Redding sprawls out in suburban, automobile centricity. Over the last few years, we had a couple of developments aimed at a more human centric design, most often referred to as New Urbanism. All of the examples have met with mixed success. Perhaps the lack of eager adoption has more to do with the recently depressed housing market conditions than the appeal. But change is hard anyway, and in this housing market, it’s brutal. So what building we do see going on in 2011 tends to be very similar to what we have seen for the last few decades. Suburban, auto based housing. The market speaks, and those that don’t listen do so at their peril.
Still…
I took this video below of the block and a half of the completed Parkview neighborhood yesterday. And seeing it I was pleasantly imagining our town laid out for walking, with small community parks, and tree lined streets of front porches. $4 gas surely takes a huge bite out of our local economy, but it wouldn’t matter all that much if you could walk to a marketplace or work. I wonder if we haven’t built ourselves into a suburban box, from which escape will be difficult.
Driving around to shoot video of a walkable neighborhood. That’s Really Redding.
