“Organically grown” provides the best results not only when it comes to tomatoes. European cities grew organically for thousands of years without control of a zoning code. The only limitation was: stay within the city walls. That regulation ensured density. They did have problems due to the lack of sanitation, but thankfully we have solved those problems now. So why not encourage density and organic growth of our cities?
Well, while at the first glance the idea of a “free range” city seems yummy; on the second thought one may have some reservations. First of all the medieval builders in Europe were faced with limitations. Mainly technical. They had the ability to construct a sky-high cathedral but average town house was limited to three or four stories. They also didn’t have to deal with car traffic and parking issues. When we think about our cities right now, and realize what complex and sophisticated organisms they are, it seems that some planning might be a good idea. But how much planning is too much?
New Denver zoning code is “form based”. What it means is that the planners came up with a set of forms that are appropriate for certain uses and locations. For example, they are saying, if you want to build a house in one of the near-downtown neighborhoods this is what it needs to look like. And here comes a sketch of a house and a list of requirements regarding the floor height above grade, the wall plate height, the length of wall, the jogs in the wall, the porch location and size… Wait a second! It’s a complete design! Have we gone too far? Do we really need the City planners to tell us how many steps we need to climb to get to the front door of our house? (by the way, the ADA accessible, on-grade entry is not allowed under the current draft)
What is this controlled approach going to do to our city? There are covenanted communities in our area to examine. Highlands Ranch comes to mind. Let’s think about it for a minute: Character? Charm? Vibrant mix of forms and uses? Walkable community? Hmmm…Let’s go back to Europe for a second. What is so fascinating about those old towns built without a plan? Character? Charm?.... How did they do it?
Dear City Planners, please focus on transportation, growth and sustainability. Please protect our residential areas from heavy industrial uses. Please keep Wal-Mart away from the downtown. Tell us all about uses, setbacks, allowable floor area ratios and even height of the structures. But please let architects do their job of designing the buildings. We promise we won’t mess up your grand vision.
Sincerely,
Gosia Kung (the architect)
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Agreed...planning is going too far.
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