Standing room only in Seaside event

 The "egregious set of clowns in charge of our finances" did not get off the hook easily in a panel discussion bringing together visionaries from the fields of architecture, social criticism and urban planning. On Jan. 31, more than 80 people interested in hearing about impacts of the current economic crisis in these areas of endeavor packed a good-sized room in Seaside, leaving only floor space for latecomers.

"The Impact of the Economic Crisis on New Urbanism and Smart Growth" was the topic of the Seaside Institute's forum and panel that featured internationally-known Robert Davis, Andres Duany, Jim Kunstler, Steve Nygren, and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk.

Kunstler, winner of the 2009 Seaside Prize, and retiring Executive Director  of the Seaside Institute, Phyllis Bleiweis, were honored later that afternoon in a separate ceremony. Bleiweis, who directed the Institute since 1996, will continue as a consultant to the organization.

During the two-hour morning presentation, panelists were asked to address three questions:

1. What is the impact of the crisis?

2. What does the future hold?

3. What is the most important thing to do now?

Plater-Zyberk started things off by admitting that "we are dead in our tracks right now," but reminded the audience that Seaside itself came about during the ‘70's oil crisis - "one brick at a time." Many panelists hearkened back to the era of the 1920s, when earlier designers and planners were similarly stopped by the bursting of a large bubble in Florida real estate.

Nygren noted the increasing popularity of "green design."

"It's not about architecture or land planning, it's about lifestyle," Nygren said, "New urbanism offers an opportunity for community, and that's what people are starved for."

In recalling some earlier challenges to New Urbanism, some cited the hurricanes of 2005. Another panelist got a laugh from the audience, saying, "The problem was that everything was selling, anyway."

The consensus of the panel was that developers, previously "dumbed down by their success," are now looking for new ideas. Belief was expressed by several that the intellectual part of New Urbanism and a return to the basics, especially in looking at urban inner cities, must come to the fore.

"Within 18-36 months, we will have terrible trouble with oil and natural gas," said Kunstler. His prediction was not disputed by anyone present.

Rust belt cities such as Baltimore, Pittsburg and smaller towns and cities were mentioned by various panelists as prime candidates for renovation, re-densification and "urban in-fill." Heavily oil-dependent cities such as Phoenix, Las Vegas and Houston were noted by the panel as most likely not to thrive in the new economy.

"Retail is going to retreat into the background," said a panelist, cautioning, however, that "The blacktop lobby is right there on infrastructure opportunities." The U.S. was cited by panelists for allotting 20 feet of retail for every citizen, as compared to one foot per citizen in Sweden, France and Italy.

The need for advocacy and lobbying of government to direct economic resources to less oil-dependent transportation, such as rebuilding the rail system and waterways, was another theme that resonated among the panelists and some in the audience.

"Our non-walkable society has brought about a healthcare crisis," asserted a panelist, adding, "It's a good starting point for discussion, whether true or not."

Another theme reiterated throughout the meeting dealt with the importance of involving organizations such as Smart Growth America, the Institute for Classical America, Reconnecting America and the U.S. Green Building Council in transferring knowledge to the next generation of planners and designers. The availability of relatively new communication tools, such as the Internet, was also noted.

"The old order is broken. We have to nurture the flame and communicate what we know," Plater-Zyberk, dean of the School of Architecture at the University of Miami, stated.

 "In terms of finance, we have to get back to looking at real estate as a safe, long-term investment, rather than a short-term opportunity," Davis, the founder of Seaside, concurred.

Nygren stressed the importance of linking development directly to such defining issues as global warming, transportation and land preservation. He gave the example of a development project in the Chattahoochee hill country outside Atlanta, where production of energy and food is combined with land preservation.

"Environmentalists have defined humans as the problem and that's definitely dead-end - it's not even marketable," said Nygren. Some environmental trends, he claimed, have actually helped to create suburbia.

"The cycle of creating conventional suburbia is over. The new urbanism is the only urbanism," Jim Kunstler chimed in.

"Retrofitting is the ‘plastics' of the future," said Robert Davis, alluding to the famous line from "The Graduate."

Panelist and honoree, Jim Kunstler, is the author of "The Long Emergency," a book published in 2005 that prophesized many of the issues described by the panel.

"People not locked up in 6,000 pounds of armor, e.g., in a SUV - might actually enjoy a better quality of life in cities of the future as envisioned by the New Urbanists," remarked Kunstler.

"It could be like waking up from a nightmare. We need to begin working on the propaganda now," said Kunstler.

"The city is eternal, its uses ephemeral," the winner of the 2009 Seaside Prize concluded.