I remember reading an article maybe 6 months ago about the rapidly growing popularity of suburban christian mega-churces in the western states - it was attributed to the auto-oriented sprawl and "placelessness" that it creates.
If I can find it i'll post the link.
NU and Christianity for the most part have prescriptive living in common though...
I actually read his book a while back while I was investigating the whole new urbanism thing. He made some interesting points. I suppose "New Urbanism" as its currently defined is the kind of idea that I can agree with its goals, but not necessarily its methods. I still have yet to understand how "traditional architectural styles" have anything to do with the goals of community, proximity, interaction, etc. If new urbanists would drop the nostalgia requirement, I might be more apt to go along with the idea.
As far as the christianity part of it goes, as the article mentions, "the church is the people, not the building". Similarly, a "community" is not an urban plan, its a group of people who actually relate to one another and support each other in various ways. It requires a change of attitude much more than a change of zoning.
But I'm glad someone's at least posing the question. And the problem he brought up of churches growing too large and moving to isolated parts of the city that disenfranchise those without means of transportation (inner city poor) is a valid one. However there are several alternative models that churches are adopting to address that problem (since the likelihood of razing the city and rebuilding a new-urbanist utopia are usually slim)
I've not read the book in question, and I've only had time to skim both articles. But I do work in a new urbanist office, and once upon a time I also formally studied theology. And I'm not sure that establishing connections between the two is either good urban design or good theology. I'll admit, however, that there ought to be an ethical/moral basis behind urban design principles (I'd suggest it has to do with issues of social justice and enabling choice and equality - therefore potentially Christian); and I'll admit that some theology probably has physical, spatial, community implications (perhaps a theology of social justice is potentially new urbanist).
Its curious that el jeffe observes that both NU and Christianity are about prescriptive living - I think at their core both practices are a means towards freedom (from sin or the car-dominated culture), but all too often, this agenda in both practices are comprised by an obsession with rules, precepts, guidelines, etc that leads in the opposite direction. Of course, this trajectory is not unique to either Christianity or new urbanism.
Jun 28, 05 3:47 pm ·
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I remember reading an article maybe 6 months ago about the rapidly growing popularity of suburban christian mega-churces in the western states - it was attributed to the auto-oriented sprawl and "placelessness" that it creates.
If I can find it i'll post the link.
NU and Christianity for the most part have prescriptive living in common though...
I actually read his book a while back while I was investigating the whole new urbanism thing. He made some interesting points. I suppose "New Urbanism" as its currently defined is the kind of idea that I can agree with its goals, but not necessarily its methods. I still have yet to understand how "traditional architectural styles" have anything to do with the goals of community, proximity, interaction, etc. If new urbanists would drop the nostalgia requirement, I might be more apt to go along with the idea.
As far as the christianity part of it goes, as the article mentions, "the church is the people, not the building". Similarly, a "community" is not an urban plan, its a group of people who actually relate to one another and support each other in various ways. It requires a change of attitude much more than a change of zoning.
But I'm glad someone's at least posing the question. And the problem he brought up of churches growing too large and moving to isolated parts of the city that disenfranchise those without means of transportation (inner city poor) is a valid one. However there are several alternative models that churches are adopting to address that problem (since the likelihood of razing the city and rebuilding a new-urbanist utopia are usually slim)
The LA Times takes on Mr. Jacobsen too.
I've not read the book in question, and I've only had time to skim both articles. But I do work in a new urbanist office, and once upon a time I also formally studied theology. And I'm not sure that establishing connections between the two is either good urban design or good theology. I'll admit, however, that there ought to be an ethical/moral basis behind urban design principles (I'd suggest it has to do with issues of social justice and enabling choice and equality - therefore potentially Christian); and I'll admit that some theology probably has physical, spatial, community implications (perhaps a theology of social justice is potentially new urbanist).
Its curious that el jeffe observes that both NU and Christianity are about prescriptive living - I think at their core both practices are a means towards freedom (from sin or the car-dominated culture), but all too often, this agenda in both practices are comprised by an obsession with rules, precepts, guidelines, etc that leads in the opposite direction. Of course, this trajectory is not unique to either Christianity or new urbanism.
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