Session 5: The Compact City

Question 1

What was the evolution of spatial planning according to Breheny, 1996?

Answer 1

Until 1960s –> SP characterized by development of visionary ideas (i.e. Le Corbusier)

70s-80s –> SP influenced by postmodernism, focusing on the ‘human scale’ –> focus was narrowed, and not contextualized among the wider landscape

90s-present –> sustainable development has reinvigorated visionary planning at higher scale (metropolitan, regional)

Question 2

What was the EC Green Paper on the Urban Environment?

Answer 2

Published in 1990, inspired by the Brundtland Report, it was a blueprint mixed use, dense urban development. It argued that compact development would meet environmental (reducing travel/car dependency, energy efficiency) and livability objectives (culture, creativity, public amenities). It is sort of a fetishization of mideval European cities

Question 3

what are the key arguments by traditional centrists and decentrists?

Answer 3

decentrists: decentralization as an answer to the (local) environmental and livability problems typical of (19th-century) industrial cities
centrists: contemporary reaction to the (supra-local) environmental problems caused by urban sprawl

Question 4

Finish the sentence:

The decentrists of yesterday….

Answer 4

would be the centrists of today

Question 5

What are the differences between plans like Broadacre (Frank L. Wright) and the Garden City (Ebenezer Howard) vs. today’s suburban developments?

Answer 5

Broadacre and the Garden City were decentralized, but still actually quite dense (in comparison to today’s standards) and had strong planning principles. Today’s suburban developments are much less dense and have no planning structure

Question 6

When did compact development begin to be viewed as alternative to suburbanization/sprawl?

Answer 6

Around 1950s, and gaining lots of traction in the 60s with the help of Jane Jacobs

Question 7

How did the rise of sustainability/ecological affect the practice of spatial planning?

Answer 7

Planners needed again to think about projects on a larger scale, moving past ‘livability’ and the neighborhood level. Built environment was seen as a key factor in ecological deterioration, and so therefore responsibility was shifted to the planners. The answer that planners arrived at was the model of the compact city

Question 8

How can we summarize the current debate over decentrism vs. centrism?

Answer 8

Decentrist use two arguments: (1) sprawl happens because the market is always right, and intervention will lead to inefficiency (neoliberal perspective) and (2) people want to live ‘rural’ and enjoy a quite life in the suburbs

Centrists argue that compact development will: (1) reduce climate impact, (2) improve landscape ecology outside the city and protect open space, and (3) improve the livability aspects of the city

Question 9

what are current trends in decentralization?

Answer 9

In NA, Australia and Japan: massive suburbanization at the edge of large agglomerations

In Europe: development of suburban areas around cities, towns and villages, often steered by green belts and other planning regulations

There are indicators that suburbanization is slowing down, since vacant buildings and empty cities are no longer as widespread. But, could this be due to migration?

Question 10

Does the compact city really cause less mobility?

Answer 10

the political idea that there is less mobility in compact cities is widely accepted, but scientific basis remains unclear. The chart from Newman & Kenworth (1989) can be criticized for focusing too much on one variable, it does not take tourism or commuting into account.

Question 11

How does quality of life influence the argument in favor of the compact city? Is this problematic?

Answer 11

Centrists want to prove that high density and livability are synonymous. This is based on a romantic idea of culturally vibrant city centers, and possibly over-idealizes mountain communities and historic city centers which no longer really exist

Question 12

What are the tentative solutions to achieve compact development?

Answer 12

The proposals of new urbanism: historicizing architecture which imitates picturesque village centers

Transit oriented development around public transit

self-sufficient transition towns with minimal physical link to other agglomerations

Question 13

What are Breheny’s conclusions?

Answer 13

1. the compact city ideal is flawed becuase environmental gains may not be as much as promised, decentralized development may never be fully stopped, greenfield development can never be completely avoided, and high density will probably not offer everyone the desired QoL
2. the decentrist approach is flawed because it leads to fragmentation and loss of useful land, transport is necessary, but less efficient more difficult to plan, and there is no societal support for inner city decay
3. Breheny argues in favor of marrying the two ideals, making each more feasible to achieve. This, in essence, is an argument in favor of Ebenzer Howard’s Garden City

Question 14

What are the 10 hypothetical effects of compact development on social justice?

Answer 14

1. access to facilities
2. access to green/open space
3. access to jobs
4. public transport
5. opportunity for cycling and walking
6. quality of living space
7. health
8. crime
9. social segregation
10. affordable housing

Question 15

What are the conclusions of Burton’s (2000) study on social justice and the compact city?

Answer 15

compactness showed positive effects on access to PT, social segregation and access to facilities

compactness showed negative effects on living space, cost of living, crime and soft modes

availability of social public housing is determining factor for segregation