Flooding and New Urbanism:

New Urbanism is a design method where you put a vast amount of opportunities for people in their living areas. This means that a person can work and live in the same area. It takes away the car and allows people to walk. These types of areas have become very popular in the United States. The East Village by downtown and West Glenn in West Des Moines are example of New Urbanisms in Des Moines. New Urban communities started gaining popularity in the 1980, and they have slowly moved their way around the country. They help the environment and economy because they take up less space and let relators sell vast amount of residential property to a large assortment of people. However, New Urbanism also increases the risk of flood damage. Like I have stated before many of our new developments make us feel safe, but they also make us forget that things can go wrong.  

All New Urbanist areas share some important characteristics:

•     All neighborhoods have a town center where people can socialize.
•     Most of the housing and commercial areas are in walking distance.
•     There is socioeconomic variety because these areas try to attract all.
•     Try to meet the needs of community so that people don’t have to leave outside.
•     Education possibilities are usually in close vicinity of the area.
•     The streets are pedestrian friendly, meaning that they are meant to keep walkers safe.
•     The neighborhood is meant to be self-governing.

The article, New Urbanist developments in flood-proneareas: safe development, or safe development paradox?, does a great job of answering what can happen if a New Urbanist community floods. For instance, if a flood in such a community does occur more people would be in danger. The idea of having a community where one doesn’t have to leave means that more needs would be grouped together, meaning that residential, business, private, and public would all merge into one. Another issue is placement of the community. If a community has all the needs within it then why would outside bodies build around it? This means that scarcity could become an issue if the flooding cuts off access to the outside. This made me think of Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans. New Orleans has one bridge connecting it to civilization and when that bridge was cut off everything went bad. To me New Orleans can be seen as a large example of what would happen to a New Urbanist community during a flood, this would of course be an extreme example, but one that could happen.