burbtalk

I think it's fair to say that everybody wants the same thing--nice places to live--but we disagree on (1) what it means to be a nice place and (2) how to get there, meaning driving vs. other modes.

Just Up the Pike disagrees with my characterization of Silver Spring as a commodified urban renewal like place in "still sick: how to grow an old town in no time," discussing how people hang and do things and that it is an active vibrant place (yes, even I went to one of the open air AFI films a few weeks ago, although we left after awhile because we were bored).

And the automobile centric paradigm that marks the suburbs is another point on which we disagree. Generally, the distances between places in suburbs like Montgomery County make transit, walking, and bicycling time inefficient, although there can be exceptions, places within the broad region that are walkable communities (parts of Silver Spring, Wheaton, Rockville, and Bethesda qualify, among others).

Yes I think places like Bethesda Row and the new Rockville Town Center are well done (no photos to upload, but I checked it out a wee bit a few weeks ago, including the library) they just seem so antiseptic, corporate and commodified. But how can we expect people to not favor such environments, when for the most part, that's all they know (some time, watch George Lucas' first film, THX-1138 and think about its architecture--a mix of malls and airport terminals)?

Maryland Politics Watch, in "Wheaton: Ready, Aim, Aim, Aim," and Just Up the Pike, in "panel recommends town square, library move for downtown wheaton," cover the latest redevelopment planning exercise for Wheaton. These kinds of reports are always useful to read, regardless of the community they address. And if you read the report or skim the entries, it's clear that these planners also say the same kinds of things that I'd say or Dan would.

Also see these reports from the Urban Land Institute:

-- Reinventing Suburban Business Districts
-- Reinventing America's Suburban Strips
-- Ten Steps for Developing Successful Town Centers
-- Ten Steps for Rethinking the Mall

and the city version:

-- Ten Steps for Rebuilding Neighborhood Retail.

Also see my take on places like Silver Spring in "Lifestyle Centers vs. Traditional Commercial Districts: Imitation, Authenticity and the Public Realm" from the Smart Growth Around America newsletter (12/2006).