Community reinvigoration : through revised new urbanist ideals

Abstract

Thesis Statement:"I believe that the application of a revised form of New Urbanism to an existing community would not only strengthen that community socially, but also create an environmentally friendly place for people to prosper."My thesis topic is a critical review and application of New Urbanism to an existing community with the hopes of reinvigorating the commercial core, surrounding neighborhoods, and train station. I believe a strong sense of community lies within the interactions, planned and impromptu, that occur daily between members of a community. These interactions can be encouraged through sensitive design decisions that increase the likelihood of these chance encounters. New Urbanist ideals are a good starting point to create this sense of community, but there are a few elements missing. New Urbanism as of now has not achieved all of its goals, which is understandable due to the fact that they address so many issues. One of these issues that New Urbanism missed is entertainment and culture. The charter of new urbanism helps as a guide to lay out amazing communities, but it does not outline how to keep the residents from leaving. This issue is one of the driving forces behind my program, a community center that acts as an entertainment node and cultural center. This center will almost act as a student center on a college campus, but will serve a community instead of a campus. It will support various activities that the residents used to have to travel back into the city to enjoy, or to some outlying area that could only be reached by driving. To achieve my goals I must follow a set schedule. I first will do in depth research into new urbanism, its opponents, and community design principals. This will be followed by a period of conceptual design in which the form is driven by ideas picked up in my readings. Once a form is decided upon, I will move forward with my final design. My advisors will critique each phase and that advice shall influence the next step of my design process. The Physical context of my site is Oak Park, IL. My building will be an infill project within an existing commercial core. The architectural styles within the existing urban fabric range from Tudor to Victorian. The cultural context of the city is an upper-middle class commuter society. All of the issues that have been addressed will influence the final design of the community center in one way or another, and the decisions will be backed by extensive research.