Urban Planning: The New Frontier
Read about how small communities are being impacted by the changing dynamics of urban planning.
Devine Karas-Gonzalez | March 20, 2022
Urbanization and the increased development of major cities, have a strong link to the economic strength of an area. With many individuals moving to cities in search of better job opportunities, better pay, and higher qualities of living, the demand for this new urban lifestyle is on the rise. As the demand for the urban lifestyle increases, so does the price to have it. In urban sprawls such as San Francisco and New York City the median price of a home is respectively $1.579mill and $746,000 as of 2022 (Zillow Home Value Index - San Francisco / Zillow Home Value Index - New York City).
For first time home buyers, this poses a serious issue, where major cities are seeing rapid developments aiding in the growth of economies, wealth, and overall health and safety of communities, the cost has driven many individuals in search of a more affordable lifestyle. In a suburban community with far less density, pedestrian network, and interconnectivity you can find a home for a fraction of the price. Where many individuals report moving to cities for better job pay or job growth, the situation is far too real that if you live in a city, you may have a higher salary but a significantly higher cost of living, and inversely in a small town you are likely to have a lower salary with a lower cost of living.
Though it is possible you can live in a small town and make the commute to a city nearby to get the same job opportunity, the gas prices will likely make you reconsider. In the mid-19th century, suburbs became highly popular as a way for some to flee the crowded and dirty cities at the time. However today, we face a much different issue, where many of our cities are undergoing massive changes of infrastructure and developments to enhance their livability, the inevitable costs of construction of these major projects have become a burden to many cities’ original residents.
As each major development project backed by state and federal funding goes up, the enormity of growth in cities versus the slow rate of change in smaller towns is at the least to say, very frustrating. As the cities and towns within a given state each rely on the funding of our federal government it is shameful when small towns, receive little to no funding for updated streets and sidewalks, new parks and recreational facilities, updated community centers, and the rapid revitalization we have seen in larger cities. This has left many with two choices: a town with a slower progression rate or a city with development so rapid where one day there may be a restaurant on the corner and the next day it’s a laundromat.
While currently the revitalization of cities has created a heavy demand for real estate in places such as New York or California, suburban neighborhoods and smaller towns offer a unique and much more affordable lifestyle which many are starting to tradeoff for their commute times (and that hefty gas price). However, as the populations in small towns alike begin to increase a similar necessity for urban spaces will arise. In small towns, a lack of alternative transportation and pedestrian networks contributes to this growing issue. As more people may begin to head towards smaller towns in search of an affordable lifestyle, the necessity for more public spaces and less private is absolute.
With a rapid increase in urbanization across cities and towns, it is crucial to consider the potential for beneficial contributions before pursuing with new developments. As architecture and the development of cities has a unique ability to enhance the communities around us, we must seek ways to design spaces which contribute to the communities rather than take from them. However today, the harsh reality is that many project owners are far more likely to value the bottom line, only to weigh design solutions in their favor if they prove to generate a greater return on investment.
So, what is there to do then? I propose a new solution to the revitalization of cities that has left many wondering when they will no longer call million-dollar apartments affordable living. The solution is to stop. Stop developing new buildings when there are thousands of vacant and abandoned buildings prime for adaptive reuse. Stop prioritizing the accelerating construction in cities while deliberately ignoring the needs of smaller communities. And most importantly stop allowing the lesser-known small businesses dependent on these communities to go out of business because larger cities promote an optimal lifestyle.
Since for so many different reasons, we cannot stop all that we are developing at a whim, we must find another solution. The solution lies in the hands of owners and developers as they decide the fate of our physical environments. If the collective effort of developers and owners was instead to better the communities around us through a collaborative design process rather than a tactical one where profit is the only goal, then we would see a balance between the communities around us. A balance is necessary to create a link between small towns and large cities. Through balance we can unite communities through a pedestrian network of trails, bridges, and sidewalks to allow a flow from one place to another. We need not more roads and major infrastructure, but more pathways and links to nature so that we can enhance our environments rather than tear them down and turn them into more concrete pavements.
