Suburban cities are working with developers to create new town centers, many of them modeled after Celebration, Fla., developed by Walt Disney Co.
Urban planners say the best reason for creating a downtown is that it encourages commerce. "It's important because that's where retail's going. Shoppers want . . . an enjoyable social experience. They want to be in real places," says John Norquist, president and chief executive of Congress for the New Urbanism, a nonprofit group that encourages the building of such compact, pedestrian-friendly communities.
One of the challenges is the need to include affordable housing even though land costs are high. "Aside from diversity and all those wonderful things, no society works without some number of service workers," says David Smith, president of Recap Advisors, an affordable-housing consulting firm in Boston. "The closer they are to the jobs they do, the happier everybody is."
Another issue is that new downtowns seem contrived. Town-center designers are trying to combat that in part by hiring teams of architects so buildings aren’t all designed by one person and by selling lots separately rather than turning over large tracts to just one developer.
Source: Orlando Sentinel, Sandra Pedicini (02/12/07)
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Suburbans Want More Urban
Saturday, February 10, 2007
"Miles per House" Bodes Well for the New Traditional Neighborhood
Click here to refresh: http://www.newherbanism.blogspot.com/
Look for “house miles” to become an important consideration in home purchases in coming years, say land-use experts who gathered for the Urban Land Institute’s recent meeting in Denver.
“A new generation of home buyers is looking at the world differently, and to them, green building will be a given," says John McIlwain, a senior resident fellow of ULI. "The issue of energy savings will be a fundamental driver in their decisions on what and where to buy." The cost of distance, along with heating and cooling, has a direct impact on housing affordability, McIlwain pointed out, noting that “miles per house” — the number of miles a home is from employment, retail, education, and entertainment — could become a standard measurement of location desirability.
A 2005 ULI survey of consumers found them willing to combine more trips and use mass transit more to cut down on fuel consumption, said Robert Dunphy, who's also a senior resident fellow of ULI. Transportation spending is the second largest component of consumer expenses, currently taking up an average of 19 percent of their monthly income (monthly home mortgage payments generally at least 33 percent).
As the cost of energy plays a more important role in home-buying decisions, house miles will become a deal breaker or maker. That trend will drive the development of sustainable housing and "green" communities. The land-use experts discussed some designs that are now gaining traction, such as close-in infill projects, more downtown housing, and more mixed-use projects in urban centers and on the urban fringe.
Source: Daily Real Estate News, by Camilla McLaughlin for REALTOR® Magazine Online
Monday, February 05, 2007
U.S. Homebuyers will Pay Premium for "Green" Homes
Click here to refresh: http://www.newherbanism.blogspot.com/
A survey released this week by Green Builder Media and Imre Communications reveals that U.S. homebuyers are willing to pay a premium for more environmentally friendly, green-built homes. The study surveyed more than 250 residential builders across the United States. A wide range of builders was included, from the affordable, market rate, luxury/semi-custom, custom, multi-family and developer categories.
More than half of homebuilders surveyed report that buyers are willing to pay a premium of between 11-25 percent for green-built homes. The same builders report that the average green homebuyer is between the ages of 35-50 with a college degree and a fair understanding of green products.
Source: Real Trends Newsletter, February 2, 2007
This is VERY good news for Traditional Neighborhood Development, because the same people who understand and value green building will understand and value the principles and benefits of living in a new traditional neighborhood.
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Top 10 Trends That Shaped U.S. Cities in 2006
Click here to refresh: http://www.newherbanism.blogspot.com/
For 10 years, Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program has charted trends and highlighted challenges facing America’s metro areas. This year’s big picture: Statistics might portray an economy on the rebound, but many parts of the country and many households don’t share in that success.
Ten noteworthy trends, according to Brookings, that standout for 2006:
1. For the first time, there are more poor residents in the suburbs than in central cities.
2. Six percent of the population in large U.S. metropolitan areas live in exurbs, communities on the fringe of urban centers. Exurb characteristics: 20 percent of workers commute to city jobs; low housing density; high population growth.
3. More than one-third of the nation's loss of manufacturing jobs between 2000 and 2005 occurred in seven Great Lakes states: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
4. America's older, inner-ring first suburbs, the earliest suburbs that sprang up around center cities before and during World War II, make up 20 percent of the nation's population and are more diverse and older than the nation as a whole.
5. The average U.S. household spends 19 percent of its budget on transportation, rendering household location a key component of housing affordability.
6. Nationwide, more than 4.2 million lower income home owners pay a higher than average APR for their mortgage. Lower income households, those earning less than $30,000, pay 6.9 percent compared with an average rate of 6.5 percent for those earning $30,000 to $60,000. Those with incomes above $120,000 paid a rate of approximately 5.5 percent.
7. The leading refugee destination metro areas have shifted away from traditional immigrant gateways, such as Los Angeles and New York, over the past two decades to newer gateways, such as Atlanta, Portland, Seattle.
8. The fastest-growing metropolitan areas for minority populations from 2000 to 2004 now closely parallel the fastest-growing areas in the nation. Las Vegas, Atlanta, Orlando, and Phoenix are now prominent centers of minority population growth.
9. Middle-income neighborhoods as a proportion of all metropolitan neighborhoods declined to 41 percent in 2000 from 58 percent in 1970, disappearing faster than the share of middle class households in these metro areas.
10. Of the $109 billion in federal appropriations dedicated to Gulf Coast funding in the first year after Hurricane Katrina, only about $35 billion went toward the long-term recovery of the region.
Source: Camilla McLaughlin for REALTOR® Magazine Online, December 27, 2006
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Herb on the Radio . . . Again!
Click here to refresh: http://www.newherbanism.blogspot.com/
My next guest shot on the radio will be on the Grow Omaha show which airs at 8:00 a.m. every Saturday morning on radio 1110AM KFAB. Grow Omaha is hosted by Trenton Magid and Jeff Beals with Coldwell Banker Commercial World Group. I will be on the show this Saturday, December 9th.
The KFAB call-in numbers are 558-1110 or 1-800-543-1110.
Be sure to tune in right at 8:00 because I will be on during the first half of the program. Call in and support traditional neighborhood development in the Omaha area.
Thanks for your continuing interest,
Herb
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Let's Say Thanks . . .
Here is something cool that Xerox is doing: if you go to this web site, www.LetsSayThanks.com, you can pick out a thank you card, add a message and Xerox will print it and send it to a soldier who is currently serving in Iraq. You can't pick out who gets your card, but it will go to some member of the armed services.
How amazing it would be if every service memember got a card this Holiday season thanking him or her for serving our nation. Please send a card. Send several. It is FREE, annonymous and it only takes a second. Forward this link on to your family and friends after you send your card. It will make you feel wonderful.
Sunday, November 26, 2006
More In-Touch but Less Connected . . .
More In-Touch but Less Connected
Click here to refresh: http://www.newherbanism.blogspot.com/
The next time you are driving look at the number of people on their cell phones. The next time you are at a Starbucks, or a Panera Bread or a Borders café look at the number of people on their computers. We are more in-touch than ever before, but paradoxically, we are increasingly isolated.Lynn Smith-Lovin is a Duke University Sociologist and coauthor of a study titled “Social Isolation in America.” The study is a replica of one done 20 years ago. In only two decades, from 1985 to 2004, the number of people who have no one to talk to has doubled. And the number of confidants of the average American has gone down from three to two.. One quarter reported that they had nobody o talk to, and another quarter were only one person away from nobody.
People did report that that they were closer to their families. Husbands and wives and parents and their adult children may be closer. Our circles seem to have tightened and shrunk while going nuclear and familial. The greatest loss has been in neighbors and friends who will provide help, support, advice and connections to the wider world.
It's become easier to keep extensive relationships over time and distance by cell phone and email, but harder to build the deep ones in our backyards. In the virtual neighborhood, how many have substituted e-mail for intimacy, contacts for confidants, and phone or Facebook for face to face?
We may be six degrees of separation from any other person in the world and one or two people away from loneliness. Who can we talk to about ``important matters"? Who can we count on? As we search for tools to repair this frayed safety net, Americans can take poor, paradoxical comfort from the fact that if they are feeling isolated, they are not alone.
The good news is that the new traditional neighborhood may be one of those tools to repair the disconnectedness of our times. The principles of TND design put people together and help create conditions where community and connectedness can thrive.
Source: Adapted from the Boston Globe, June 30, 2006
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Herb on the Radio . . .
KKAR 1290 AM Saturday morning, November 18, 2006 . . .
Click here to refresh: http://www.newherbanism.blogspot.com/
This Saturday morning, November 18th, Herb will be a guest on The Real Estate Reality Hour radio call-in talk show with Steve Smithberg. Steve is a licensed real estate broker and home builder with Design One.
Each week The Real Estate Reality Hour explores topics of current interest and answers your questions about real estate. The Real Estate Reality Hour airs live each Saturday morning from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. on News Talk Radio 1290 KKAR.
Tune in to KKAR at 1290 on the AM dial this coming Saturday, November 18th, at 9:00 a.m. to learn about What's New on State Street, the Omaha area's first new traditional neighborhood at 168th and State Streets.
The KKAR call in number is 342-1290.
KFAB 1110 AM Saturday, December 9, 2006 . . .
Herb's next guest shot on the radio will be on the Grow Omaha show which airs at 8:00 a.m. every Saturday morning on radio 1110 KFAB. Grow Omaha is hosted by Trenton Magid and Jeff Beals with Coldwell Banker Commercial World Group. Herb will be on the show Saturday, December 9th.
The KFAB call-in numbers are 558-1110 or 1-800-543-1110.
Call in and support traditional neighborhood development in the Omaha area.
Thanks,
Herb
Friday, November 10, 2006
The "Not So Big House" . . . A sign of things to come?
Click here to refresh: http://www.newherbanism.blogspot.com/
A well-designed home for under $50,000? This tiny house designed for the battered Gulf Coast will be sold by Lowe's, and is expected to draw buyers from all over.A model home in Ocean Springs, Miss., that gives Katrina's displaced an alternative to trailer living is starting to take the country by storm.
The Katrina cottage -- with living quarters about the size of a McMansion bathroom -- is now appealing to people well beyond the flood plain. Californians want to build one in their backyards to use for rental income to help with the mortgage payment. Modestly paid kayakers in Colorado see it as a way to finally afford a house. Elsewhere, people envision building one so a parent can live nearby.
A new niche flying in the face of a "big house" trend, designers of these tiny abodes seem to have found a new housing niche. Some experts cite an interest by some Americans in downsizing their habitats, a reaction to the supersized home, and note the challenge of heating and cooling a big house at a time when family budgets are flat. Others note that changing demographics -- more empty nesters and single adults -- may mean a timely debut of the Lilliputian homes.
"It's resonating with people because it's a market that did not exist," says Marianne Cusato, a New York-based designer who drew up the plans for the Katrina cottage. "In the past, you had to go either to an apartment or a trailer."
Commercialization of the concept is limited -- but that is about to change. Late this year, perhaps as soon as this month, Lowe's, a national hardware and building-supply company, intends to begin selling the plans and materials for four models in 30 stores in the Gulf Coast region.
The "Lowe's Katrina Cottage" offerings range from a two-bedroom, 544-square-foot model to a three-bedroom, 936-square-foot house. The cottages will cost $45 to $55 per square foot to build, Lowe's estimates, meaning the smallest would run about $27,200 and the largest $46,800. Estimates do not include the cost of the foundation, heating and cooling, and labor.
"We're starting on the Gulf Coast, where the original idea came from, but as soon as we feel the logistics are worked out we could go national," says Cusato, whose Web site has received more than 7,000 inquiries since January. "We want to be sure that when we say it's available, we're 100% sure we can deliver."
A concept that could spreadIf Lowe's is successful, it's likely other companies will offer their own designs. "There is such a huge opportunity, when you talk about the number of houses that need to be built in Mississippi and Louisiana, that I think a lot of folks are looking at this type of concept," says Dan Tresch, director of governmental affairs at James Hardy Building Products, which provides the siding for Cusato's cottages.
One of those other companies won't be Home Depot, the Atlanta-based supplier of building materials. "We assessed the opportunity but chose to pass on selling them," says spokesman Tony Wilbert.
Although Lowe's has not started marketing the houses yet, the original Katrina cottage has been featured on television and in newspaper articles. As a result, Cusato gets queries every day from around the world. Some of the e-mails and letters envision the cottages as college dormitories, military housing, homeless shelters, zookeeper's offices and rental properties.
Among the recent inquiries was one from Keith Rogerson, a city councilor from Bridgeport, Conn. "We have lots that are too small for a … single-family, detached household, so the idea is to bring in these extremely attractive dwellings to provide affordable housing," says Rogerson. "We're also looking at reorienting the zoning so we can put them in clusters to stave off ghettoizing the city."
The Katrina cottage concept inspired Norman Bradshaw, a retired deputy sheriff in Tallahassee, Fla., to call Lowe's. He's thinking about moving to a farm in Georgia. "What I'm trying to find is something affordable in the $65,000-to-$75,000 range," says Bradshaw. "Right now, the only thing you can afford is a trailer, and they are so flimsy you can put your fist right through a wall." If Lowe's follows though with the original design, Bradshaw says, he'll buy one.
Urban planners and architecture critics are generally enthusiastic. "Designers have done a good job with toasters and cars, and now they have done housing -- and it couldn't have come at a better time," says Anthony Flint at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, a think tank in Cambridge, Mass. Architect Sarah Susanka, author of "The Not So Big House," calls it "a charming, tiny house with character."
The cottage, though almost doll-size, manages not to feel claustrophobic in large part because Cusato has included a wide porch. "If you live in a small house, you need a proper outdoor room," Cusato says. "In addition to making the house larger, it engages you with your neighbors."
Ready for hurricanes and add-ons Cusato's design also calls for steel frames and James Hardy's fiber-cement-board siding. It's rated to withstand a hurricane with 140-mile-per-hour winds. The siding makes it termite-resistant, noncombustible and immune to rot. One intangible aspect of the house: It is designed to be easy to add on to.
The idea for the cottage came during a planning session in Mississippi. Gov. Haley Barbour had asked Andreas Duany, a Miami urban planner with the firm Duany Plater-Zyberk, to participate in the post-Katrina Mississippi Renewal Forum. There, Duany challenged designers to come up with an alternative to the trailers from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Cusato's design was picked as the winning effort.
But the concept didn't really take off until January, when the cottage made its debut -- almost by happenstance -- at the International Builders Show in Orlando, Fla. Susanka was set to build a small, modular show house for the event, but her sponsor pulled out. Duany suggested that Cusato's cottage go in its place -- and it was an instant hit with developers, who clamored for the plans.
The house was then trucked to Ocean Springs, Miss., where thousands of people have explored its confines. Cusato sees the cottage as one way to help the region recover. "If you give people a decent place to live, they will want to settle in," she says. "The most sustainable thing you can do is build something that everyone loves and everyone wants to keep."
Source: Ron Scherer, The Christian Science Monitor, October 2, 2006
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
300 Million People on Our Way to 400 Million . . .
Click here to refresh: http://www.newherbanism.blogspot.com/
The United States just crossed the 300 million population mark and this suggests that we consider what will happen as we head to the 400 million mark which we will hit some time around 2040.
Right now each person is taking almost 20 percent more developed space than 20 years ago. We can not continue our car-dependent land-use pattern on the way to 400 million people without acute environmental damage and heavy quality-of-life costs, reports USA Today writer Haya El Nasser, citing experts whose calls for alternatives have strongly resonated among the public especially this electoral season.
''We're going in the wrong direction right now. The rate of land consumption is twice the rate of population growth,'' points out Smart Growth America Executive director Don Chen. ''There's been a real change in the American consumer looking at how they live,'' observes Cambridge-based Lincoln Institute of Land Policy Public Affairs Manager Anthony Flint, author of This Land: The Battle Over Sprawl and the Future of America. ''We've been spreading ourselves out generously and thinly across the land because we could. Energy was cheap. It made sense to satisfy our longing for elbow room, wide open spaces, a sense of security and . . . affordability.''
Virginia Tech's Metropolitan Institute Co-director Arthur C. Nelson expects the next 100 million residents to add 73 million jobs, about 70 million housing units and 100 billion square feet of non-residential space, mostly in the major metropolitan areas. Unlike households in 1960, half with children, about 35 million of the new 40 million households by 2040 will lack children, which will increase the total percentage of households without children to three quarters. ''Their demands are going to be different,'' Director Nelson says. ''Suburban areas will have to transform themselves to meet the new needs.''
Still, he predicts that many households ''will want, will demand and will get their single-family detached homes on a lot,'' adding, ''Where it used to be 80 percent, it might slip down to 60 percent,'' which means that ''(w)e will never get rid of congestion, but we might be better able to handle it.''
Source: Adapted from USA Today 10/27/2006
