|
<br />
<br />banism with the imprimatur of Disney-"safe for middle-class
<br />consumption" -or prove the point of its critics. that it's a plot to lure
<br />unwitting citizens into living in theme parks.
<br />You can look at Phoenix as a pretty good example of what the
<br />new urbanism is up against. It is among the five fastest-growing
<br />metropolises in the country. and few places are as relentlessly
<br />suburban in character. It has a downtown so exiguous that a pedes-
<br />trian outside its biggest office building at 9 on a weekday morning is a
<br />phenomenon as singular as a cow in Times Square. Meanwhile the
<br />new subdivisions race each other toward the mountains. Del Webb
<br />Corp., a major national developer, recently won approval over
<br />heated opposition for a 5.600-acre project in New River, 30 miles
<br />north of downtown and at least 10 miles
<br />beyond the outer edge of existing devel-
<br />opment. The environment, which to de-
<br />velopers used to just be the stuff they
<br />knocked down to make room for houses,
<br />is now a cherished selling point. There is
<br />a catch, according to Frances Emma
<br />Barwood, a city council member who
<br />represents most of the sparsely populat-
<br />ed northeast quadrant of Phoenix: "The
<br />people who bought houses in phase One
<br />[of a popular development] were told
<br />they'd be surrounded by beautiful lush
<br />deserts, but instead they're surrounded
<br />by Phases Two and Three."
<br />
<br />, fIfi. .,.,.... \ "
<br />. . " :J~." , .
<br />~.. ~'.
<br />f " .}o., .'fI., ..
<br />I .oJ;: .A:' ~";.";;~"
<br />. -=-.~; .~, "\~~""""
<br />'. r f4~ ~.:/, ,!.~,~ '"
<br />~:::..:..;:;..,,;!I::.:+ ~ ~~ .'r/, Y:~';if~
<br />
<br />
<br />.~... ,>, ":' .. "-'.
<br />~1 .~ 'l . ':" " ~
<br />
<br />"
<br />
<br />::;..o:'{' ,,,',' ).'~
<br />. ,
<br />, .
<br />, . .
<br />
<br />I~~~.'. \ ~,~~.~
<br />
<br />!C"'..-0'f"~';!:f" MARK LAWRENCE ~
<br />;.'SeiiSide~ 'lanried ~Y~t~
<br />.:=. ..:~..fJ.I..'.~.'.~.~:"~~:..
<br />
<br />'; Worl~."af II, ~ys ;..c,
<br />t Andres+DLI3ny~,~ ' .:.
<br />~. archltectwho, with hlslh
<br />I~ wife and 'partner, -- ~i~
<br />, ElizlbethPlate":\-; ::b,:
<br />':e~~~~~~~:~;;~,;
<br />
<br />~,of Se~e, Fla...AnyA~;,'.
<br />. ,town-planning text .-:::'':~(:'
<br />t' prior to 1935," he'says;)'..
<br />~' "h8s'references to'
<br />~sociallssues, to . . . .
<br />t technical issueS. to . :
<br />~'", '-",' - .-
<br />E . esthetic 1ssueS." But
<br />[_fter,t... war,:f~:'<;tf"
<br />~_ specialists. and bean . ;,{.
<br />! counters took over. It ,.'
<br />~.' was as If ArMrlca had':':'<
<br />t' iuffereef iiStroke:"We',.
<br />t lost Ianguage,WelosF.;'
<br />
<br />
<br />r~.~~j8
<br />'..!~~~~"ti~~!:l~:.:S:~f}~"
<br />
<br />LEFT BEHIND IN THIS RUSH TO
<br />embrace nature are thousands
<br />of 1960s-era ranch houses that
<br />are too old, small and unfash-
<br />ionable to attract middle-class
<br />buyers, and as a result are turning into
<br />that new American phenomenon, the
<br />suburban slum. This may be the fate of
<br />an area called Maryvale, which like all
<br />west-side suburbs suffers from the
<br />competitive disadvantage that commut-
<br />ers must drive into the sun both ways.
<br />Interspersed among the houses are
<br />large tracts of vacant land, dreary com-
<br />mercial strips and a mall, once the
<br />cynosure of a' thriving neighborhood,
<br />now dark and empty. "For the same
<br />money that Del Webb is spending in
<br />New River, I'll bet they could buy up
<br />most of this area and rebuild it," God-
<br />dard says. "What is the imperative that
<br />says we have to go to a beautiful
<br />rural area when we have all this land a
<br />few miles from downtown? We're de-
<br />stroying ourselves in shorter and
<br />shorter cycles."
<br />The imperative, as Goddard well
<br />knows, is "the market." To build in an
<br />existing neighborhood, says Jack Glea-
<br />son, a senior vice president at Del Webb,
<br />is to "run against the market, instead of with it." Banks are reluctant
<br />to lend to such "infill" projects because they have no assurance the
<br />houses will sell, A prime engine of Phoenix's growth apparently
<br />consists of middle-aged couples fleeing California. This is a market,
<br />Gleason notes, heavily driven by "security," the polite tenn for
<br />"fear." "Fear of crime is a great motivator for development," says Joe
<br />Verdoorn, a Phoenix planner. "Everybody wants to be on the far side
<br />of the freeway."
<br />So the new subdivisions go up behind ocher-colored stucco walls
<br />
<br />44 NEWSWEEK
<br />
<br />MAY 15. 1995
<br />
<br />In California, old farms are sprouting more houses than crops
<br />
<br />DON'T FENCE ME IN
<br />
<br />To run with the market is to develop
<br />virgin land farther out, not to rebuild
<br />dying communities closer to the city
<br />
<br />six feet high, with guards and gates between the public roads and the
<br />inner sanctum of residential streets. Other kinds of barriers defend
<br />something nearly as dear to suburbanites as their own skins, proper-
<br />ty values. Homeowners are isolated by design from apartments.
<br />shops, public squares or anything else that might attract people with
<br />less money or of a different race. Deed restrictions and community
<br />associations see to it that no one will ever bring down the tone of the
<br />neighborhood by turning his living room into a beauty parlor.
<br />Success for a development lies in freezing for eternity the social and
<br />economic class of the original purchasers.
<br />No wonder they're so sterile-sterility is designed into them!
<br />Anything else is a threat to the steady appreciation of resale value
<br />homeowning Americans take as a basic economic right. You drive
<br />down the wide, curving streets of Terravita. in north Scottsdale,
<br />whose sales slogan is "The Hannony of Land and Life," and the only
<br />signs of "Life" are the saguaro cactuses, which accrue at L'1e rate of
<br />about an inch a year. The houses themselves are magnificent monu-
<br />ments to family life: thoughtfully designed, carefully constructed, \
<br />with master bath suites the size ofthe Oval Office, but the face they
<br />turn to the street is the blank brown plane of a three-car garage.
<br />
|