THE MISSION
Town Creek is a neighborhood that is environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable, built to be a beloved part of Downtown New Braunfels.
Sustainability
Sprawl, America’s predominant form of development, is a physical manifestation of a particular way of thinking. Andres Duany, one of the founders of the New Urbanist movement, describes our situation well. Prior to World War II, “developers were generalists- they set out to build entire villages or urban neighborhoods… today’s developers are specialists. One builds only shopping centers, another office parks, another houses. Traffic engineers design only the roads, environmental analysts worry only about the open space… but no one looks out for the big picture. The result is a collection of monocultures: a disaggregation of the elements of community into specialized areas.”*
Perhaps the most detrimental consequences of our tendency to compartmentalize is that we view the natural environment as an entity separate from ourselves which we are either in favor of preserving or not. Thus our current form of growth ignores that our fate is fundamentally intertwined with the fate of our natural environment. Town Creek embodies a commitment to aligning the built and natural environments. We believe that our urban design is the most important aspect of Town Creek’s sustainability.
Town Creek incorporates daily needs within an easily walkable radius, removing the imperative to drive. The neighborhood is built around the human, not the car. Wide sidewalks, tree-lined streets, and on-street parking to separate pedestrians from moving vehicles compel visitors and residents alike to move through their day on foot. In a world of finite resources, the importance of walkability can not be overstated.
*Andres Duany “A New Theory of Urbanism” Scientific American, December 2000
New Urbanism
This excerpt from the Charter of the New Urbanism articulates our commitment to creating a traditional neighborhood of the highest quality.
“The Congress for the New Urbanism views disinvestment in central cities, the spread of placeless sprawl, increasing separation by race and income, environmental deterioration, loss of agricultural lands and wilderness, and the erosion of society’s built heritage as one interrelated community building challenge.
We stand for the restoration of existing urban centers and towns within coherent metropolitan regions, the reconfiguration of sprawling suburbs into communities of real neighborhoods and diverse districts, the conservation of natural environments, and the preservation of our built legacy.”
Place Making
We are committed to creating real places that endure and are loved. ULI member Brian R. Stebbins, chief executive officer, Cooper & Stebbins in Southlake, TX says there are a number of necessary elements for good place making.
They include:
» A comprehensive master plan that evolves over time to meet the changing needs of the community and its residents.
» Mixed-use. An environment that includes shops, restaurants, movie theaters, offices, hotels, residential, government and public spaces is an environment for all.
» Plans and designs that are sensitive to the geographical location, help make the place a good fit for the existing community.
» Pedestrian-friendly environments are essential in a world of higher energy prices.
» A variety of public meeting places makes the destination more than just a shopping center or retail outlet.
» A focus on night-time as well as day-time activities adds vibrancy, life and around-the-clock action acknowledged as essential to locations with a diverse population.
» An emphasis on architectural details gives buildings a sense of place and time -- past, present and future.
» Public gatherings and traditions.
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