The trip gave us a chance to see in person this example of new urbanism in a rural setting. With Tim Cassidy's detailed, critical, and humorous eye, we walked from one end of the development to the other and back again, paying attention to the design of streets, open space, and houses constructed during different stages of the project.
Take a look at the photos on this page and, for those of you who were able to make it, add a few notes in the Comments section below describing some of the interesting and surprising things you learned.
Cheers! ~ Brad Flamm
We had some interesting discussions about sustainability and a suburban community such as this one. Some of us concluded that there was no appreciable difference between New Daleville and a standard suburban development in terms of environmental, economic, and social sustainability. Others saw ways in which New Daleville IS more sustainable, at least in some respects, though most of us agreed that accounting for these differences is a complicated task, at best.
ReplyDeleteOne comment that Tim Cassidy made struck me as particularly surprising: He told us that the earth-moving necessary to create a level building site for the construction of houses extended to much of the open space on the property as well. The use of bulldozers and other earth-moving equipment on fields compresses the soil, making them less pervious and changing the quality of ecological functions that they can provide. A wooded section of the property was untouched, but much of the visible open space had been impacted in this way.
A quick follow up. I've posted a pdf copy of a brief article entitled "Soil Compaction on Construction Sites" on the course Blackboard web site in the >Recommended Readings folder.
ReplyDeleteGreat pics. Sorry I missed this. Looks like a great design that's set up nicely for when we get our regional heads on straight: as Geoff Anderson (until 2009 of the EPA, now with SmartGrowth.org) says, site design is not nearly important as proximity to a center of business and commerce. Looking at these, I don't get a sense of the possibility of any walkable errands... Still it would have been nice to say hello to some of our Harrisburg friends. Next time, I hope!
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