A new perspective on urban spaces: urban sprawl, new urbanism and the role of the park and recreation field

Eric Bogosian's play, "Suburbia," which is set in a 7-11 parking lot, depicts what happens when an environment lacks decent public gathering places, with the kids in the play getting into a wide range of troubles. In an interview about the story, Bogosian notes, "There is nothing wrong with these kids. The landscape around and within their own minds isn't providing them with the tools to get around in the world beyond the suburbs. Meanwhile, TV is bombarding them with so much stuff that all they can feel is frustration. No wonder they think there's no point in doing anything ... they get into a lot of trouble there because they are bored. The suburbs can be a dangerous place at a certain age."

Bogosian's play brings out many of the pressing problems in America's communities today connected to the issues of urban sprawl, as well as what it means to be a citizen. As these issues play out, the suburbs are getting scrutinized by city officials and the general public. We are asking important questions about how to design areas to encourage a sense of community and promote the common good. These questions have been raised within the last 50 years, in which we have seen the quality of life in our inner cities deteriorate due to a wide range of inter-connected issues such as:

* Creating strip malls out of farmland in the suburbs pulls people away from central cities;

* Fewer people (especially families) in central cities leads to a smaller tax base for services including schools and parks and recreation; and

* Deteriorating schools and public places leads the middle class families to leave cities, and results in the decay of inner cities.

As the 21st century unfolds, our sprawling development pattern in the U.S. has emerged as a major issue for our collective society. In dealing with sprawl, author James Kuntsler has called for developing a more widespread consensus of hope--a cultural agreement as to the kind of world we want to live in, as well as the will to make this vision a reality. It is clear that the quality of the areas we build influences the quality of life in our communities.

John Muir, the great American naturalist, once stated, "When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe," and so it is with current development patterns. Development should encompass a wide range of economic, social, environmental and spiritual components, which demand an interdisciplinary and regional approach to urban design. Smart growth, new urbanism, sustainable communities, livable communities and healthy communities are current movements that address issues related to the predominant development pattern today--associated with growth, environmental degradation, inequity and an eroding quality of life (see Table 1 on page 59). These movements all recognize the importance of regional development strategies and are seen as part of a "new regionalism."

The goals of the new urbanism movement encourage governments to build social capital and address the problems of urban sprawl. New urbanism is a way to develop public space; it is about design, and recognizes that our built environment influences the way we enjoy life and how people use their community. The core principles of new urbanism are presented in Table 2 on page 60. In examining these principles, they are consistent with many of the values and the core mission of the park and recreation profession.

Loss of the Public Realm

The decay or lack of attention to the public realm can be seen in a variety of ways from the loss of the front porch in neighborhoods to a lack of permanence in municipal buildings and public space. Prior to the 1940s, most houses had a front porch where people gathered and socialized with their neighbors. However as air conditioning was created, television evolved and backyards became more attractive, we have seen a movement from the front porch to the backyard and from public to private space.

Governments on all levels were also shifting their approach to building public spaces. For example, from the time of Ben Franklin to the 1940s there was an ordinance within the U.S. Postal Service that buildings needed to be built with permanence in mind (buildings were to last 250 to 300 years). Since 1945, post offices have traded down in an effort to cut costs and now have buildings that do not add to the community. Recreation departments have also experienced a similar shift in priorities.

Consider Chicago, where recreation buildings built early in the 20th century added beauty and contributed to the look of the city. Early park and recreation reformers (e.g. Jane Addams, Frederick Law Olmsted) understood that community could not form in the absence of communal space without places for people to get together to talk. Civic life requires settings in which people meet as equals. The most significant amenity that the city can offer residents is a public area where people can meet in settings that promote public discourse.

Declining Tax Base

Many central cities have experienced decline as the suburbs around them have grown rapidly. As people and wealth leave the city, its property values decline, tax rates increase, services decline, and social problems and crime often increase. This creates a downward spiral for urban areas and provides the model of throwaway communities. As central cities decline can first-ring suburbs be far behind?

In Myron Orfield's 1997 study of the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, he created a time-lapsed montage of communities bobbing up and down in successive waves of prosperity, decline and decay. These waves, moving out from the city are now lapping into the suburbs. Orfield is quick to point out that "if it can happen here, no American region is immune" and prompts the question of where will it end.

As tax bases erode in inner cities, fast-growing suburbs struggle to keep pace with development. Consider that the infrastructure (sewer, water, streets, parks, fire and police) to support this development becomes more and more expensive the farther out it stretches. For example, in a 1999 report published by the National Public Policy Education Committee in South Carolina, "if sprawl continues unchecked, statewide infrastructure costs for the period 1995 to 2015 are projected to be more than $56 billion, or $750 per citizen every year for the next 20 years."

Stemming this decline is difficult and requires a wide range of partnerships that maintain the quality of life in cities and neighborhoods. Recreation and leisure opportunities are an important component in promoting the good life. As Michael Leitner and Sara Leitner report in their 1996 book, Leisure Enhancement, "leisure behavior is the most important or one of the most important determinants of life satisfaction and psychological well being."

Automobile Dependency

As development sprawls, the amount of time people travel increases. In the U.S., where mass transit is underdeveloped, a large portion of the day is spent in transit. According to Michael deCourcy Hinds' A Nice Place to Live: Creating Communities, Fighting Sprawl, the amount of time Americans spend driving automobiles has increased 60 percent since 1980. In addition, new developments are planned with cars in mind, meaning bigger parking lots, larger roads, air pollution and the erosion of walkways.

Harvard Public Policy Professor Robert Putnam notes that each additional 10 minutes spent in daily commuting time cuts community involvement by 10 percent.

A 2003 report from the Surface Transportation Policy Project shows that America's families spend more than 19 cents out of every dollar" earned on transportation--an expense second only to housing and greater than food and healthcare combined. The nation's poorest families are particularly burdened, spending more than 40 percent of their take-home pay just to get around.

Health-Related Risks

Sedentary living habits have increased in the last 20 years with the increase in desk jobs and the lack of exercise in peoples' day-to-day lives. The increasing use of automobiles has decreased physical activity, contributing to poor health and the rising level of obesity in the U.S. It is estimated that physical inactivity and obesity are contributing factors in 300,000 to 500,000 deaths each year in the U.S.

There has been an increase in the prevalence of obesity among adults in the U.S. throughout the last 20 years, adding more than $100 billion a year to our national healthcare costs. Nationwide, the proportion of children ages 6 to 18 that were overweight increased from 6 percent in 1976-1980 to 15 percent in 1999-2000. Alarmingly, one in every seven kids is overweight in the U.S.

Design of cities and neighborhoods can encourage people to walk often and for relatively longer periods. For example, residents of urban areas living in houses that were built prior to 1974 are more likely to get exercise by walking than peers living in newer homes. A recent study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that the link between walking and house age was present in urban and suburban areas but not in rural areas.

The study also found that what makes older neighborhoods special is that homes are built close together making walking easy and time efficient. Older neighborhoods mix homes with businesses and parks, which encourages walking over driving. Sidewalks and the safety of streets also encourage more walking. Newer neighborhoods usually have wider streets than do older ones, which leads to higher speeds for auto traffic.

According to public health professionals, one of the most effective interventions is regular, physical activity such as bicycling and walking as well as leading an active life. This realization provides park and recreation professionals an opportunity to provide an active vision for the future as well as provide cost benefit analyses supporting our programs.

Environmental Problems

As sprawl increases our reliance on the automobile and often works to undermine general health, it also contributes to poor water and air quality. A sprawling development pattern often undermines the benefits provided by a healthy ecosystem such as water and air purification, mitigation of floods and droughts, detoxification and decomposition of waste, soil generation and fertility and climate stabilization.

Urban development typically negates these services with the loss of wetlands and the creation of impervious surfaces. Watershed planning that is coordinated with recreation planning can reduce non-point source pollution, contribute to aquifer recharge, mitigate floods and droughts and provide for habitat diversity.

The park system within a community should be considered a part of the overall infrastructure and an investment in the community's natural capital. A well-planned park system is coordinated with municipal water management, transportation planning and energy conservation. Park and recreation departments have long been stewards of our natural heritage in cities. Typically, they are the largest land managers within a community. Accomplishing this role requires active participation in land use and site development decisions.

Loss of Social Capital

The idea of "social capital" has received a great deal of attention since the release of Putnam's book Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. In this book, Putnam reviews the "state of community," and concludes that America is suffering from a decline in social capital.

Putnam defines social capital as "features of social life--networks, norms and trust--that enable participants to act together more effectively to pursue shared objectives." This is a critical element to the success of democracy. Putnam documents the decline of social capital in America as reflected by decreasing membership in voluntary organizations, such as the Boy Scouts of America, the League of Women Voters, the Parent Teacher Association and the American Red Cross.

Putnam attributes our loss of social capital to a variety of factors such as changing work patterns, urban sprawl, generational change, television and other changes in technology. Regardless of the cause, social capital is an important issue for leisure service professionals and can be identified as one of the benefits of our programs and services. Consider, in a 1996 study of conflict and violence in and around public housing in Chicago, researchers found that the residents of buildings with surrounding green space had a stronger sense of community, had better relationships with their neighbors, and reported using less violent ways of dealing with domestic conflicts, particularly with their parents.

As we move forward into the 21st century, Putnam suggests the need to get creative in addressing the decline of social capital by connecting to the pioneers in parks and recreation such as Joseph Lee and Jane Addams. These leaders correctly diagnosed the problem of a social capital or civic engagement deficit, and created programs and organizations to address this deficit.

The Park and Recreation Challenge

Urban park and recreation professionals must be informed on issues related to sprawl within their communities and begin to explore how their cities stack up. In addition, park and recreation professionals should partner with proponents of new urbanism, smart growth, sustainable communities and healthy communities to create a public realm that fosters the building of great communities and the good life (see Table 3 on page 62).

[TABLE 3 OMITTED]

In revisiting the key principles of new urbanism identified in Table 2, we can see many values that the park and recreation profession shares with new urbanists. These values include renewal, collaboration, celebrating diversity, preserving our past and the desire to provide public space in our cities.

Table 1. Current Development Movements

Movement       Sectoral roots   Principles

Smart Growth   Land Use         Mixed land use
               Transportation   Take advantage of compact building
               Economic           design
                 Development    Create housing opportunities and
                                  choice
                                Create walkable communities
                                Foster distinctive attractive
                                  communities with a strong sense of
                                  place
                                Preserve open space, farmland, natural
                                  beauty and critical environmental
                                  areas
                                Strengthen and direct development
                                  toward existing communities
                                Provide a variety of transportation
                                  choices
                                Make development decisions
                                  predictable, fair and cost-effective
                                Encourage community and stakeholder
                                  collaboration in development
                                  decisions.

Livable        Architecture     Creating better homes and communities
Communities    City Planning    Creating community schools and civic
                                  places
                                Encouraging smart growth
                                Enhancing water resources
                                Empowering individuals and communities
                                Preserving open space and farmland
                                Promoting transportation choices
                                Reclaiming brownfields
                                Strengthening local economies

Sustainable    Environment      Living sustainably
Communities                     Creating community
                                Growing sustainable economy
                                Protecting natural resources
                                Smart growth
                                Governing community

Healthy        Public Health    Broad definition of health
Communities                     Broad definition of community
                                Shared vision from community values
                                Improved quality of life for everyone
                                Diverse citizen participation
                                Focus on systems change
                                Development of local assets and
                                  resources
                                Benchmarks and measures of progress

New Urbanism   Architecture     Compact walkable neighborhoods
               Economic         Interconnected network of streets
                 Development    Neighborhoods connected by public
               Urban Design       transit
                                Diverse mix of activities (residence,
                                  shops, schools, parks) occur in
                                  proximity
                                Wide spectrum of housing options
                                  should enable people of a broad
                                  range of incomes, ages and family
                                  types to live within a single
                                  neighborhood

Source: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Table 2. New Urbanism's Core Principles

(Excerpts taken from the Charter of the New Urbanism, 1998)

Renewal

* We stand for the restoration of existing
urban centers and towns within coherent
metropolitan regions, the reconfiguration
of sprawling suburbs into communities of
real neighborhood and diverse districts,
the conservation of natural environments,
and the preservation of our built legacy.

Collaboration

* We represent a broad-based citizenry,
composed of public and private sector
leaders, community activists and multidisciplinary
professionals. We are committed
to reestablishing the relationship
between the art of building and making of
community, through citizen-based participatory
planning and design.

Diversity and Density

* Cities and towns should bring into proximity
a broad spectrum of public and private
uses to support a regional economy
that benefits all incomes. Affordable
housing should be distributed throughout
the region to match job opportunities and
to avoid concentrations of poverty.

* Neighborhoods should be diverse in
use and population.... Neighborhoods
should be compact, pedestrian friendly
and mixed-use.... Many activities of daily
living should occur within walking distance.

* Within neighborhoods, a broad range
of housing types and price levels can
bring people of diverse ages, races and
incomes into daily interaction.

* Appropriate building densities and land
uses should be within walking distance of
transit stops, permitting public transit to
become a viable alternative to the automobile.

Continuity and Tradition

* The development and redevelopment of
towns and cities should respect historical
patterns, precedents and boundaries.

* Architecture and landscape design
should grow from local climate, topography,
history and building practice.

* Preservation and renewal of historical
buildings, districts and landscapes affirm
the continuity and evolution of urban
society.

Public Space

* Cities and towns should be shaped by
physically defined and universally accessible
public spaces and community institutions.

* Concentration of civic, institutional and
commercial activity should be embedded
in neighborhoods and districts.

* Civic buildings and public gathering
places require important sites to reinforce
community identity and the culture
of democracy.

COPYRIGHT 2005 National Recreation and Park Association
COPYRIGHT 2005 Gale Group