As always some interesting responses to density.
The higher urban densities necessary to become a more environmentally, socially
and economically sustainable Ithaca do not mean more people, nor does it entail
building vertically or blocking views As is the case throughout most of the
rest of the world, simply adopting the two story attached townhome as the
primary residential architecture would result in a tripling of the population
density in a city like Ithaca. The result would be a city of 55,000 covering
less than 3 square miles of flat valley floor as opposed to 11 square miles
sprawled over three hills.
It wouldn't be as fun or vibrant as Brooklyn, (+/-28,000 persons/sq. mile) or
Toronto, or the older inner city neighborhoods of Baltimore where I recently
completed a study of parks and community gardens. It would however be a very
compact, livable community.
Other positive results:
- most work, shopping and recreational destinations within a one mile radius of
the typical home - a 20 minute walk or 10 minute bike ride;
- a well defined boundary between city and country within one mile of every
household, as opposed to the miles of sprawl development that now spreads out
from Ithaca;
- six elementary schools within a 1/3 to 1/2 miles of 80 percent of their
students - awalkable distance for most children;
- a TCAT public transit system able to put two or more busses on individual
routes and thus increase the desnity of runs from 1 or less per hour to 2 or 3
per hour;
- elimination of the need for incredibly expensive, resource intensive and
economically unsustainable transit technology such as light rail, trolleys and
personal rapid transit;
- elimination of the need for some 2,000 parking spaces in lots and parking
garages downtown, and placement of that paved over land into more productive
uses, like lawns and gardens;
- relegation of the automobile to a subordinate role in household
transportation and return to the one-car family;
- an integrated network of parks and community gardens throughout the city,
covering roughly 20 percent of the urban land area;
- 250 spaces for bicycle parking and 25 spaces for cars, and an acre of
greenspace or more stalls at the Ithaca Framers Market, as opposed to the 250
parking spaces and nearly 2 acres dedicated to cars and 25 spaces for bicycles
today;
- the evolution (or devolution) of of 8 square miles of sprawl into woodland,
meadowland and farmland;
- increased opportunity for cooperative owned and operated systems and services
such as cooperative daycare, schools, kitchens, car ownership, home energy
systems;
That's what I've come up with in the five minutes I alotted myself.
The vision is not limited to Ithaca: outlying villages and hamlets such as
Dryden, Groton, Varna, Slaterville Springs, Danby, Newfield Jacksonville and
Trumansburg could evolve in a similar manner, becoming compact communities
accommodating a substantial proportion of the County's population.
With a projected need of 15,000 or more people engaged in a more local
sustainable agricultural economy the demographics could work out to about 60
percent of the population living in a compact urban node in Ithaca, about 25
percent in villages and hamlets, and 15 percent in rural areas.
Population growth would still occur, but instead of gobbling up 1,500 or
more acres, we would be consuming about 100 acres or less for each 2,500 new
residents.
Projecting to the state level, Ithaca is one of about 2 dozen urban areas of
50,000 to 100,000 residents in New York. Outside New York and Long Island
there are only a half dozen urban areas with more than 100,000 residents.
Hence a statewide evolution would result in the majority of our cities becoming
far more sustainable.
Is this going to happen overnight? Of course not, but it could happen over the
course of 3-4 decades.
As for WalMart, I don't shop there myself. Given what I know about the Toyota
Motor Company, its history and it's labor and environmental practices, I don't
shop there either.
George Frantz
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