Chanel D. Ellison
The Ohio State University
New Urbanist Peter Calthorpe has not only been a visionary for urban planning, but has brought his visions to life. With ideals similar to John Nolen and his bringing of Garden Cities to America, urban sprawl smart growth have been the plight of Peter Calthorpe’s urban planning focus. Under the umbrella of new urbanism, Calthorpe incorporates the ideas of transit oriented communities and environmentally sustainable communities. His publications and city plans do not fail to emulate his four key principles in regards to planning; diversity, human scale, conservation, and regionalism. His contributions to New Urbanism have influenced planning, …show more content…
The original arterial grid design is reconstructed to become a multi-use grid, used for cars, pedestrians and bikers. In this new grid, the four main roads for travel would be Transit Boulevards, Throughways, Avenues and Connectors each with their own designated purpose. Transit Boulevards are used for local trips and transit, while Throughways are for longer distance travel. Avenues are the direct way for commercial trips and the Connector is used for neighborhood …show more content…
Calthorpe and Fulton focus strongly on the economic, transportation and the physical aspects of a region and how that induces population growth for that region. Stephen M. Wheeler (2001) of Berkeley Planning Journal summarizes the book’s concept as “a deeply encouraging one—that a new model of metropolitan development may take the place of the automobile-oriented sprawl that has covered our landscapes since World War II.” (Wheeler p 3). He refers back to Calthorpe’s book “The Next American Metropolis” and how that was the initial platform for Calthorpe’s idea of multi-land uses, mainly between transit and the pedestrian(Wheeler, 2001 p 2). Though Wheeler (2001) believes in much of Fulton and Calthorpe propose, he also states that their ideals lack development, specifically regarding “community, connection, equity, and ecological integration.”(Wheeler