New Urbanism Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

New Urbanism - Research Paper ExampleRyans article seems to be merely reporting, but contains an undercurrent of argument that things will be better by recreating the past in public places with new technology. Although Kunstler, Davis, and Ryan seem at odds with one another, they are arguing for the same thing the revitalization of an urban America that will increase public happiness by re-integrating people with their environs and one another.James Kunstlers essay is essentially a lament for the America of the past. He makes his point by contrasting the American cities and towns of today with those of the past, with those of France, and with Disneyland. The reason that Americans point out Disneyland so democratic, he says, is that The design quality of Disney humans ... is about 1.5 notches better than the average American suburban shopping mall or housing component (Kunstler ). This is vastly different from the situation in France, where the close mediocre French street quart er is five times better (Kunstler ). The reason for this, Kunstler argues, is that after World War II Americans stopped building things to last.A related problem is that of zoning. Before World War II, zoning did not exist. Instead, people had a popular consensus about the right way to assemble a town (Kunstler ). This resulted in cities that reflected American culture, instead of a meaningless set of laws. As a result to both problemsthe decay of building to last and the rise of soulless zoning lawsKunstler holds up what he calls Civic Art, but which our textbook calls New Urbanism. He defines the most important part of this movement as the neighborhood, which is a five-minute walking distance from the edge to the center and where wheeled vehicles are permitted, but do not institute precedence over human needs, including aesthetic needs (Kunstler ). Only by moving away from the drab suburban sprawl which fills us with nostalgia and back to