Urbanism Tenets

1. Accessibility: Minimize time it takes to travel between different parts of the city. Specifically between each person's home and all the amenities they need to access (work, grocery, restaurants, social spaces, green spaces, shopping, entertainment, etc)

2. Community: Create and allow spaces that promote local community to elevate trust, empathy, and identity. Cities that succeed in this tend to have happier residents :)

3. Recreation: Green and recreation spaces should be accessible to all residents. These spaces allow and promote physical and mental wellbeing

4. Affordability: Cities require people of all different jobs and economic statuses. The city should be designed in such a way that all citizens can afford to live in the city. 

5. Feasibility & Efficiency: Good cities should pay for themselves and be resilient. Cities that aren’t very efficient with their resources (especially land and land use!!)

6. Beauty: People want to live and spend time in places they consider beautiful. We measure the success of this quite literally: in what percentage of the city would you like to loiter in i.e. if you were to plop down on a bench / picnic table would you want to sit there and spend time? Not many people would want to loiter next to a highway or in a parking lot, but people love to loiter in vibrant, human scaled and comfortable places such as parks, pedestrian streets.

How we Achieve This:

1. Density

Density is the backbone of a good city (up to an extent). More people in a given area means more wealth in that area that can support more shops, restaurants, businesses and other services within the neighborhood. Density shouldn’t mean cramming into small spaces.

Supporting Tenets:

• Accessibility

• Feasibility & Efficiency

• Affordability

2. Prioritization of efficient transportation

Transportation methods that can transport the same amount of people for less money and space should be promoted over less efficient modes of transportation. This means prioritizing trains, buses, walking and biking over cars.

Supporting Tenets:

• Accessibility

• Feasibility & Efficiency

3. Mixed use zoning

Mixed use allows businesses, shops, restaurants and offices to exist closer together. This minimizes travel distance, reducing congestion. It also promotes local businesses supported by real locals and promotes a sense of community within these spaces. 

Supporting Tenets:

• Accessibility

• Community

• Beauty

4. Community green spaces: 

Community gardens, lawns, private or semi private rooftops, gardens, etc. Access to private or semi private green space should be maximized. Areas that are shared and can be used by many not only make better use of space but promote community within neighborhoods.

Supporting Tenets:

• Community

• Beauty

5. Larger recreation spaces: 

This can be accessibility to large parks outside of the city, or large refuges from city life within the city.

Supporting Tenets:

• Recreation

• Beauty

6. Smart Land Use:

Zoning practices such as minimum setbacks, and minimum parking requirements effectively create dead space out of cities' valuable real estate. Zoning laws should promote smart and efficient use of land, not the opposite.

Supporting Tenets:

• Feasibility & Efficiency

7. Promotion of local economy and small business:

Promote shops and restaurants that serve a local area. Not only does this make the local economy more resilient by diversifying the economy but gives each community a more unique identity. Big Box stores have a history of bankrupting small towns and cities and should not be tolerated within city limits.

Supporting Tenets:

• Accessibility

• Feasibility & Efficiency

• Community