and buildings should reinforce safe
environments, but not at the expense of
accessibility and openness.

43. Block, Street, Building
• Architecture and landscape design should
grow from local climate, topography,
history, and building practice.
• All buildings should provide their
inhabitants with a clear sense of location,
weather, and time. Natural methods of
heating and cooling can be more
resource-efficent than mechanical
systems.

44. (before)

45. Raingarden
terrace
LED Streetlights
Pervious
pavers
Terrace
trees
Benches &
trash
receptacles
Bike
racks
Building sun
shades; many
windows facing
street
(after)

46. • Surface
parking
• Very little
greenspace
• Green roof
• Solar panels
• Increased
greenspace

47. Block, Street, Building
• Don’t be afraid to require good design.

52. Block, Street, Building
• Fire safety vs. life safety.
– Fire departments love wide streets – they feel
it allows them to handle fires better.
– Wide streets cause speeding, no matter the
posted speed limit.
– Speeding causes more severe driver and
pedestrian injuries and increases fatalities
from crashes.
• Best to have narrower streets that
connect.

53. Block, Street, Building
• Allow alleys. Alleys:
– Prevent garages from dominating the
streetscape.
– Reduce pedestrian/bike conflicts with cars by
reducing driveways/curb cuts.
– Allow for narrower lots.
– Provide a place for transformers, meters,
communications boxes, trash pickup, etc.

55. Conclusion
• Good design should be, at a minimum,
allowed; hopefully encouraged; ideally
required.
• Many zoning practices from the 1950s and
60s, which remain in place today, mandate
bad design.
• Bad zoning and other bad government
regulations have led to many of the problems
communities are facing today.

56. Conclusion
• Market has responded to government
regulations and provided vast tracts of
isolated large-lot single-family homes; it’s
time to make “traditional” neighbor-hoods
legal again and give people a choice in where
they can live.
• Good urban design and sound planning is a
matter of public health.

57. Recommended Reading . . .
1. Suburban Nation, by Andres Duany,
Elisabeth Plater-Zyberk, and Jeff Speck
2. The Death and Life of Great American
Cities, by Jane Jacobs

58. Questions?
Ben Zellers, AICP, CNU-A
Vierbicher
999 Fourier Drive, #201
Madison, WI 53717
bzel@vierbicher.com
(608) 821-3967