Seattle planner, architect and journalist Mark Hinshaw's new book, "True Urbanism," explains the theories behind why droves of people are abandoning the suburbs and flocking to dense, diverse urban environments.
In an interview with California Planning & Development Report, Hinshaw explains his findings and theories, which conflict with the New Urbanist school.
"You have these very dense urban areas - they have parks and public spaces, they have a graciousness to the street and they take on a patina that comes over time. They have quirkiness and an unpredictability. People are not looking for sameness. They are looking for something different.
That's where I part company with the new urbanists. They are trying to create this out of whole cloth. I think you need an understory of things that give a place roots. I don't think you can invent that. I don't think that you can design it. It comes from the fact that a number of people get their hands on these places. That's where it becomes magic. You get these shared spaces, this collective attitude. It's not just you and a lot of other people living in an area. It's a shared history of the place. It's a richer array of things that results."
FULL STORY: An Interview With Mark Hinshaw
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UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
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Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research