New urbanism in America and China
Online
Do you remember the town in the movie The Truman Show? In reality, it’s the small, planned town of Seaside, Florida. It’s representative of a movement among architects and city planners called “new urbanism’’. Until the 1950s, America’s small towns and cities were known for their convenience and comfort. People could walk to school, or stores, or work. Downtown shopping areas were vibrant with customers. Most people did not own a car, but the walkability of the cities combined with the easy availability of trains and buses meant that most people did not need to go to the trouble and expense of depending on a car. In the bigger cities like Los Angeles or Washington, extensive trolley systems allowed people to get around.
I looked at a 1915 railroad schedule for my hometown
This Day, That Year
Item from Aug 16, 1985, in China Daily: First goal — young hopefuls take a shot at the Beijing Children’s Soccer School, where all the students are younger than 6.
Although they qualified for the World Cup once in 2002, the national men’s soccer team has disappointed fans for decades.
But the country’s rise as a soccer power has just begun. China rolled out an ambitious plan to build 20,000 of Clarksville, Tennessee, which at that time was a very small town of less than 20,000 people. Eighty-seven passenger trains each day stopped at the Clarksville station. After World War II, we destroyed that great railroad system.
The classic towns that survive — Alexandria, Virginia, Charleston, South Carolina, Annapolis, Maryland — are so attractive that tourists flock just to see them. Isn’t it ironic that people have to go on vacation just so that they can have a walk around town?
New urbanist architects asked the seemingly obvious question: If America’s small towns of 100 years ago were so nice, why don’t we just copy them? Why do we keep building ugly, inconvenient suburbs when we know how to do better?
The new urbanists have had some success. In addition to Seaside, Kentlands, Maryland, north of Washington, is a great community where everyone can safely walk to schools, stores, or churches. In the UK, the town of Poundbury, which schools specializing in teaching the skills of soccer by 2020 to nurse talent for future success at the World Cup.
In 2014, education authorities announced that soccer would become a compulsory part of the national curriculum at schools.
Last year, the China Eyas Program was launched by the China Soong Ching Ling Foundation and the China Sports Foundation, which aims to bring a tailor-made was championed by Prince Charles, has had similar success. Typically, homes in these New Urbanist communities sell for more than those in adjacent conventional suburbs.
Doubtless, these relatively small new urbanist enclaves are great places to live, but their populations are too small to support many businesses and jobs. Almost all their inhabitants have to drive to work in a nearby big city.
I recently visited my wife’s hometown, of Yuxi, Yunnan province. It’s a rather small city about 90 kilometers south of Kunming, with about 300,000 people living in a core city area of about 15 square kilometers. Walking around Yuxi, I saw a dream city of the new urbanists. The streets were always full of people who were going to the small retail stores and to the many parks.
Especially in South China, many other small and medium-sized cities have that same pleasant, active atmosphere. For example, walking around shopping districts in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, preschool soccer project to 3,000 preschools nationwide on a trial basis by the end of this year.
The country plans to introduce the program at 27,000 kindergartens by 2020.
This has opened huge opportunities for foreign soccer clubs to cooperate with Chinese counterparts and investors in soccer, especially in youth training.
Earlier this year, German reminded me very much of US small towns before they were destroyed by malls and interstate highways.
China’s small cities are denser than any true US small towns or new urbanists’ towns. High residential buildings and surrounding agricultural land ensures that there are enough people so that stores have customers and companies have workers. New urbanists emphasize using traditional architectural forms, but the small storefronts in China make the streets livelier.
Of course, many people want to move to giant cities for career opportunities. But, the small cities of China offer a pleasant lifestyle and are an attractive model for city planners from around the world. More emphasis should be placed on ensuring they continue to thrive.
Contact the writer at davidblair@chinadaily.com.cn
Scan the code to hear an audio version.
soccer club Bayern Munich unveiled plans to open a full-time soccer academy in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, to bring Bayern’s youth development knowledge and expertise to Chinese coaches and players.