Arbeitsbericht 163 (HU Berlin): Quartiere neu denken - Arbeitskreis ...

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New Urbanism, and a planning team is sent to the city where a new neighbourhood is to
be developed under New Urbanism principles. But it could, at the same time, with
foundation in the statement from Gleeson above be said that New Urbanism has a good
possibility to create community since plans for a New Urban area are open for the
society through the charrette and the principles that the organisation is following are
done on conferences open for everyone that wants to be a member. Also, not to be
forgotten, it is a nonprofit organisation.
So the question if physical neighbourhood planning can affect its inhabitants’ behaviour
is still to be asked. The outcome of the discussion above shows some tendencies but
more research has to be done to be able to make a statement.
Can New Urbanism be seen as conservative communitarianism?
New Urbanism has been discussed not just as a planning discourse but also as a political
viewpoint. Their will and goal in balancing individual choices with public responsibili-
ties and community togetherness can function as a political meeting point for those that
support the will of creating more communitydesigned neighbourhoods with higher
public-spirit (Ellis 2002 p 273). One political view often discussed together with New
Urbanism is communitarianism (Ellis 2002; Etzioni 1995, 1996; Harvey 1997;
Gordon/Richardson 1998; Bond/Thomson-Fawcette 2007). The New Urbanism Charter
constantly strives to encourage public involvement in development projects. One way of
doing so is the charrette that they use in the development process to get input from the
community and also to educate residents about New Urbanism and design alternatives
for the houses so that they will not differ too much from one another or break the goals
of New Urbanism. The charrette functions as a kind of workshop with a mix of profes-
sionals and community input (Ellis 2002 p 281).
New Urbanist thinking has been stated as being conservative in its way of thinking of
architecture. New Urbanists suggest that an old architectural tradition and its physical
design affects social behaviour, and that the organisation of streets, buildings and
neighbourhoods also generate social interaction which further leads to a creation of
community spirit (Gordon/Richardson 1998)
Taking a deeper look into the work of the charrette and the statements of New Urban-
ism being conservative in its way of thinking, comes the connection and the discussion
of power. The charrette is not a workshop developed by the community but rather a
group of New Urbanists that select design teams and lead facilitators. The ten principles
of New Urbanism are to be followed which can lead to the statement that several
decisions have already been made before the public gets included in the planning
process. Totally integrated community participation has also been stated as difficult
from CNU members. Because the community does not always have educated architects,
urban planners end up with people trying to do something they are not capable of doing