Architecture Commons^™

10 Minute City -Reinventing Ways To Move Around The City Via Scooter, Emily Melchor

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Urban sprawl is an issue that many major cities in the United States are experiencing. The population rise in cities has contributed to their rapid growth, increased traffic, pollution, and the reliability on cars. These issues can slowly be tackled by addressing them in areas that are on their way to reaching the height of urban sprawl. An example of such an area is Gwinnett County located northeast of Atlanta. Gwinnett County is on its way to becoming one of Georgia’s most populated counties, according to MARTA Transit System. MARTA did such studies on Gwinnett because in 2018, MARTA along …

The False Hope Of Comprehensive Planning, Michael Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

Some commentators on sprawl and smart growth speak of municipal comprehensive plans and sprawl as polar opposites: but in fact, a comprehensive plan can be used to further auto-oriented sprawl just as easily as it can be used to encourage more pedestrian-friendly development. This speech uses parts of Jacksonville, Florida's plan as examples of pro-sprawl planning.

Judaism And Urbanism: Jewish Communities React To Suburbanization, Michael Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

This speech addresses both how Jews should react to suburbanization and how they in fact have reacted in a variety of metropolitan areas.

Why Leave It To The Liberals? Conservative Views On Smart Growth, Michael E. Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

Part of panel discussion on "Why Leave It To The Liberals? Conservative Views on Smart Growth"

Sprawl In Canada And The United States, Michael Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

The purpose of this Article is to ascertain whether (1) suburban sprawl is as widespread in Canadian metropolitan areas as in their American counterparts, and (2) Canadian government policies, and in particular Canadian zoning law and transportation policies, encourage sprawl. The article concludes that Canadian metropolitan areas are in fact somewhat less sprawling than most of their American counterparts, but that in Canada, as in the United States, government land use regulation and government transportation policy do favor sprawl to some extent. For example, in both nations municipal zoning regulations, by limiting density and forcing landowners to build parking lots, …

Judaism And Sprawl, Michael E. Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

A speech explaining the relationship between suburban sprawl, Jewish values and Jewish observance.

Regulated Into Automobile Dependence: How City Hall Mandates Sprawl And What Planners Can Do About It, Michael E. Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

A brief (about 20-minute) speech explaining why government regulation promotes automobile-dependent development.

Alternative Learning Formats In A Land Use Seminar, Michael E. Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

A symposium piece on my use of field trips and guest speakers in my seminar on sprawl and the law.

Sprawl In Canada And The United States (Powerpoint), Michael E. Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

PowerPoints for a speech explaining that sprawl in Canada is (1) less extensive than in the USA and (2) caused partially by government regulation.

Alternative Learning Formats In A Land Use Seminar, Michael E. Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

A discussion of my use of field trips and guest speakers in my seminar on sprawl and the law.

Land Conservation And Land Use In New England: Trends, Challenges & Opportunities, Amanda Loomis, Tom Devine, Andrea Small, Brittany Howard, Brett Richardson, Stephanie Dulac

Land Conservation

Sprawling development patterns accelerated across the New England landscape in the last three decades and consumed the region‘s forests, farms, and open spaces at an unprecedented rate. New England‘ers in all six states formed land trusts, supported statewide conservation organizations, and collaborated with state and federal partners to protect some of their most-prized recreation lands, wildlife habitats, and working lands. The current economic recession has slowed development pressures across the region and offers an opportunity to build on recent successes. The time is right to plan a coordinated New England conservation strategy that protects and links the region‘s natural assets. …

A Libertarian Smart Growth Agenda, Michael E. Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

Discusses a variety of policies that both limit sprawl and enhance, rather than reducing, landowners' property rights.

Santiago De Querétaro, Ciudad Dispersa Y Fragmentada ¿Un Futuro Sostenible? / Santiago De Querétaro, A Fragmented And Sprawl City. A Sustainable Future?, Yanet Lezama-López

Yanet Lezama-López

A través de una revisión crítica de la teoría y práctica de la planificación urbana predominante en México, basada el paradigma del movimiento modernista o lecorbusiano desde el Siglo XX, esta ponencia toma como estudio de caso la ciudad de Santiago de Querétaro para mostrar cómo este paradigma, sumado a la discrecionalidad que ejercen las autoridades locales responsables de su planificación urbana, la han convertido en una ciudad en dónde el interés público se ha subordinado al de los agentes privados. Esto se evidencia en el modelo de ciudad “dispersa”, de bajas densidades, y al mismo tiempo fragmentada, en dónde …

Sprawl In Europe And America, Michael E. Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

Rebuts the "Inevitability Theory of Sprawl"- the common argument that anti-sprawl policies would be futile in the United States because sprawl has grown even in Europe. Although Europeans are far more likely to travel on foot, bike or public transit than Americans, some commentators argue that these realities are irrelevant because European cities are trending towards sprawl- that is, that Europeans are far more likely to live in suburbs and drive to work than they once did.

This article argues that the European "trend to sprawl" is in the process of reversing itself. Over the past decade, some European cities …

Sprawl, Y'All, Michael E. Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

Explains why conservatives should be worried about suburban sprawl.

The Fire Next Time: Land Use Planning In The Wildland/Urban Interface, Jamison E. Colburn

Jamison E. Colburn

Wildfire is a growing threat to suburban and exurban communities, in part because fires have grown more severe and frequent as a result of land use and climatic influences and in part because more people are living in fire prone areas. The so-called Healthy Forest Restoration Act (HFRA), the federal government’s response to this crisis, is a deeply flawed statute that will likely exacerbate wildfire risks at the same time it makes real ecological restoration even harder. While HFRA took halting, partial steps toward the integration of broad and small scale land use planning, it was clearly still the outgrowth …

Saving The Inner Suburbs, Michael E Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

While Jacksonville's older, more walkable neighborhoods and its newest suburbs have been thriving, its 1950s and 1960s suburbs have been declining. This article analyzes the causes of (and possible solutions to) this problem.

Five Myths About Sprawl , Michael E Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

In Sprawl: A Compact History, Robert Bruegmann, an art historian, has painted a superficially convincing case for the status quo, asserting that sprawl is “a natural result of affluence that occurs in all urbanized societies.” Bruegmann's book has generated glowing media publicity. This article suggests that Bruegmann overestimates the universality of sprawl, by overlooking the differences between pedestrian-friendly cities with some sprawling development and cities in which automobile-dependent sprawl is the only choice available to most consumers. In addition, Bruegmann understates the harmful social effects of sprawl, especially the effect of automobile-dependent development upon non-drivers. Bruegmann also consistently underestimates the …

How Government Regulation Forces Americans Into Their Cars: A Case Study, Michael E Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

Shows how zoning law in Jacksonville contributes to automobile dependence.

Planners Gone Wild: The Overregulation Of Parking, Michael E Lewyn, Shane Cralle

Michael E Lewyn

A review of Donald Shoup's book, The High Cost of Free Parking (to be published in William Mitchell Law Review).

Policy Tools For Smart Growth In New England, New England Environmental Finance Center

Smart Growth

Across New England communities have been experiencing a rapid outward surge of development away from our community and downtown centers. Effects of sprawl include a loss of wildlife habitat, farm and timber lands; increased costs of community services and higher taxes; auto-dependency, longer commutes, and increased congestion; increases in air and water pollution; a sedentary lifestyle and increased obesity; and losses to one’s sense of place and social ties.

State-level responses to sprawl have surfaced throughout New England in recent years. This report describes 11 examples of these responses, representing all six New England states and a diversity of recent …

How City Hall Causes Sprawl - A Case Study, Michael E Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

A book review addressing the city of Atlanta's pro-sprawl transportation, zoning and urban renewal policies.

Model State Land Use Legislation For New England, New England Environmental Finance Center, Muskie School Of Public Service

Legislation

Sprawl is neither the ordained nor the inevitable outcome upon the New England landscape. A coordinated response to sprawl by the public and private sectors is possible, and could dramatically improve land use patterns and reduce the cost of local government. For the New England states, such a response would include, among other elements, legislation to eliminate existing gaps in the land use laws of each state – gaps that presently encourage or sanction sprawling development. It would also include incentives for municipalities to think beyond their borders and to act with greater efficiency and effect. It is the purpose …

Sprawl, Growth Boundaries And The Rehnquist Court , Michael E Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

This article addresses the constitutionality and wisdom of Oregon's urban growth boundary (UGB) program. The article concludes that the program is constitutional under current precedent, and that (contrary to claims made by UGB critics) there is little evidence that the UGB has caused Oregon's runup in housing prices. On the other hand, UGB supporters may have exaggerated the UGB's positive environmental results.

Suburban Sprawl: Not Just An Environmental Issue, Michael E Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

Explains why conservatives should be concerned about suburban sprawl, and how market-oriented solutions can mitigate sprawl.

Housing Policies In Maine: A Historical Overview, Frank O’Hara

Maine Policy Review

Frank O’Hara traces the evolution of Maine’s housing policies from Maine’s settlement after the Revolutionary War to the current era, where concerns about sprawl and the preservation of communities have come to the fore. In doing so, O’Hara points out that the approach to housing has always reflected more than a desire to ensure every person has adequate shelter. Rather, it reflects core values and beliefs about society, our sense of beauty, and our relationship to the environment and one another. O’Hara urges policymakers to keep these broader constructs in mind when addressing Maine’s future housing needs. As history shows, …