Much of the development that has occurred in Wisconsin and around the nation over the past 60 years has created a feeling of sameness from community to community.  Our development pattern has separated uses from one another and catered to cars at the expense of pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit.  The New Urbanism promotes the creation and restoration of diverse, walkable, compact, vibrant mixed-use communities built with integrated housing, employment, shops, and schools.  It is a revival of the lost art of "placemaking" to raise our quality of life and standard of living by creating neighborhoods, not just subdivisions, and building main streets, not just shopping malls. 

1. The New Urbanism
Design Principles for Vibrant Communities
Wisconsin Transportation Conference
September 29, 2014
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
• 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.

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

24. 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.

25. 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)

26. 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

27. 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.

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

29. 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

30. Block, Street, Building
• Development must adequately
accommodate automobiles; it should do so
in ways that respect the pedestrian and the
form of public space.
• 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.

32. 3280 Feet 315 Feet

35. 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.

36. Kudos on the
sidewalks and
crosswalks, but . . .
High
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
• 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. (before)

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

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

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

49. Block, Street, Building
• Allow alleys. Alleys:
– Prevent garages from dominating the
streetscape.
– Reduce pedestrian/bike conflicts with
cars by reducing driveways & curb cuts.
– Provide a place for transformers, meters,
communications boxes, trash pickup, etc.
– Allow for narrower lots (more lots can be served
by less infrastructure = higher property values per acre
= more value & less expense).

51. Transit vs. Poor Urban Design

52. Bus
Stop

53. You need to
drive if you
want to work
here.

55. Bus
Stop

56. Why it matters . . .
• VMT
• Drivers’ licenses
• Public health

57. Source: FHWA and US Census Bureau

58. Wisconsin: -12.1% VMT
Source: http://uspirg.org/reports/usp/moving-road

59. 67%
~80%
Source: FHWA, US Census Bureau, Streetsblog.

60. Percent Change in Population by Age Group, 2010-2040
160.0%
140.0%
120.0%
100.0%
80.0%
60.0%
40.0%
20.0%
0.0%
Outagame, Calumet, Winnebago Counties
<20 20-39 40-59 60-79 80+
Percent Change
Age Group
Source: WI DOA

61. Obesity Trends* Among U.S. Adults: 1985
No Data <10% 10%–14%
(*BMI ≥30, or ~ 30 lbs. overweight for 5’ 4” person)

62. Obesity Trends* Among U.S. Adults: 1990
No Data <10% 10%–14%
(*BMI ≥30, or ~ 30 lbs. overweight for 5’ 4” person)

63. Obesity Trends* Among U.S. Adults: 1995
No Data <10% 10%–14% 15%–19%
(*BMI ≥30, or ~ 30 lbs. overweight for 5’ 4” person)

64. Obesity Trends* Among U.S. Adults: 2000
No Data <10% 10%–14% 15%–19% ≥20%
(*BMI ≥30, or ~ 30 lbs. overweight for 5’ 4” person)

65. Obesity Trends* Among U.S. Adults: 2005
No Data <10% 10%–14% 15%–19% 20%–24% 25%–29% ≥30%
(*BMI ≥30, or ~ 30 lbs. overweight for 5’ 4” person)

66. Obesity Trends* Among U.S. Adults: 2010
No Data <10% 10%–14% 15%–19% 20%–24% 25%–29% ≥30%
(*BMI ≥30, or ~ 30 lbs. overweight for 5’ 4” person)

67. 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.

68. Conclusion
• Good urban design, a solid transit system,
and sound planning are matters of public
health.
• Market has responded to government
regulations and provided vast tracts of
isolated large-lot single-family homes and
strip malls; we need to make “traditional”
neighborhoods legal again and give
people a choice in where they can live
and how they move around our cities.

69. Resources
• Book: Suburban Nation, Duany,
Plater-Zyberk, and Speck
• Websites & blogs:
– www.cnu.org (interdisciplinary
organization – become a member!)
– www.strongtowns.org
– switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/kbenfield
– www.theatlantic.com/the-atlantic-cities
– www.planetizen.com

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