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<br />DROP THE CUL-DE-SAC
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<br />The cul-de-sac, a fancy term for "dead
<br />fiend," has emerged as the street plan of
<br />choice for modern suburbs. Its great ad-
<br />vantage -the elimination of through traf-
<br />fic-is also its weakness, because it com-
<br />pels everyone in a given subdivision to
<br />use the same few roads, often at the same
<br />times. Anyone attempting to travel on
<br />foot or by bicycle will eventually wind up
<br />on the shoulder of a busy highway -and
<br />probably give up. But streets don't have
<br />to be like that: they can follow predictable
<br />routes and interconnect. This gives mo-
<br />torists achoice of routes, so they don't all
<br />pile up' every morning waiting to make a
<br />left turn at the same intersection.
<br />DRAW BOUNDARIES
<br />IN AN ABSOLUTE SENSE, THERE IS NO REAL SHORTAGE OF
<br />51and in the United States; if the entire population lived on an
<br />acre of land per household, it would occupy less than 5 percent
<br />of the contiguous 48 states (plus all of Canada and Mexico for
<br />parking). But in the regions where Americans actually want to live,
<br />they are swarming into the countryside, covering whole counties
<br />with "edge cities' flung outward from the beltways as if by centrifu-
<br />gal force. New York City's suburbs reach across the whole state of
<br />New Jersey into eastern Pennsylvania, neazly 100 miles from
<br />Times Squaze. To new-urbanist theoreticians, this is the disastrous
<br />result of shortsighted government policies, such as the bias in the
<br />federal mortgage-guarantee program toward detached houses on
<br />large plots of land. To f=ee-market economists, it represents the
<br />sum of millions of choices by informed individuals who have
<br />decided that, on balance, getting up before dawn in Bucks County
<br />beats a full night's sleep in Brooklyn.
<br />But sprawl is not a necessary component of aBluence. In Europe
<br />and Japan, governments have proclaimed "urban-growth bound-
<br />aries,"beyond which development is more or less prohibited. Even
<br />in a democratic country such as Hol-
<br />land, abusinessman seeking to live on a ~ ,;"~~ , -~
<br />fazm and drive into the city to work ~-
<br />would have to request permission from ''
<br />the government-and he might not get
<br />it. Try telling that to Lee Iacocca. Con-
<br />trary to populaz American political the-
<br />ory, these regulations haven't notice-
<br />ably affected the prosperity of Western `"`
<br />Europe-nor of the one major Ameri-
<br />can city that has instituted its own ur-
<br />ban-growth boundary: Portland, Ore.
<br />ir_
<br />In Oregon, naturally, no one would . ~ " ,
<br />prevent the hypothetical businessman re~+ts n. w~LSON-Nrwsw
<br />from living on a farm; he just couldn't ': Leading new urban
<br />sell it off for a subdivision when he re-
<br />tired to Palm Springs. More than 20 Nothing Irks Peter
<br />years ago, planners for the Portland Calthorpe more than
<br />haetropolitan azea drew a line around "tutysayers who say
<br />326 square miles-covering 24 munici- .Americans don't wan
<br />palities and parts of three counties- (fire in high-density
<br />and designated it to receive virtually all .cities-they want
<br />population growth. Along the way they suburbs, as though
<br />have reduced the average lot size for there were only two
<br />detached houses from 13,000 square ~d~~„ According
<br />feet to an average of 8,500 square feet-
<br />roughly the difi'erence between putting ~ San Francisco
<br />three and five units on an acre. The architect, "The a
<br />proposed future goal is an even mingier it to understand the
<br />6,600 squaze feet. Between now and the are a huge number o
<br />year 2040, Portland's planners expect people With different
<br />the population to grow some 7 i per- UfeStyleS. There are
<br />cent, but they are committed to an in- different densities in
<br />crease of residential land use of only 6 new urbanism, some
<br />percent. Instead of planting more "edge ~~ some high.
<br />tides" at the azbitrary points where Neighborhoods that
<br />freeways intersect, Portland has con-
<br />centrated job gro~tiKh in its downtown. have dhrersity-Caf'
<br />The urban-gro~~~th boundary has been recreation, casual
<br />su succcsslill that even a conservative social encounters-
<br />property-rights group, Oregonians in will be increasingly
<br />Action, endorses the concept (although Important. Suburbs
<br />it azgues with some details). Imagine :aren't just about
<br />how' Los Angeles would look today if it .bedrooms anymore.
<br />had done this 20 yeazs ago. ._ .. __.. .
<br />F.lK
<br />isr
<br />that
<br />t to
<br />to
<br />newer
<br />re
<br />f
<br />es,
<br />,.
<br />MAY 15, 1995 NEWSWEEK 49
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