New Urbanism

Comeback planned for commercial corridor

It’s time for the City of Oxnard to begin to think about how to fix Oxnard Boulevard and Saviers Road. While Oxnard’s main streets have been a state highway for years, now our main streets are waiting to become walkable places that generate economic development for Oxnard. The following article is an example of how one city re-vitalized its main street. “Of the corridor’s 100 acres, 11 percent of the land is vacant. Even where buildings are constructed, a large number are vacant. A market study by Bleakly Advisory Group revealed 165,000 square feet of commercial buildings on the corridor, … Read more

The Evolution of Urban Planning

Urban planning has been around for as long as cities have existed, but the 20th century saw a number of bold ideas that radically changed the make-up of our urban centers. From garden cities to psychogeography, today’s infographic by Konstantin von der Schulenburg is an informative overview of the modern movements and ideas that shaped urban planning. THE EVOLUTION OF URBAN PLANNING Urban planning has changed a lot over the centuries. Early city layouts revolved around key elements such as prominent buildings (e.g. cathedrals, monuments) and fortification (e.g. city walls, castles). As cities grew larger, they also became more unpleasant. Here are some … Read more

Why We Code

Oxnard needs Form Based Zoning Codes for the Successor Agency (Redevelopment) properties. Form based codes will give developers proper guidance – they will know precisely what is wanted by Oxnard Planning before they submit a project. Without Form Based codes developers will not have proper direction and may build anything that meets current 50-year-old development standards and design guidelines.  Code workshop at CNU 23 sponsored by DPZ and Placemakers Andres Duany offers more than 20 reasons why urban design coding is necessary—and he hopes that someday it will no longer be needed.Within the last half-century, some 30 million buildings have degraded cities and … Read more

Potential of Downtown Oxnard

Recently stated by others: “…Downtown Oxnard will never be the thriving hub of county commerce again, because 101 is now the main artery and other parts of the county, mostly near major thoroughfares, are now more developed.” Oxnard Renaissance: The 101 will not be king forever. Private cars, except for the very wealthy, will be a thing of the past – perhaps in our lifetimes. Train (tube) corridors are the future. Oh, wait – there aren’t any in the West…Oh well. Time will play this out – we could make more dumb near term politically motivated choices, like choosing high-speed rail over … Read more

65 Reasons Why Urbanism Works

Office space bordering Bryant Park in New York garner 63% higher rents than those one block away, thanks the economic value of urban parks. CreativeCommons image by Hazel Borys. RESEARCH 65 reasons why urbanism works Studies that quantify how urban places affect human, economic, and environmental wellness are essential to building the political will for change. HAZEL BORYS    NOV. 21, 2017 “Reconciliation is making peace with reality, our ideals, and the gap in between,” via Her Honour, Janice C. Filmon, Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba. Much of our work at PlaceMakers is about redirecting the trajectory of where we are headed with … Read more

25 Great Ideas of the New Urbanism

Rendering of I-980 in Oakland as a multi-way boulevard. Credit / Dover, Kohl & Partners The New Urbanism is a design movement toward complete, compact, connected communities—but it is also a generator of ideas that transform the landscape. Communities are shaped by the movement and flow of ideas, and the New Urbanism has been a particularly rich source of the currents that have directed planning and development in recent decades. This year the 25th annual Congress for the New Urbanism was held in Seattle. The 1,400 attendees, their friends and associates and like-minded people, are like sailors on the sea … Read more

Traditional Neighborhood vs Suburban Subdivision

In a recent Facebook post by Civic By Design Traditional Neighborhood Design (TND) is compared to a suburban subdivision. The benefits of the TND far outweigh the “benefits” of the more conventional suburban design. The graphics speak for themselves. Civic by Design notes that the TND is by DPZ click for link to Vermillion project in Hunterville, North Carolina.    

How not to create traffic jams, pollution and urban sprawl

Don’t let people park for free Apr 8th 2017| AMSTERDAM, BEIJING AND TOKYO EVEN if the new headquarters that Apple is creating in California does not prove to be “the best office building in the world”, as Steve Jobs boasted shortly before his death in 2011, it will be an astounding sight. The main building resembles a flying saucer with a hole in the middle. Through its large, gently curving windows, workers will eventually look out on a wood containing some 7,000 carefully chosen trees. It is as though a race of high-tech beings has landed on a pristine planet. … Read more

The Public Realm

The Public Realm Complete streets are more than bike lanes, crosswalks, sidewalks, and vehicle lanes; they are buildings that engage the people in the right of way. Well-designed plazas, squares, and greens are framed by landscape design and architecture that relates to local culture, history, and climate. New urbanists have long advanced the idea that the public realm ties cities together and is a potential source of joy and inspiration to all citizens. Former Bogota mayor Enrique Peñalosa may have said it best: “Great public space is a kind of magical good. It never ceases to yield happiness. It is almost … Read more