Density And The 'Downzoning Uprising'
Density means vitality and energy for a city...as long as it is not too close to home.
"In what some housing experts are calling "the downzoning uprising," communities throughout the city want to see an end to an influx of apartments, additional people, and what they consider McMansions - and to preserve neighborhoods of limestone town houses, 1950's ranch houses, even humble wood-frame houses wrapped in aluminum siding...
The downzoning issue also underscores the ambivalence of many New Yorkers toward density. New Yorkers celebrate the city's vitality, changeability and allure, and many recognize density as somehow crucial to New York's energy and life. Yet they balk at the prospect of too much density and change close to home - their homes."
- Login or register to post comments
- Email this page
- A New (Old) Vision For Penn Station - Feb 09, 2012
- See the New WTC Views, 80 Floors Up - Feb 07, 2012
- Refining the Software of Placemaking - Feb 01, 2012
- As New York Plants One Million Trees, Benefits—and Some Burdens—Grow - Feb 01, 2012
- The Story Behind Stanford's Withdrawl from NYC Tech Campus Competition - Jan 31, 2012
Planetizen picks
Contribute
- NY Times Defends the Port Authority
- Expanding the Hong Kong Subway, One Blast at a Time
- Can An Electric Bike Replace A Car?
- The Growing Popularity of Women-Only Mass Transit
- Putting the Bloom Back on the Rose Bowl
- Friday Funny: Smellvertising, Coming to a Bus Stop Near You
- Senate Yeas While House Nays on Transportation
- Seeing a Bright Side to the Architecture Meltdown
- Super Slim Me?
- Why NASA's Spectacular Image of the Earth is So Disturbing
Volunteerism Plays Critical Role in Reaching World’s Millennium Development Goals
Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs, Cleveland State University
Feb 10, 2012
Web Seminar: Economic Development in a Digital World: Home-Based Businesses and Virtual Workers
International Economic Development Council
Feb 08, 2012
www.flickr.com
|
Is higher density always the answer?
The Brookings Institution's "Who Sprawls Most" study showed that cities with the densest centers tend to have the most sprawl. When an increase in density causes a net loss of larger and better-off households, they may well move to lower-density, higher car use neighborhoods. Adding townhouses usually doesn't do this, but taking a mix of houses and small apartment buildings and adding more apartments often causes a net move to the suburbs. The demographic change due to densification is relatively simple to calculate. I doubt neighbors have the bigger picture in mind, but their revolt may inadvertently be doing the environment a favor.
Density And The 'Downzoning Uprising'
So how to combat against this anti-density movement? The prospective residents have no voice - only that of the developer who tries to accommodate their housing needs. The current residents have the political clout - esp. during election season!!!
Irvin Dawid