Albertt M 60S Baker M 763 Banal R 133 Bcrkc PR 643 Bustard W 219 CnrmoiM M 807 Carr CMH 503 Chase... more Albertt M 60S Baker M 763 Banal R 133 Bcrkc PR 643 Bustard W 219 CnrmoiM M 807 Carr CMH 503 Chase SC 33 Choi YK 241 ConcilioG 711 Crawford J 643 Deas I 763 DcsyilasJ 193 Dixon J 643 Dykes JA 281 Economou A 75 EdamuraT 381 Eisclt HA 741 Erickscn N 643 Fisher ...
<p>This chapter focuses on the long-standing debate over the quest to achieve goals about s... more <p>This chapter focuses on the long-standing debate over the quest to achieve goals about social relationships via the neighborhood. Earlier in the 20th century, it was common for neighborhood proponents to ascribe social outcomes to neighborhoods in the hope that social connection—and at times, conformity—could be instilled, if only neighborhoods were of a particular form. Later in the century, communications and transportation technologies dealt a further blow to the idea that neighborhoods were a viable source for instilling social outcomes like a sense of belonging and a sense of community. The social prescriptions of neighborhood form have long been problematized, but the argument seems to linger on, fueling critics of neighborhood plans. The most promising avenue for resolving this entrenched debate is to reject outright social relationship–related claims, refocus attention on neighborhood functionality—services, facilities, and institutions—and welcome whatever positive social benefits might be derived.</p>
As an element of planning practice, the notion of “commu-nity ” is not well thought out. The ques... more As an element of planning practice, the notion of “commu-nity ” is not well thought out. The quest for community in the realm of planning praxis provokes an age-old debate, which, given the current surge of interest in community, needs to be revisited and reassessed. In this article, the author argues that planners need to detach themselves from the idea that physical planning can create a “sense of community. ” The integration of the notion of community and planning is analyzed in three parts. The author first assesses how planning practice cur-rently incorporates the notion of community. Included is an empirical analysis of neighborhood planning documents from sixteen U.S. cities. Second, she discusses why the notion of attempting to build community in planning is problematic, and she presents four fundamental reasons why this is the case. Finally, she outlines how the notion of community in planning could be used more appropriately. Pick up any recent, best-selling treatise relat...
While the opening up of the city and the loss of neighborhood identity was not universally lament... more While the opening up of the city and the loss of neighborhood identity was not universally lamented, many planners, sociologists, and social reformers reacted to the decline by trying to plan the neighborhood back into existence. Essentially the response to industrial capitalism was to apportion cities into manageable units and subunits—segmented, patterned, sorted into equal-size circles, squares, or hexagons at regular intervals, nested into hierarchical arrangements, often with mathematical precision. The quest for order and control manifested as the neighborhood unit—an urban partitioning that even ancient cities had practiced. In the 19th century, garden cities, model villages, and other idealized units were the more immediate precursors of the 20th-century version: relatively self-contained neighborhoods that had access to services, social life, and nature.
This chapter reviews the primary design debates involved in neighborhood formation: whether they ... more This chapter reviews the primary design debates involved in neighborhood formation: whether they can or should be planned all at once and as complete units; their boundedness and centeredness, and their street composition and its effect on internal and external connectivity. All of these debates involve the limits and practicalities of neighborhood identity-building and consciousness, which can be thought of as being on a continuum from most extreme (whole units on clean slates) to more subtle (increasing connectivity via interconnecting pathways). Moving forward, there is hope for design resolution because the choices are not so black and white. Neighborhood design can maintain the positive aspects of identity-building by emphasizing centers (which also minimizes the need for explicit boundaries) and streets that can be simultaneously well connected and pedestrian based.
This chapter reviews what is known about how neighborhoods were laid out and experienced, before ... more This chapter reviews what is known about how neighborhoods were laid out and experienced, before the city was fundamentally restructured by technological and social changes emerging out of the 19th century. To what degree was the neighborhood ever identifiable, serviced, diverse, and connected? Counteracting the often more ambiguous contemporary understanding of neighborhood requires drawing on a broad historical and global perspective. Interconnection, localized identity, human scale, adjacency, access, the need for a graspable spatial unit to belong to—these are the regularities of urban experience that establish a more durable foundation for the traditional concept of neighborhood. Historical examples of neighborhood are important precisely because neighborhood form emerged as a regular feature of urban experience all over the globe, despite profound differences in urbanization processes.
Infrastructure Provision and the Negotiating Process
Urban sprawl has become a salient policy issue in the United States. The issue reflects many conc... more Urban sprawl has become a salient policy issue in the United States. The issue reflects many concerns: rising traffic congestion; farmland and natural resource depletion; disappearing parks and open spaces; decaying streets, sewers, and schools; and a ...
AbstractDemand for housing in walkable neighborhoods has been increasing rapidly in recent years,... more AbstractDemand for housing in walkable neighborhoods has been increasing rapidly in recent years, as has evidence of the benefits of walkable urban form and walking. These neighborhoods nevertheless remain in short supply, especially for low-income residents. Furthermore, crime, poor market strength, or racial segregation potentially compromise accessibility in lower income neighborhoods. We assess the nationwide supply of urban neighborhoods with walkable access and the extent to which U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)-assisted voucher and project housing enables tenants to live in these neighborhoods. For assisted tenants with walkable access, we analyze whether or not this access is compromised. We aggregated more than 20 million address-level records (2010 to 2012) to the neighborhood level from about a dozen sources to characterize walkable access (using Walk Score), HUD-assisted housing, potential compromising factors, and other neighborhood characteristic...
As the historical experience of neighborhood waned, and as it became clear that reinstating the n... more As the historical experience of neighborhood waned, and as it became clear that reinstating the neighborhood via preset plans was going to be a significant challenge, interest in expanding the definition of neighborhood grew. These new definitions involved opening the door to concepts that, before the 20th century, would have seemed completely alien. Now detached from any traditional, physical understanding involving centers and boundaries, the idea of neighborhood could be expanded to investigate new modes of inquiry in a whole range of fields: biology, computer science, psychology, and physics. The newly acquired, open-ended approach to neighborhood definition was liberating, extraneous, or disabling, depending on one’s point of view. This chapter summarizes some of these neighborhood definitions to give a sense of the variety that now exists and to show how many of these definitions challenge conventional understanding of the neighborhood as a relevant and meaningful setting for ...
This book is written in support of those who believe that neighborhoods should be genuinely relev... more This book is written in support of those who believe that neighborhoods should be genuinely relevant in our lives, not as casual descriptors of geographic location but as places that provide an essential context for daily life. “Neighborhood” in its traditional sense—as a localized, place-based, delimited urban area that has some level of personal influence—seems a vanished part of the urban experience. This book explores whether 21st-century neighborhoods can once again provide a sense of caring and local participation and not devolve into enclaves seeking social insularity and separation. That the localized, diverse neighborhood has often failed to materialize requires thorough exploration. While many factors leading to the decline of the traditional neighborhood—e-commerce, suburban exclusivity, internet-based social contact—seem to be beyond anyone’s control, other factors seem more a product of neglect and confusion about neighborhood definition and its place in American societ...
Abstract Where is public money for place-based improvement spent? A common narrative is that publ... more Abstract Where is public money for place-based improvement spent? A common narrative is that public expenditure prioritizes business and development interests at the expense of disadvantaged areas that have the greatest need. This paper is a quantified look at this question—an analysis of spending patterns at the neighborhood level. The spatial analysis of public expenditure at the neighborhood level is surprisingly rare, in part because the data is not conducive to locational assessment at a detailed level. We posit three explanations for the pattern of expenditure: efficiency, pro-development, or equity/need. We find that place-based public expenditure in Chicago is unrelated to efficiency or equity/need, and mostly follows a pattern of spatial selectivity in which business and economic development are prioritized, primarily in and around the central business district and higher income residential areas. Our study augments earlier findings in that funding is considered in a spatially explicit manner at a highly disaggregated level of analysis.
The production of neighborhoods on a large or mass scale has not been successful. Procuring the n... more The production of neighborhoods on a large or mass scale has not been successful. Procuring the neighborhood ideal requires an attention to detail that few large corporations or government agencies seem capable of instituting. Yet planned neighborhoods have definite pluses: institutionalized leadership, clearly defined social and spatial boundaries, and a sense of control. What is needed is an approach that combines the best of both worlds—a dose of planning, with plenty of flexibility and local empowerment.
Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability
ABSTRACT The definition of neighborhood is often ambiguous. The purpose of this paper is to offer... more ABSTRACT The definition of neighborhood is often ambiguous. The purpose of this paper is to offer clarity on one important aspect of its definition: its size. While there is already a voluminous literature on neighborhood concepts and definitions, few sources delve into the question of size explicitly, and in a historically and culturally comparative way. Based on an extensive literature review, five size-based categories of neighborhood are proposed: (1) small clusters and face blocks; (2) more than a block, but still face to face; (3) like a big high school; (4) Perry’s neighborhood; and (5) the neighborhood expanded. Smaller neighborhoods are likely to prioritize social connectedness, while larger conceptions emphasize serviceability. Examples within each category are cross-cultural and cross-temporal, with many size regularities spanning more than one time period and more than one region.
Albertt M 60S Baker M 763 Banal R 133 Bcrkc PR 643 Bustard W 219 CnrmoiM M 807 Carr CMH 503 Chase... more Albertt M 60S Baker M 763 Banal R 133 Bcrkc PR 643 Bustard W 219 CnrmoiM M 807 Carr CMH 503 Chase SC 33 Choi YK 241 ConcilioG 711 Crawford J 643 Deas I 763 DcsyilasJ 193 Dixon J 643 Dykes JA 281 Economou A 75 EdamuraT 381 Eisclt HA 741 Erickscn N 643 Fisher ...
<p>This chapter focuses on the long-standing debate over the quest to achieve goals about s... more <p>This chapter focuses on the long-standing debate over the quest to achieve goals about social relationships via the neighborhood. Earlier in the 20th century, it was common for neighborhood proponents to ascribe social outcomes to neighborhoods in the hope that social connection—and at times, conformity—could be instilled, if only neighborhoods were of a particular form. Later in the century, communications and transportation technologies dealt a further blow to the idea that neighborhoods were a viable source for instilling social outcomes like a sense of belonging and a sense of community. The social prescriptions of neighborhood form have long been problematized, but the argument seems to linger on, fueling critics of neighborhood plans. The most promising avenue for resolving this entrenched debate is to reject outright social relationship–related claims, refocus attention on neighborhood functionality—services, facilities, and institutions—and welcome whatever positive social benefits might be derived.</p>
As an element of planning practice, the notion of “commu-nity ” is not well thought out. The ques... more As an element of planning practice, the notion of “commu-nity ” is not well thought out. The quest for community in the realm of planning praxis provokes an age-old debate, which, given the current surge of interest in community, needs to be revisited and reassessed. In this article, the author argues that planners need to detach themselves from the idea that physical planning can create a “sense of community. ” The integration of the notion of community and planning is analyzed in three parts. The author first assesses how planning practice cur-rently incorporates the notion of community. Included is an empirical analysis of neighborhood planning documents from sixteen U.S. cities. Second, she discusses why the notion of attempting to build community in planning is problematic, and she presents four fundamental reasons why this is the case. Finally, she outlines how the notion of community in planning could be used more appropriately. Pick up any recent, best-selling treatise relat...
While the opening up of the city and the loss of neighborhood identity was not universally lament... more While the opening up of the city and the loss of neighborhood identity was not universally lamented, many planners, sociologists, and social reformers reacted to the decline by trying to plan the neighborhood back into existence. Essentially the response to industrial capitalism was to apportion cities into manageable units and subunits—segmented, patterned, sorted into equal-size circles, squares, or hexagons at regular intervals, nested into hierarchical arrangements, often with mathematical precision. The quest for order and control manifested as the neighborhood unit—an urban partitioning that even ancient cities had practiced. In the 19th century, garden cities, model villages, and other idealized units were the more immediate precursors of the 20th-century version: relatively self-contained neighborhoods that had access to services, social life, and nature.
This chapter reviews the primary design debates involved in neighborhood formation: whether they ... more This chapter reviews the primary design debates involved in neighborhood formation: whether they can or should be planned all at once and as complete units; their boundedness and centeredness, and their street composition and its effect on internal and external connectivity. All of these debates involve the limits and practicalities of neighborhood identity-building and consciousness, which can be thought of as being on a continuum from most extreme (whole units on clean slates) to more subtle (increasing connectivity via interconnecting pathways). Moving forward, there is hope for design resolution because the choices are not so black and white. Neighborhood design can maintain the positive aspects of identity-building by emphasizing centers (which also minimizes the need for explicit boundaries) and streets that can be simultaneously well connected and pedestrian based.
This chapter reviews what is known about how neighborhoods were laid out and experienced, before ... more This chapter reviews what is known about how neighborhoods were laid out and experienced, before the city was fundamentally restructured by technological and social changes emerging out of the 19th century. To what degree was the neighborhood ever identifiable, serviced, diverse, and connected? Counteracting the often more ambiguous contemporary understanding of neighborhood requires drawing on a broad historical and global perspective. Interconnection, localized identity, human scale, adjacency, access, the need for a graspable spatial unit to belong to—these are the regularities of urban experience that establish a more durable foundation for the traditional concept of neighborhood. Historical examples of neighborhood are important precisely because neighborhood form emerged as a regular feature of urban experience all over the globe, despite profound differences in urbanization processes.
Infrastructure Provision and the Negotiating Process
Urban sprawl has become a salient policy issue in the United States. The issue reflects many conc... more Urban sprawl has become a salient policy issue in the United States. The issue reflects many concerns: rising traffic congestion; farmland and natural resource depletion; disappearing parks and open spaces; decaying streets, sewers, and schools; and a ...
AbstractDemand for housing in walkable neighborhoods has been increasing rapidly in recent years,... more AbstractDemand for housing in walkable neighborhoods has been increasing rapidly in recent years, as has evidence of the benefits of walkable urban form and walking. These neighborhoods nevertheless remain in short supply, especially for low-income residents. Furthermore, crime, poor market strength, or racial segregation potentially compromise accessibility in lower income neighborhoods. We assess the nationwide supply of urban neighborhoods with walkable access and the extent to which U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)-assisted voucher and project housing enables tenants to live in these neighborhoods. For assisted tenants with walkable access, we analyze whether or not this access is compromised. We aggregated more than 20 million address-level records (2010 to 2012) to the neighborhood level from about a dozen sources to characterize walkable access (using Walk Score), HUD-assisted housing, potential compromising factors, and other neighborhood characteristic...
As the historical experience of neighborhood waned, and as it became clear that reinstating the n... more As the historical experience of neighborhood waned, and as it became clear that reinstating the neighborhood via preset plans was going to be a significant challenge, interest in expanding the definition of neighborhood grew. These new definitions involved opening the door to concepts that, before the 20th century, would have seemed completely alien. Now detached from any traditional, physical understanding involving centers and boundaries, the idea of neighborhood could be expanded to investigate new modes of inquiry in a whole range of fields: biology, computer science, psychology, and physics. The newly acquired, open-ended approach to neighborhood definition was liberating, extraneous, or disabling, depending on one’s point of view. This chapter summarizes some of these neighborhood definitions to give a sense of the variety that now exists and to show how many of these definitions challenge conventional understanding of the neighborhood as a relevant and meaningful setting for ...
This book is written in support of those who believe that neighborhoods should be genuinely relev... more This book is written in support of those who believe that neighborhoods should be genuinely relevant in our lives, not as casual descriptors of geographic location but as places that provide an essential context for daily life. “Neighborhood” in its traditional sense—as a localized, place-based, delimited urban area that has some level of personal influence—seems a vanished part of the urban experience. This book explores whether 21st-century neighborhoods can once again provide a sense of caring and local participation and not devolve into enclaves seeking social insularity and separation. That the localized, diverse neighborhood has often failed to materialize requires thorough exploration. While many factors leading to the decline of the traditional neighborhood—e-commerce, suburban exclusivity, internet-based social contact—seem to be beyond anyone’s control, other factors seem more a product of neglect and confusion about neighborhood definition and its place in American societ...
Abstract Where is public money for place-based improvement spent? A common narrative is that publ... more Abstract Where is public money for place-based improvement spent? A common narrative is that public expenditure prioritizes business and development interests at the expense of disadvantaged areas that have the greatest need. This paper is a quantified look at this question—an analysis of spending patterns at the neighborhood level. The spatial analysis of public expenditure at the neighborhood level is surprisingly rare, in part because the data is not conducive to locational assessment at a detailed level. We posit three explanations for the pattern of expenditure: efficiency, pro-development, or equity/need. We find that place-based public expenditure in Chicago is unrelated to efficiency or equity/need, and mostly follows a pattern of spatial selectivity in which business and economic development are prioritized, primarily in and around the central business district and higher income residential areas. Our study augments earlier findings in that funding is considered in a spatially explicit manner at a highly disaggregated level of analysis.
The production of neighborhoods on a large or mass scale has not been successful. Procuring the n... more The production of neighborhoods on a large or mass scale has not been successful. Procuring the neighborhood ideal requires an attention to detail that few large corporations or government agencies seem capable of instituting. Yet planned neighborhoods have definite pluses: institutionalized leadership, clearly defined social and spatial boundaries, and a sense of control. What is needed is an approach that combines the best of both worlds—a dose of planning, with plenty of flexibility and local empowerment.
Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability
ABSTRACT The definition of neighborhood is often ambiguous. The purpose of this paper is to offer... more ABSTRACT The definition of neighborhood is often ambiguous. The purpose of this paper is to offer clarity on one important aspect of its definition: its size. While there is already a voluminous literature on neighborhood concepts and definitions, few sources delve into the question of size explicitly, and in a historically and culturally comparative way. Based on an extensive literature review, five size-based categories of neighborhood are proposed: (1) small clusters and face blocks; (2) more than a block, but still face to face; (3) like a big high school; (4) Perry’s neighborhood; and (5) the neighborhood expanded. Smaller neighborhoods are likely to prioritize social connectedness, while larger conceptions emphasize serviceability. Examples within each category are cross-cultural and cross-temporal, with many size regularities spanning more than one time period and more than one region.
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Papers by Emily Talen