traingang

So with the knowledge that Leon Krier is sus, lets get back to Seaside

Among this legion of converts [to Leon Krier Thought] was Robert Davis, developer of Seaside

Davis soon realized that his eighty beachfront acres, recently inherited, constituted the "ideal parcel of land for a sensibly designed town."20

In 1980 he met with his architectural mentor and hired Krier as a consultant on his new project. Krier offered advice on street scale, recreational facilities, and the siting of community facilities. In return, Davis granted Krier a building lot in the new town. For Krier, "Seaside was a dream come true." "I always said,'' he remarked, "I would never build unless conditions were right." Seaside offered Krier an opportunity to erect his first built structure, an environment which finally met his standards of community.21

Davis also found kindred spirits in Miami architects Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, of the firm DPZ. Like Davis, the married professional couple also subscribed to a number of Leon Krier' s theories. They embraced traditional community design and espoused the value of vernacular architecture. They also shared his contempt for strict land use divisions imposed by zoning.

Rather than rely on traditional zoning, Seaside's architects chose to regulate land uses through the use of the town's ''urban code."

a relatively simple, poster sized graphic, the Seaside code was intended to be a "graphic document' easily understood by ''the citizen-buyer."

Far more restrictive than a conventional building code, Seaside's regulations also addressed many of the town's architectural and aesthetic features

eight different allowed building types. These structure types included residential buildings, mixed use residences (residential and lodging, office and residential, and retail, residential and lodging), and workshops, the latter no doubt a concession to Krier' s nostalgia for pre-industrial crafts and trades

In addition its urban code, Seaside also boasted a town plan. Also produced by Duany and Plater-Zyberk, this plan specified the location and nature of the development's streets, amenities, and community resources. In keeping with Krier' s community design theories, the entire town was designed on a pedestrian-friendly scale. The "five minute walk," a distance of a quarter mile, became one of the plan's primary design principles. All of one's daily needs were to be within this distance, reducing auto traffic and, presumably, increasing foot traffic and community interaction

Duany, for his part defended the new urbanists' reliance on codes and so-called "private governments" as elements of control. He insisted that "codes are categorically democratic in the sense that law and orderly processes are as essential as the vote."

" Duany further states that criticisms of private governments are "laden with irony and paranoia." Homeowners associations, he implores, "foster a sophisticated participatory democracy" and provide opportunities for ''individual leadership."

Galt's gulch homeowners association

New Urbanists have also been criticized for their views regarding public participation in the planning process. Movement leaders hail public involvement as an essential element in the planning process. "Citizen participation" according to DPZ's Duany and Plater-Zyberk, "'has proved to be the most effective way to avoid mistakes." Yet despite such statements, many new urbanists also express considerable misgivings concerning the public's role and influence. In a recent interview in Planning magazine, Andres Duany acknowledged difficulties in working with the public. "When you have to consult with everyone," he lament� ''virtually in every instance they're against affordable housing, they're against mixed use, and they're against high density." He then confessed ''the public process, if you run it honestly, comes out against smart growth." 61

New Urbanists, however, seem unfazed by the lack of public enthusiasm for their cause. Rather than bow to the public, they often choose to disregard its protests as the rumblings of the uninformed and unenlightened masses. ''A mob often decides against its best interests" Duany lamented, adding ''the citizens will close the drawbridge, oppose mixed use and economic variety in housing, so we must fight them." He then declared: "I am not the sort of planner that does what the citizens dictate. We are not secretaries to the mob." In an effort to reconcile their stated desire for public participation with their complete lack of confidence in the hoi polloi, these urban reformers have, in effect, limited the public's influence over the planning process. First, they have de-emphasized "legally mandated public hearings" in favor of pre-design "workshops" and "charettes." Secondly, they also strive to limit the public's ability to alter completed plans. "Master plans must be enacted in principle as quickly as possible," Duany warns, boasting "our plan for Stuart, Florida was presented at four p.m. one day and was law four hours later.''62

the Real "15 minute city" conspiracy isn't that you won't be allowed out of your neighborhood or whatever chuds say. Its that you won't be allowed IN to the "Libertarian Exit" (Epstein-coded lebensraum) New Urbanist New Town next door, because your community has been selected for "Reconstruction" (extermination through labor).

[The Seaside "urban code"] also allowed for an unspecified "special district' which could be built, by an approved architect, under the strict supervision of "the Seaside administration. " 23

(pointing) this is where the work camp will go

The most vocal criticism, however, has been levied at the lack of diversity present in neotraditional communities. Although new urbanists commit themselves to addressing questions of equity, they have demonstrated little success in attracting minorities or accommodating the poor. Their developments, in the words of one critic, have turned out "to be rather elitist settlements with average income levels much higher than in the surrounding areas."

:liberal-confused:

Leaders of the new urbanist movement have dismissed these charges of elitism. Andres Duany, for his part, attributes the lack of minority residents to his belief that "ethnic groups prefer to live with their own kind." He adds that "one can encourage all types of minorities to live in any New Urbanist [sic] community, but only a Stalinist would hold this as an attainable ideal."

this guy is literally a character in a bmf post: "woke Stalinist authoritarians say my ancap colony is 'racist', but they only pretend to like Black people!"

Robert Davis, for his part, admits that Seaside is "an idealized vision of a town" which lacks "a full complement of human activities."

"citizen-buyers" of Seaside not fully human, wow!