Traffic jams, increased air pollution, loss of open space, all are consequences of continued population growth in the West and, according to Will Fleissig of the CU-Boulder Real Estate Center, it聮s only going to get worse.
"This will become more and more of an issue as people ask themselves --聭Can my life be better and not just be about sitting in a traffic jam all the time?聮 I mean, is that really what we get from all of this wonderful growth? I think we can do better."
Fleissig says it聮s time to look for ways to curb the problems of urban sprawl. "We聮re expecting a lot of growth here in Colorado in the next 20 years. On the Front Range alone we聮re expecting upwards of 800,000 people. So the question for all of us is, 'How are we going to accommodate the number of people who will add the equivalent of another Denver and Aurora to what we already have here in population?'"
Fleissig suggests one way to slow urban sprawl in the West is to adopt a model called "New Urbanism," where homes are clustered into compact, pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods with nearby open space. "We should be building homes with front porches that are close to parks, schools and stores -- all within walking distance. Instead of only having single-family detached homes you would have, in combination, townhomes, rental property, some small 聭granny flats,' which are small studio flats above a garage," Fleissig said.
New Urbanism is actually an old idea with a few new twists. Before World War II and America聮s love affair with the automobile, people lived in neighborhoods where schools and shopping centers were all within walking distance. "Some of the ideas of New Urbanism aren聮t new at all. They are old ideas revamped to work with a 90s lifestyle, which includes the car," Fleissig said.
The Federal Government is incorporating New Urbanism into an inner-city program called Hope 6. The plan calls for the tearing down of public housing and replacing it with village-like housing. Home ownership is featured and towers are replaced with townhomes. According to Fleissig, "The whole idea is to create an identity so that you feel more connected, more responsible to your community, rather than what we would find in a typical suburban subdivision."
Whether it聮s filling in existing neighborhoods or designing new ones, Fleissig explains the focus of New Urbanism is to, "Use the infrastructure as wisely as we can, and in any new infrastructure that we build, make sure that it聮s designed in such a way that it protects farmland, the habitat, the environment, and that it聮s done in a clustered, compact form. We need to minimize the impacts of new developments."
Studies done by the EPA show the United States could significantly lower car pollution levels by promoting more infill development and building subdivisions in the New Urbanism model. "It would, over time, reduce the impacts on the environment just by the fact that we would be living closer to work, school and shopping centers, driving fewer trips and using less energy," Fleissig said.
According to Fleissig examples of New Urbanism on a large scale can be seen at the Highland Gardens development site of the old Elitch聮s Gardens in West Denver and at Prospect Village in Longmont.