The neo-traditional neighborhood designs of New Urbanism were established with the goal of reforming real estate development and urban planning (Steuteville Langdon, 2003). The success of New Urbanism is evident in the proliferation of these kinds of developments throughout the United States and internationally. New urbanism has its origin in United States early 1980s. New urbanism is an urban design that aims at promoting living conditions of people by giving them walk-able neighborhoods that has a range of job types and housing conditions. The main mission of neo-traditional neighborhood designs is to give more people more choices about how and where they want to live. Mesa del Sol in one community planned to be built with new urbanism plans in order to give New Mexican residents more choices about how and where they want to live
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
In 1993, the Congress for the new Urbanism was founded. The Congress advocates for development practices and a public policy for restructuring that would ensure that
The neighborhoods are diversified both in use and population
The neighborhoods are designed to serve the pedestrians, cars and transit
Cities and towns are designed in such a way that community institutions and public spaces are universally accessible and physically defined.
The landscape design and architecture framing urban places celebrates the building practice, local history ecology and climate.
The Congress mainly supports context-appropriate architecture and planning aimed at improving regional planning for open space which in turn balances the development of jobs and housing(Katz, Scully Bressi, 1994).The Charter of the New Urbanism set strategies that could increase the supply of affordable housing, reduce traffic congestion and rein in urban spread out. Other issues covered by the Charter include green building, promoting safe streets and history preservation.
The new urbanism which uses the Traditional Neighborhood Design (TND) and Universal Design (UD) does not eliminate on history and culture of the community but aims at giving the sense of community first when designing the desirable attributes of their design. They aim at improving the neighborhoods in such a way that the housing developments adopted contains the spirit of the older neighborhoods (Katz, Scully and Bressi, 1994).The designs encourage people to know their neighborhood through creation of sidewalks, narrower streets, corner stones, front porches and plenty of mature trees that make the place feel as though it existed for a while. The New Urbanism planners have used preceding medium houses of the past to understand the features that the modern houses are missing as compared to old villages and towns. In their research they are trying to learn the scale, inter-relationship and proportion.
FEATURES OF NEW URBANIST TOWN
According to the two founders of the Congress for the New Urbanism and town planners, Andrs Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, new urbanism design can be defined by the following elements.
The neighborhood that has a green or a square distinctive center that contains a memorable and busy street corner. At the distinctive center there is a transit stop.
The residential houses and dwellings surrounding the center can be approximated to be 0.4 Km away or a five-minute walk.
The dwelling types usually comprise of apartments and houses where all types of people and class find a place to live. For example married, single, young, old, poor and wealthy can find a place to live in the neighborhood.
There are diverse types of shops and offices at the edge of the neighborhood that sufficiently supply a variety of needs to the households.
A garage apartment or an ancillary building is allowed which is usually located at the backyard of every house. The garage apartment is often used as a rental unit while other people convert it to an office or craft workshop.
In this neighborhood most children can walk from home to school since elementary schools are close to homes.
To ever dwelling, in a distance of less than a tenth mile away there is a small accessible playground.
The neighborhood is safe for pedestrians and bicycles as the streets are narrow to slow down traffic. The streets are shaded by rows of tree to create a cool and friendly environment.
All the routes in the neighborhood are inter-connected in such a way that there are a variety of vehicular and pedestrian routes to any direction. This street network disperses of traffic.
There is a well-defined outdoor room in the neighborhood created by placing the building in the neighborhood center close to the streets.
The parking and garage doors are accessed by alleys because they are usually at the rear of the buildings.
In the neighborhood center or termination of street vistas, sites that are prominent get reserved for civic buildings. The buildings are often the venues for religious, cultural and education activities in addition to holding community meetings.
The neighborhood self-governs itself with the help of a formal organization which governs matters of security, maintenance and physical change. The larger community deals with complex responsibilities such as taxation.
NEW URBANIST COMMUNITY OF MESA DEL SOL
Mesa Del Sol is a mini city in Albuquerque in New Mexico a few minutes from downtown, Albuquerque International Support and the University of New Mexico (Leatherwood, 1997).The city has an extensive land of around 12,500 acres which are planned for development. Approximately 1400 acres are set for commercial, industrial and office development and 4400 acres for retail use and residential development. More than 3400 acres are set aside for parks, open space and xeriscaped buffer zone while around 800 acres are for building schools and universities (Leatherwood, 1997).
Mesa Del Sol is one of the new communities that have been chosen for new urbanism development because it has the quality of life necessary in building a good neighborhood. The city consists of an educated workforce, motivated political leadership that forms the key ingredients and is potential for economic success and development. Albuquerque qualifies to be a New urbanite City because it is ready. The city has a metro population of approximately 750,000 people and excellent quality of life that is thriving with time. The city holds one of prosperous industries and business empires from softwarehigh-tech companies, aerospace and cutting-edge aviation companies, call centers, film and digital studio facilities, manufacturers and research operations among others.
In the rankings, Albuquerque was named one of the most creative communities in the country. The city gets business support and incentives from the community and state leaders. The city has technology and artistic roots and wishes to be a major business center in the 21st century. Albuquerque, Los Alamos and Santa Fe the surrounding cities have engineering industries that contain highly competitive technology. Sandia and Los Alamos two of the three laboratories in the nation, one of the Intels largest manufacturing plants are found in the region (Leatherwood, 1997).The presence of state Universities in the region generate talented top-rated medical, technical and engineering expertise.
MESADEL SOL FACTS AND FIGURES
New Urbanism aims at improving the living conditions of people by giving them walk-able neighborhoods that has a range of job types and housing conditions. Mesa Del Sol is a target of new Urbanism because by 21st century it has created a sustainable community which incorporates the very best practices. The community offers sustainable urban community planning, job creation, economic objectives, and social amenities and provides a strategic balance of environmental resources. As required by the Citys planned communities criteria, Mesa de Sol will be developed with the growth paying for itself formula also known as a no net expense formula (New Mexico Business Weekly, 2010).
Apart from good business climate, Mesa de Sol just like New Mexican communities have the best climates in the United States (Beatley, 2004).It enjoys four true seasons with mild summers and winters as well as high desert climate. Each year the city enjoys 308 days of sunshine. People living in this community enjoy outdoor actives such as hiking, biking, skiing, fishing, snow boarding and even gold all which are within their reach.
FOREST CITY COVINGTON
The planners behind Mesa de Sol known as Forest City Enterprises, Inc., is a real estate company that engages in acquisition, development and management of residential and commercial real estates in U.S.The company has a goodwill in developing apartments communities, retail centers, hotels and office buildings in most states in America. Forest city Covington has been chosen as the master planner for the following reasons.
The company is reliable and can be trusted to successfully complete mixed-use project despite the barriers it encounters along the way. The company has been entrusted with long term value projects and through its commitment has built superior developments such as University Park at MIT among others.
The company can invest in high value properties which are long-term based on their portfolio and experience.
The company was founded by three generations families making it have a visionary and experienced management team.
The company has a growth potential and opportunities and due to the unyielding entrepreneurial spirit, it keeps development exciting.
The company has a competitive edge because it is dedicated in balancing economic objectives, environmental resources and social systems strategically.
REASONS BEHIND NEW URBANISM IN MESADEL SOLS
Albuquerques potential is represented by Mesa Del Sol. With the help of Forest City Covington as the development partner in its New Urbanism, Mesa Del Sol will make New Mexico earn financial support and respect of the states project because of the proposed mixed-use and large projects. Mesa del Sol is also regarded as wedge development because of the grand development planned, which is the largest in U.S coupled with the fact that it has the most appealing environs.
New Mexico has a chance to develop economically though Mesa del Sol this is because it already has an incentive package that presents it with an incredible opportunity. Albuquerque has low cost of living and doing business, is a city of vast potential, has a motivated political leadership all the aspects necessary for economic success. The planned Mesa del Sol will be a great community where the residents with have it as a distinct centre with the dwelling surrounding it and the schools, jobs, transportation venues and business centers surrounding it.
MESADEL SOLS PLAN
Forest City Covington plans that in the span of 35-50 years approximately 37,000 homes will be built that will hold a capacity of 100,000 residents. This plan will take place in three phases (New Mexico Business Weekly, 2009).After the completion of the plan, Mesa del Sol is projected to create around 40,000 jobs as well as industrial retail and office space of approximately 18 million square feet. The list of the proposed buildings to be erected includes apartments, town homes, condominiums, semi-custom homes, single-family houses among others. Community centers such as family parks and schools are also included in the plans. The new community will have a town center with an Urban Center and four village centers (Katz, Scully and Bressi, 1994).The Town Center will include restaurants, big-box store retailers, housing, entertainment venue and jobs. The plan includes neighborhood commercial are that will comprise of facilities such as Banks, Gas stations, Fast food, Dry cleaning among others.
Mesa del Sol will have social and recreational facility known as Bernalillo County Recreational Complex comprising of three large multi purpose fields that will be used for baseball, soccer and football. This Complex was stated in 2009 and is due for completion any time. A 12,000 seat Amphitheater known as Journal Pavilion is a Mesa del Sol project.
Mesa del Sol plans to have an improved infrastructure. The project that started in 2009 by a New Mexico based company known as Franklin Earthmoving has been installing underground utilities for Mesa del Sols first homes. The underground utilities include gas, sewer lines, water, fiber and electrical lines. The first 250 residential lines are ready in line with these facilities. In June 2008, a water tower, 175-foot deep was built to supply the new community with water. There is a proposed 1-25 interchange project propose for Mesa del Sol.
The other amenities in the proposed plan are amenities such as schools. The first public school in Mesa del Sol known as The International School (TIS)opened in August 2009.In the new communities plans the proposed schools to be built include 4 or 5 middle schools, three mixed highmiddle school and 14 or 15 elementary schools Ne.The University of New Mexico a large project in Mesa del Sol has been allocated 440 acres of land, the university requires 40 addition acres in phase two or three of the project where it plans to develop a satellite campus by the Urban Center.
As means of improving its environment, Mesa del Sol plans to reduce green house emission by incorporating product selection and design techniques. Among the plans include use of non-toxic recycled materials and energy saving systems. In addition, the new community plans to engage in water and energy conservation as well as recycling projects. As a way of improving the landscape, Mesa del Sol plans on organizing for a desert revival that will engage people in tree planting exercise as well as wild flowers, native plants, rocks, palm trees and shrubs. Instead of using traditional grass strips, Mesa del Sol plan to that trees lining on the streets. Greenways and pedestrian path would be preserved drainage areas.
Water reservation methods such as water harvesting and conservation as well as recycled water will be used to provide water that would irrigate greenways, parks and public areas. The other development project in Mesa del Sols plan includes a commuter rail station known as the New Mexico Rail Runner Express. The new community has already attracted major business projects such as Sony Picture Image works, Advent Solar, Albuquerque Studios, Molina Healthcares facility and SCHOTT Solar (Beatley, 2004).The companies are currently offering approximately 3000 jobs which are foreseen to grow to 5000 by 2010.
A new urbanism city is described as a community that serves the pedestrians, cars and transit. The neighborhood is diversified both in use and population. The city is designed in such a way that community institutions and public spaces are universally accessible and physically defined. The landscape design and architecture framing urban places in the community should celebrate the building practice, local history ecology and climate. Mesa del Sol has all the feature of a new urbanite community. Mesa del Sol community has sustainable urban community planning and also helps in job creation. These are the two characteristic of new urbanism. The neo-traditional neighborhood designs of New Urbanism of Mesa del Sol gives people more choices about how and where they want to live because the dwellings are varied to cope with different type of families and household. The new community plans adequate environmental resources, social amenities and economic objectives that define a great community.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
In 1993, the Congress for the new Urbanism was founded. The Congress advocates for development practices and a public policy for restructuring that would ensure that
The neighborhoods are diversified both in use and population
The neighborhoods are designed to serve the pedestrians, cars and transit
Cities and towns are designed in such a way that community institutions and public spaces are universally accessible and physically defined.
The landscape design and architecture framing urban places celebrates the building practice, local history ecology and climate.
The Congress mainly supports context-appropriate architecture and planning aimed at improving regional planning for open space which in turn balances the development of jobs and housing(Katz, Scully Bressi, 1994).The Charter of the New Urbanism set strategies that could increase the supply of affordable housing, reduce traffic congestion and rein in urban spread out. Other issues covered by the Charter include green building, promoting safe streets and history preservation.
The new urbanism which uses the Traditional Neighborhood Design (TND) and Universal Design (UD) does not eliminate on history and culture of the community but aims at giving the sense of community first when designing the desirable attributes of their design. They aim at improving the neighborhoods in such a way that the housing developments adopted contains the spirit of the older neighborhoods (Katz, Scully and Bressi, 1994).The designs encourage people to know their neighborhood through creation of sidewalks, narrower streets, corner stones, front porches and plenty of mature trees that make the place feel as though it existed for a while. The New Urbanism planners have used preceding medium houses of the past to understand the features that the modern houses are missing as compared to old villages and towns. In their research they are trying to learn the scale, inter-relationship and proportion.
FEATURES OF NEW URBANIST TOWN
According to the two founders of the Congress for the New Urbanism and town planners, Andrs Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, new urbanism design can be defined by the following elements.
The neighborhood that has a green or a square distinctive center that contains a memorable and busy street corner. At the distinctive center there is a transit stop.
The residential houses and dwellings surrounding the center can be approximated to be 0.4 Km away or a five-minute walk.
The dwelling types usually comprise of apartments and houses where all types of people and class find a place to live. For example married, single, young, old, poor and wealthy can find a place to live in the neighborhood.
There are diverse types of shops and offices at the edge of the neighborhood that sufficiently supply a variety of needs to the households.
A garage apartment or an ancillary building is allowed which is usually located at the backyard of every house. The garage apartment is often used as a rental unit while other people convert it to an office or craft workshop.
In this neighborhood most children can walk from home to school since elementary schools are close to homes.
To ever dwelling, in a distance of less than a tenth mile away there is a small accessible playground.
The neighborhood is safe for pedestrians and bicycles as the streets are narrow to slow down traffic. The streets are shaded by rows of tree to create a cool and friendly environment.
All the routes in the neighborhood are inter-connected in such a way that there are a variety of vehicular and pedestrian routes to any direction. This street network disperses of traffic.
There is a well-defined outdoor room in the neighborhood created by placing the building in the neighborhood center close to the streets.
The parking and garage doors are accessed by alleys because they are usually at the rear of the buildings.
In the neighborhood center or termination of street vistas, sites that are prominent get reserved for civic buildings. The buildings are often the venues for religious, cultural and education activities in addition to holding community meetings.
The neighborhood self-governs itself with the help of a formal organization which governs matters of security, maintenance and physical change. The larger community deals with complex responsibilities such as taxation.
NEW URBANIST COMMUNITY OF MESA DEL SOL
Mesa Del Sol is a mini city in Albuquerque in New Mexico a few minutes from downtown, Albuquerque International Support and the University of New Mexico (Leatherwood, 1997).The city has an extensive land of around 12,500 acres which are planned for development. Approximately 1400 acres are set for commercial, industrial and office development and 4400 acres for retail use and residential development. More than 3400 acres are set aside for parks, open space and xeriscaped buffer zone while around 800 acres are for building schools and universities (Leatherwood, 1997).
Mesa Del Sol is one of the new communities that have been chosen for new urbanism development because it has the quality of life necessary in building a good neighborhood. The city consists of an educated workforce, motivated political leadership that forms the key ingredients and is potential for economic success and development. Albuquerque qualifies to be a New urbanite City because it is ready. The city has a metro population of approximately 750,000 people and excellent quality of life that is thriving with time. The city holds one of prosperous industries and business empires from softwarehigh-tech companies, aerospace and cutting-edge aviation companies, call centers, film and digital studio facilities, manufacturers and research operations among others.
In the rankings, Albuquerque was named one of the most creative communities in the country. The city gets business support and incentives from the community and state leaders. The city has technology and artistic roots and wishes to be a major business center in the 21st century. Albuquerque, Los Alamos and Santa Fe the surrounding cities have engineering industries that contain highly competitive technology. Sandia and Los Alamos two of the three laboratories in the nation, one of the Intels largest manufacturing plants are found in the region (Leatherwood, 1997).The presence of state Universities in the region generate talented top-rated medical, technical and engineering expertise.
MESADEL SOL FACTS AND FIGURES
New Urbanism aims at improving the living conditions of people by giving them walk-able neighborhoods that has a range of job types and housing conditions. Mesa Del Sol is a target of new Urbanism because by 21st century it has created a sustainable community which incorporates the very best practices. The community offers sustainable urban community planning, job creation, economic objectives, and social amenities and provides a strategic balance of environmental resources. As required by the Citys planned communities criteria, Mesa de Sol will be developed with the growth paying for itself formula also known as a no net expense formula (New Mexico Business Weekly, 2010).
Apart from good business climate, Mesa de Sol just like New Mexican communities have the best climates in the United States (Beatley, 2004).It enjoys four true seasons with mild summers and winters as well as high desert climate. Each year the city enjoys 308 days of sunshine. People living in this community enjoy outdoor actives such as hiking, biking, skiing, fishing, snow boarding and even gold all which are within their reach.
FOREST CITY COVINGTON
The planners behind Mesa de Sol known as Forest City Enterprises, Inc., is a real estate company that engages in acquisition, development and management of residential and commercial real estates in U.S.The company has a goodwill in developing apartments communities, retail centers, hotels and office buildings in most states in America. Forest city Covington has been chosen as the master planner for the following reasons.
The company is reliable and can be trusted to successfully complete mixed-use project despite the barriers it encounters along the way. The company has been entrusted with long term value projects and through its commitment has built superior developments such as University Park at MIT among others.
The company can invest in high value properties which are long-term based on their portfolio and experience.
The company was founded by three generations families making it have a visionary and experienced management team.
The company has a growth potential and opportunities and due to the unyielding entrepreneurial spirit, it keeps development exciting.
The company has a competitive edge because it is dedicated in balancing economic objectives, environmental resources and social systems strategically.
REASONS BEHIND NEW URBANISM IN MESADEL SOLS
Albuquerques potential is represented by Mesa Del Sol. With the help of Forest City Covington as the development partner in its New Urbanism, Mesa Del Sol will make New Mexico earn financial support and respect of the states project because of the proposed mixed-use and large projects. Mesa del Sol is also regarded as wedge development because of the grand development planned, which is the largest in U.S coupled with the fact that it has the most appealing environs.
New Mexico has a chance to develop economically though Mesa del Sol this is because it already has an incentive package that presents it with an incredible opportunity. Albuquerque has low cost of living and doing business, is a city of vast potential, has a motivated political leadership all the aspects necessary for economic success. The planned Mesa del Sol will be a great community where the residents with have it as a distinct centre with the dwelling surrounding it and the schools, jobs, transportation venues and business centers surrounding it.
MESADEL SOLS PLAN
Forest City Covington plans that in the span of 35-50 years approximately 37,000 homes will be built that will hold a capacity of 100,000 residents. This plan will take place in three phases (New Mexico Business Weekly, 2009).After the completion of the plan, Mesa del Sol is projected to create around 40,000 jobs as well as industrial retail and office space of approximately 18 million square feet. The list of the proposed buildings to be erected includes apartments, town homes, condominiums, semi-custom homes, single-family houses among others. Community centers such as family parks and schools are also included in the plans. The new community will have a town center with an Urban Center and four village centers (Katz, Scully and Bressi, 1994).The Town Center will include restaurants, big-box store retailers, housing, entertainment venue and jobs. The plan includes neighborhood commercial are that will comprise of facilities such as Banks, Gas stations, Fast food, Dry cleaning among others.
Mesa del Sol will have social and recreational facility known as Bernalillo County Recreational Complex comprising of three large multi purpose fields that will be used for baseball, soccer and football. This Complex was stated in 2009 and is due for completion any time. A 12,000 seat Amphitheater known as Journal Pavilion is a Mesa del Sol project.
Mesa del Sol plans to have an improved infrastructure. The project that started in 2009 by a New Mexico based company known as Franklin Earthmoving has been installing underground utilities for Mesa del Sols first homes. The underground utilities include gas, sewer lines, water, fiber and electrical lines. The first 250 residential lines are ready in line with these facilities. In June 2008, a water tower, 175-foot deep was built to supply the new community with water. There is a proposed 1-25 interchange project propose for Mesa del Sol.
The other amenities in the proposed plan are amenities such as schools. The first public school in Mesa del Sol known as The International School (TIS)opened in August 2009.In the new communities plans the proposed schools to be built include 4 or 5 middle schools, three mixed highmiddle school and 14 or 15 elementary schools Ne.The University of New Mexico a large project in Mesa del Sol has been allocated 440 acres of land, the university requires 40 addition acres in phase two or three of the project where it plans to develop a satellite campus by the Urban Center.
As means of improving its environment, Mesa del Sol plans to reduce green house emission by incorporating product selection and design techniques. Among the plans include use of non-toxic recycled materials and energy saving systems. In addition, the new community plans to engage in water and energy conservation as well as recycling projects. As a way of improving the landscape, Mesa del Sol plans on organizing for a desert revival that will engage people in tree planting exercise as well as wild flowers, native plants, rocks, palm trees and shrubs. Instead of using traditional grass strips, Mesa del Sol plan to that trees lining on the streets. Greenways and pedestrian path would be preserved drainage areas.
Water reservation methods such as water harvesting and conservation as well as recycled water will be used to provide water that would irrigate greenways, parks and public areas. The other development project in Mesa del Sols plan includes a commuter rail station known as the New Mexico Rail Runner Express. The new community has already attracted major business projects such as Sony Picture Image works, Advent Solar, Albuquerque Studios, Molina Healthcares facility and SCHOTT Solar (Beatley, 2004).The companies are currently offering approximately 3000 jobs which are foreseen to grow to 5000 by 2010.
A new urbanism city is described as a community that serves the pedestrians, cars and transit. The neighborhood is diversified both in use and population. The city is designed in such a way that community institutions and public spaces are universally accessible and physically defined. The landscape design and architecture framing urban places in the community should celebrate the building practice, local history ecology and climate. Mesa del Sol has all the feature of a new urbanite community. Mesa del Sol community has sustainable urban community planning and also helps in job creation. These are the two characteristic of new urbanism. The neo-traditional neighborhood designs of New Urbanism of Mesa del Sol gives people more choices about how and where they want to live because the dwellings are varied to cope with different type of families and household. The new community plans adequate environmental resources, social amenities and economic objectives that define a great community.
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