Tuesday, March 6, 2007

random 2.5 pages, not in order

Where Are The Poor in New Urbanism
New Urbanism has been touted as the sustainable development model for planning communities, but where are the poor in these developments? This community design does not address economic class for the people living there the way it addresses environmental issues wherever “there” happens to be. We need to accommodate an area that encompasses more than just mixed use; sustainable development calls for mixed users. If we planned all of our urban areas according to the New Urbanism model we would be forgetting a major part of the population and ignoring our duty to provide sustainably for all people. Sustainability protects the environment in a very complete manner, but environmentalism is not the primary purpose energizing this theory. The call for social justice is the bottom line in a sustainable world. Environmental justice is a complement to sustainable human society. Because this approach provides our species with the highest quality of life we strive to have a symbiotic, rather than a parasitic relationship with our home planet.

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