New Urbanism or Old Liberalism?

We read an article in today’s Mobile Press Register about the impending doom that has been forecasted for Mobile by New Urbanism “prophet” Andres Duany (photo).   In fact, in March of this year, Mr. Duany was in Scotland warning the Scots their planning system was in crisis as well.  I guess, this will preach almost anywhere.

In our opinion it seems those who really benefit the most from an idea that hasn’t taken off in 30 years are the speakers, architects, developers and those who have ties to the real estate industry that try to sell this new found “utopia”.

Andres Duany - photo by: The Press and Journal - Scotland

We found a great article about the realities of New Urbanism on the Claremont Institute web site by Randal O’Toole who is a Senior Economist at The Thoreau Institute.  The Claremont Institute is a major “think tank” dedicated to, “… a limited and accountable government that respects private property, promotes stable family life, and maintains a strong national defense”.

Mr. O’Toole says in his article, “The real market for New Urbanism is so small that it probably could not long support the 1,100 architects, developers, and planners who attended this year’s Congress for the New Urbanism conference in Chicago. If they want to keep building New Urban designs, they are going to have to turn to coercive techniques.” (emphasis added).

One of our members actually attended several lectures by Mr. Duany when he was a guest lecturer at Penn State.  As soon as they can dust off the old notes on this “New” subject, we will, as Paul Harvey used to say, provide you with the “Rest of the Story”.  The story you didn’t get, in a light hearted,  humorous speech in front of people you are trying to convince to buy into an ideal that is as outdated as the 1920’s.

To read Mr. O’Toole’s full article please go to the following link.

Peter O’Toole”s Response to New Urbanism

Randal O’Toole is a Senior Economist at The Thoreau Institute and Senior Fellows of the Cato Institute.  He is the author of The Vanishing Automobile and Other Urban Myths.