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Conservatives at the Congress for the New Urbanism

Conservatives at the Congress for the New Urbanism
Local Liberty: the Center for Local Government at the Claremont Institute.

(....)For some, mainly the architects, it is simply a design question. For others, who include planners, New Urbanism means the regulatory regime of Smart Growth, as it reflects more about the purposes of the communities being created and what is needed to serve those purposes.
(....)
From the conservative perspective:

•What’s not to like about New Urbanism? If you had called it Traditional Neighborhood Design, as it was once denominated, conservatives might well find it even more appealing, as a design. New Urbanist designs appeal to the communitarian element of much conservative thinking.
•The New Urbanist notion that their Transect zoning reflects natural law principles would make it appealing to those conservatives who respect natural law arguments (such as those in the Declaration of Independence). How deeply this has been thought through by New Urbanists remains to be seen.
•Conservatives would admire the anti-regulatory zeal occasionally displayed by New Urbanists. A few years ago, I first heard Andres Duany (the founder of the movement) in a three-hour denunciation of environmentalism and the Americans With Disabilities Act. (Of the ADA, I have some first-hand familiarity, as I worked with first Clarence Thomas and his EEOC successor the late Evan Kemp, chairmen of that agency.) The question raised is whether New Urbanists would merely substitute one form of regulation and mentality for another.

Why should New Urbanists like conservatism? This is a tougher case. But we should keep in mind that we are talking about conservative thinking, not any particular conservative politician or Fox news personality. (.....)

Continue reading: http://www.claremont.org/localliberty/archives/003288.html
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