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Bryan Clevenger and Chris Hinkle of Fort Wayne’s ForeSight
Consulting learned more about how our yesterdays may be the
model for the urban centers of tomorrow during a recent two-day
seminar in Carmel, Indiana.
Clevenger, a landscape architect, and Hinkle, a civil engineer
specializing in design, participated in “Retrofitting
the Suburbs: New Urbanism in the Midwest,” a seminar
presented by the Florida-based Seaside Institute, a nonprofit
organization promoting “neotraditional” community
design.
‘ New Urbanism’ is a concept that’s purposely reminiscent
of neighborhoods developed before the automobile became such an important design
consideration,” Clevenger says. “These neotraditional communities
often include a wider variety of housing options, including attached single-family
homes, townhomes, condominiums, and living space above retail space. Garages
and parking spaces are generally accessed from the rear of units, allowing
the front porch and entry areas of units to more directly address the streets
and
create an inviting pedestrian zone. Open space, shopping, restaurants, and
other attractions are typically within walking distance.
“New Urbanism communities are very pedestrian-friendly, but they’re
also designed to accommodate other alternatives to automobile travel, such as
buses and rail. And of course, bicycling is also another very attractive alternative
taken into account,” Clevenger says. “New Urbanism communities are
designed so that the idea of getting into a your car to run an errand—like
picking up a gallon of milk—seems ridiculous.
“And because residents spend less time in their vehicles and more time
interacting on the street, New Urbanism also nurtures the sense of neighborhood—the
sense of community—that we’ve lost during recent decades of urban
sprawl,” Clevenger adds.
The seminar included visits to some areas of Carmel where
New Urbanism is already in play. One such place is the Village
of West Clay, a picture-perfect
community
evocative of a bygone era. Clevenger says he sees New Urbanism as something
the City of Fort Wayne has the potential to consider as it looks for
ways to revitalize
the downtown area.
“The seminar made a strong case for New Urbanism, and we came away with
many ideas of how the concept could be implemented in Fort Wayne,” Clevenger
says. “There are several sites in and adjacent to downtown Fort Wayne
that would provide perfect places to implement this concept.”
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