Andrés Duany is the cofounder of the Congress for the New Urbanism and is considered one of the most influential architects and urban planners in the world today, along with his partner Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk.   He established the New Urbanism design movement, which looks to return to higher density, walkable neighborhoods that are close to jobs, shopping and leisure activities.  His latest work involves applying innovative planning techniques like the Urban Transect Theory and SmartCode, a form-based zoning code.   

Background

After beginning his career in modernist high-rise design, Duany came to reject postwar architecture and development practices.  Duany came to believe that most of the suburban and urban communities planned in the latter half of the twentieth century did not function effectively, and were not sustainable environmentally and economically.  He looked to the past for different planning paradigms, particularly the early twentieth century, that had ushered in some of the most livable and functional urban forms that the world had seen.  Duany was one of the first to put into practice a return to traditional design.  

Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk launched the design firm Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company, based in Miami but with regional offices in Charlotte and Washington.  The firm has designed communities ranging in size from 10 to 10,000 acres throughout the United States as well as internationally.  The firm is also rewriting the zoning code for the entire city of Miami[1]. 

Duany is highly sought-after as a speaker and consultant.  He frequently appears in the national media, particularly in stories on the changing face of American suburbia.   

Seaside and New Urbanism

Duany burst onto the national scene with the success of Seaside, Florida — a built-from-scratch beach town that rejected conventional suburban forms in favor of a more compact, mixed-use style reminiscent of 19th century small towns.  Considered the first New Urbanist development, Seaside was a model for neighborhood appearance, form and walkability while incorporating higher housing densities than other suburban subdivisions.

Urban Transect Theory and SmartCode

Even when New Urbanist principles are followed, most new residential neighborhoods remain disconnected from nearby developments, and car-dependent, as “modernist planning grimly hangs on” [2] in the face of attempts to design communities differently.  As a solution to the isolated and pod-like nature of real estate development, Duany formulated a planning philosophy called the Urban Transect based on historic arrangements of cities, towns and countryside. The Transect is the natural gradient from urban to rural to natural landscapes that can be observed in settlement patterns all over the world.  Because “urbanism occurs across a spectrum from urban center to rural wilderness” [3], zoning ordinances should incorporate this arrangement.  The theory holds that architecture, street design, landscaping, densities, and other features of any single site or development should reflect the geographic context.  For example, suburban-style parking lots should be avoided in dense downtowns, which were designed for pedestrians and good transit access.

Since the 1990's, much of Duany’s work has involved applying the Transect concept through a formal zoning technique called the SmartCode.  An alternative to conventional suburban zoning, SmartCodes mandate a gradient of housing densities from downtown core to suburban outskirts.  If applied correctly, the code creates environments that are conducive to walking, bicycling, and transit use, free of parking lots, curb cuts and high-speed roads.  SmartCode is a form-based code, as opposed to a use-based code.  Petaluma, California, was one of the first towns in the United States to employ the SmartCode.  Many others have followed.

­ In Duany’s Words

- “What is causing global warming is the lifestyle of the American middle class.  It's terrible for nature and for humans." [4]

- “Despite being implemented through a careful protocol that engages all the specialists, the communities that result are not properly blended. Each profession is permitted to impose its perquisites, with the result typically being a collection of urban elements rather than urbanism itself.” [2]  -- Duany on modernist planning

- “Before World War II, when a green field was lost, a hamlet, village or town was gained.  It was an even trade.  But today when an open space is built on, a housing subdivision, a shopping center or a business park replaces it.“ [5]

- “Greening tends to create, not the most livable cities, it tends to create suburbia. This is obvious to anyone that has attempted to design an authentic urban fabric while following current environmental standards.” [2]

- "...[T]he Transect proved to be extendible to the human habitat, as every component of urbanism also finds a place within a continuous rural-to-urban gradient.  For example, a street is more urban than a road, a raised curb more urban than a swale, a brick wall more urban than a shingled one, an allee of trees more urban than a cluster.” [2]

ALSO ON THE LIVABLE STREETS NETWORK

• New Video Series Tells the Story of Sprawl, Streetsblog, April 21, 2009.
  

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REFERENCES

Each source is referred to by the same number every time it is cited. Please keep citation style consistent.

[1] Duany Plater-Zyberk and Company

[2] Duany, Andres. Introduction to the special issue dedicated to the transect (pre-publication draft).  Journal of Urban Design, August 26, 2002.

[3] Mehaffy, Michael. A Conversation with Andrés Duany.  Katarxis Journal. September 2004.

[4] Walsh, Bryan. How Green is Your Neighborhood? Time, December 19, 2007.

[5] A New Theory of Urbanism. Scientific American, December 2000.

 

PICTURE REFERENCES

Pictures are cited in the order they appear above. Please keep citation style consistent.

[1] Andres Duany. Photo by Dean Terry via Flickr.

[2] Seaside walking path. Photo by armstrks via Flickr.

[3] Seaside architecture. Photo by virgomerry via Flickr.

 

FURTHER READING

• SmartCode Central.  DPZ and Company.
  
• Center for Applied Transect Studies 

Keywords

pedestrian, smart growth, new urbanism, transect, SmartCode, sprawl