ENERGY EFFICIENT HOUSES ARE ATTACHED

Attached Housing

In order to be able to walk to most day-to-day destinations, homes must be attached, meaning they share side walls. Typically, what is called medium density housing provides for about 30 homes per acre (75/h). This design also adds to energy efficiency as two walls are not exposed to the air. With such a design, it becomes important to have the buildings wide and shallow (rather than narrow and deep) so the rooms are well-lit.

The walls between homes will be thick and fully sound absorbing. This is a characteristic of the variable density aggregate that will be used as the VillageTown bulk material. Homes will be of different heights, with different roof lines, different textures and ornament. Some may protrude out, others may be set back.

When one builds attached buildings that are set directly on the streets, details become more important. In the photo above, the middle floor has full length windows and a balcony that enables walking from one room to another outside. With the doors open, this provides for interaction with life outside. With the shutters closed, it provides privacy while having ventilation and light. In this design, the upper floor is for sleeping, and the middle floor is for living. The bottom floor is most likely for work space, and can provide passive income for the home owner, if not used by the resident for their business.

In the Italian village below, there are two levels of activity, as the ground floor is for shops and cafes, but above it the homes have a front yard, complete with plants, umbrellas and outdoor furniture. The Italian buildings are relatively plain, with little ornament attached. In contrast the Mallorcan building in the photo above has more detail to it. Using Variable Density Aggregate, these details can be made inexpensively, with some flatter ornament shaped when the form is poured, and extending ornament attached afterwards.

We do recommend putting a call out to ornamental blacksmiths to make beautiful balcony metal balustrades that add so much to the dress of a building.

While in the villages, most buildings will be attached, there will be some exceptions, including public buildings where the architectural statement requires the building stand alone, and in the Town Center where larger buildings may stand alone.

Each building in the Eastern Missouri Village Town can be unique in size and style, but consistent with each village's motif or culture.  The construction will be the same method, but each village will have a different feel to it.  This will be a great place to live.  Join us!

 

FIREPROOF BUILDINGS THROUGHOUT THE VILLAGE TOWN

Non-combustible buildings

Why is the street in the first picture so wide? Why such a poor use of land? The answer can be found in the fire hydrant lost in the high grass on the right. As discussed in Jim Bacon's op-ed article Design by Fire Truck, the Fire Marshall wants wide roads so he can maneuver his fire trucks with ease in the event of a building fire. Incidentally, this photograph is of a partially finished suburban subdivision. This is as far as they got before the 2008 crash brought a halt to new sprawl.

 

In contrast consider this ten-year old built street in Prince Charles' Poundbury.
Built with comparable concern for public safety, instead of demanding wide streets to Park and turn around large fire apparatus, public safety was achieved by the use of non-combustible materials; a different outlook on how to protect people and property.

In a ten year period, Poundbury's Dorset Fire & Rescue Service reported no building fires...  Why not?

Because the buildings are Masonry Noncombustible. When one builds to the standards of the Insurance Services Office, Inc. (ISO) Class 4 and the International Building Code (IBC) Class II-a, public safety is attained not by having easy access by big trucks to put out fires, but by making buildings that do not burn. If the floors, ceilings and roofs are made noncombustible then the only thing that can burn are the contents... furniture, curtains, etc. If all rooms have sprinklers, this further reduces the risk to public safety. Finally if the exterior walls and roof of each building have a fire resistance rating in excess of four hours, then any fire that does break out will remain contained within that building and not spread.

Wouldn't you like to live with low home insurance rates, safe, quiet structures, and a great family-friendly community?  Join us.

STREETS DESIGNED FOR PEOPLE, NOT CARS

Human-Scaled Streets

Travel to any community built before cars were invented, and except where width was needed for trade (such as the weekly outdoor market), the streets were narrower.

Of course, in a modern community, every building will need at least one side with wider access, both during construction and then to provide for service access. We are not proposing that the VillageTown use the width of streets typical of those found in medieval villages. One guideline may be that the street width should be equal to the building height. If one reads A Pattern Language one will find numerous patterns that speak about sunlight and how to work with it using building placement and design. Let us look at some narrow street widths to get a sense of when it works, and when it does not work.

 

This street in the left photograph, located in Spain is designed for high activity. It functions as much as a center plaza than as a street. Cafes spill out into the street, and the buildings are far enough apart to provide breathing room. Instead of mowed lawns, the greenery consists of flowering plants and carefully selected trees that do not grow too large or drop too much debris.

If you look at the photograph in the middle, which was selected for the cover of Claude Lewenz's first book, How to Build a Village, it was chosen to demonstrate that a main shopping street can be less than 2 yards or meters wide, be loved by many, and visited by over a million people every year. What makes this street interesting is that in 1956 they had a catastrophic earthquake and almost all the buildings were built after that time. While America was building suburban sprawl, the Greeks continued to build human-scaled streets

In contrast to the two other streets that work, this Spanish street in the photo on the right feels too narrow even though it is wider than the Greek street. It was built for a different time, when narrow winding streets provided additional security when a walled town was under siege. The problem here is not solely the width, but the width in relationship to the height. Because the buildings are higher, it feels too constrained.

Streets in the Eastern Missouri Village Town will be human scaled and purpose designed: safe walking to work, to school, to shops, and a place to meet friends and family.  The time to begin is now.

LIVING, WORKING AND PLAYING NEAR HOME MEANS NO COMMUTING

No Outbound Commuters

In a complete community with its own local economy, people work, live and play locally. Everything they need is within a 10-minute walk. This means that the usual rush hour of commuters heading to work on the roads, creating traffic jams, and disturbing the host community, does not happen. It means the school children do not ride buses or have parents drive them. It means the roads are not clogged with VillageTown residents driving to shopping malls or big-box stores. This absence of outbound drivers makes it easier for the host jurisdiction to approve a VillageTown.

The VillageTown design should be sufficient to prevent commuter traffic. In VillageTowns, if someone chooses to be a commuter, they are free to do so, but most are unlikely to choose such a miserable use of time and also because most sites will not be close enough for the commute. Because the design places all day-to-day destinations within walking distance, focuses on a strong local economy, and preferably selects a site outside the commuter belt, it should be unlikely to attract many commuters. There is just too much good stuff happening within to want to leave it every day. During the organizing stage of a VillageTown, the organizing company will give preference to people who are able to bring their work with them. It will discourage commuters because commuting adds additional demands on the surrounding infrastructure, and it defeats the point of a 24/7 community.

What would it be like not to have to commute?  Let's find out in Eastern Missouri.


 

NO CARS WITHIN THE URBAN CORE

No cars within the village walls

 
Cars turn towns to mincemeat. While they are wonderful machines of freedom when going longer distances because they go point to point on your schedule, they make little sense in a local community.
They command space as they require wide roads, garages, on and off-street parking, fuel and repair stations. They are dangerous especially for children, pets, the infirm and the elderly.

In the VillageTown, they are kept in the transport center for use when villagers need to drive somewhere else. Inside the VillageTown most people will walk, some will ride single gear bikes and when luggage or goods need to be transported, they will use small electric vehicles that look like golf carts or even pedal-powered vehicles.

Now, don't panic. We're not taking your car away.

 

The VillageTown eliminates the need for cars

You can bring as many cars as you want to the VillageTown and keep them in the motorpool by the village gate. What we change is the distance to your destinations. You won't need to drive to accomplish the mundane chores of daily life. You can bring your collection of Ferraris & your faithful old Ford pickup and keep them ready to go as soon as you need to hit the open road; although after a year of paying insurance, registration & pumping up the tires since they sit so long, we reckon you will prefer to rent from the motorpool when you need a car.

The only thing you cannot do is drive a car inside the village walls. As Christopher Alexander wrote in A Pattern Language, cars turn towns into mincemeat. As soon as you take cars off the local streets, children can safely play outside without parents worrying. Not only have you removed the threat of being run over by a car, but predators lose their anonymity. As soon as you move the destinations so everything you need on a day-to-day basis is within a 10-minute walk, you no longer need to allocate 15% of your annual income to running a car. If you are older and lose your license to drive, nothing changes.

As soon as we create a no-car zone, the streets can be narrower, more intimate and more beautiful. Businesses no longer require off-street parking; land use is more efficient. In fact, we can list 20 reasons why the VillageTown is better off being carfree, and not one of them has to do with global issues like Climate Change or Peak Oil.

What is the impact of a car-free village?

1. People connect - when not cocooned in a steel & glass chamber, people connect better
2. Children, pets and elders safer - no risk of getting run down by a car
3. Elders need not leave when they lose their licence to drive - everything within walking distance

You don't give up your car, you give up the need to use it all the time.

5. Dining alfresco - (outside) eating outdoors in cafes on the street becomes far more enjoyable
6. Daily life is quieter - no cars passing by, especially when one is sleeping
7. The air is cleaner - no tailpipe and fuel tank emissions, no tire and brake dust
8. Save money - no need to buy, finance, depreciate, insure, license, inspect, run, fix & fuel a car.
9. Destinations closer - Everything easier to get to; the village takes up less space
10. Village uses less land - roads narrower, no parking for businesses, no driveways/garages
11. Village costs less to build - no need for on-street parking, parking meters, parking enforcement
12. Homes cost less - no funds needed for a garage, driveway, or the extra land to provide for them
13. Workplaces cost less - no funds needed for off-street parking or large truck bays
14. Roads are cleaner - no dripping oil, no tire-tread marks
15. Roads last longer - less weight (and wear & tear) on the streets on a day-to-day basis
16. Roads are more attractive - paverstone roads easy to access, lift pavers - no patches
17. Buildings remain cleaner as the dust and grit from tires and diesel smoke are eliminated
18. No social pressure on status about what kind of car one drives
19. Eliminates anonymous predatory behaviour enabled by the car; fear is reduced
20. Safety issues around the fuel storage are eliminated (fuels kept only at the motorpool)

 
Life improves.

---

In the above list, all these positive effects are local and personal. None of them have to do with climate change, peak oil or global economic crisis. For those who want to look at that big picture however, creating a car-free village has positive effects on the region and the globe:

Fact: The US Dept of Energy reports that for every 1,000 people in America own 840 cars; probably more in the suburbs. Thus, we can reasonably say that for every 10,000 population VillageTown, approximately 7,000 cars are eliminated for day-to-day use because workers commute on foot, parents take children to school on foot, people go to shops, cafes and recreation on foot. Bicycles and NEV's (neighbourhood electric vehicles) provide wheeled mobility, but the speed is limited to walking pace. Some people will continue to own cars, but will have no need to use them day-to-day.

Fact: According to NADA the average price of all used cars in the USA 2011 was $11,850 and the average sale price of a new car in 2012 was over $30,000. If the need for 7,000 cars is eliminated and replaced, say with 500 rental cars for those occasional trips away, this frees up (on average) over $77 million in capital (6,500 cars x $11,850 each). Taking the 2012 new car baseline, if cars depreciate at 15% a year, the depreciation on 6,500 cars at $30,000 comes to almost $30 million per year, just in depreciation, not including fuel, maintenance, repairs, property tax on an attached garage, insurance on car and garage, etc. While the statistics can be argued, the fact is that eliminating the need to drive saves a lot of money.

Fact: The average American driver drives 35 miles a day, of which about 15% is commuting. That may not seem like a lot, but for a 10,000 population community that works out to over 250,000 miles a day. A quarter million miles of driving to the same destinations day after day. When we drive like this, we just switch off, we hardly notice what we drive by, we do not experience those 35 miles, we just do it. We not only burn fuel and money, we burn time; we waste life.

Regional impact: A local or regional authority that approves a 10,000 population suburb must spend considerable time determining the impact on their roads. Studies must be done to determine if the roads are adequate from the 6-8,000 additional cars. The impact of a VillageTown is markedly less. There will be supply trucks and there can be expected to see regional residents as well as visitors attracted to the village. Some villagers will travel to outside destinations, especially those who need to get to the airport. But the vast majority of daily transport, the part that requires both study and expense by the local or regional authorities is not part of a VillageTown.

Global impact: It is difficult to find a reputable study that shows the true and total impact of burning a tankful of petrol. We read that a liter of gasoline dumps 2.39 kg (20 lbs per gallon) of CO² in the air, but this is only the end of a very long supply line. Exploring, drilling, pumping, refining, transporting (several stages), wholesaling and retailing of petroleum all require energy, much of it polluting, and then there is the intangible costs to humanity and the Earth in terms of health and the occasional war fought over oil. To this one must add the cost of manufacturing cars and the whole infrastructure required to keep them on the road.

The industry's answer is to develop cars that travel further on a litre of petrol, or to develop second generation biofuels where the plant or algae extract the CO² from the atmosphere, so when it is burned, it only returns CO² borrowed a while earlier. These are admirable aspirations, and should be pursued, especially because the VillageTown still relies on vehicular transport to connect with the outside world. However, while solutions such as using less fuel or biofuel to solve the global problems, on a local level they still result in machine-scaled local communities, when in fact many people want to live in human-scaled ones.

In a VillageTown, the immediate impact is not carbon neutral it is zero carbon. No drive, no emissions.  Just think about what you could save every week by not having to drive in an Eastern Missouri Village Town.  Join us!

THE WALKING HOME-RANGE

The Problem is the Driving Home-Range  -  The Answer is the Walking Home-Range: VillageTown

 
The world faces many problems today that were unknown a century ago. These problems are becoming global in magnitude, related to pollution, wasteful consumption of limited resources, alienation of the young, a desperate future for elders, rising crime, substance abuse, sharp increases in diseases and poorer health, economic instability, concern for food and water supplies and much more.

If we look at all these social, environmental, economic, cultural and medical problems, we find a single common denominator: the human Home Range.

The term home range was coined by Zoologist William Henry Burt who in 1943 mapped the outside boundary of an animal's movement during the course of its everyday activities.

If we apply this same concept to the home range of human beings who adopted the American model of mobility – an unsustainable model developed after World War II to provide markets for the industrial winners of the war (General Motors, Standard Oil, Dupont, etc) – we find that the home range of the average American involves driving a car over 35 miles every day. For a 10,000 population community, this means over a quarter million miles of driving every day. It also means people become separated, and this social separation creates many new problems. Now this American model is being adopted worldwide. In a nutshell, that's the problem.

What we find remarkable about this obvious statement is its absence in any conversation or vocabulary of any mainstream planner in the profession today. New urbanism seeks to make the home range smaller, but still keep the car as a part of it. Smart growth and transit oriented development pushes for more walkability, but still looks to keep a home range with trains, trolleys and busses. When one asks the top mobility planners in the USA for public statistics on the Home Range of suburbanites, one first has to explain the concept. They know how many miles people drive, but they make no distinction between the routine, everyday activity driving and other driving. Going to work is home range.  Going to a meeting with a customer or client is not. That difference is important because so much of the driving today is home range driving. In the planning profession, the car, truck and highway is seen as the problem, to be solved by putting commuters into more efficient means of transport. But is the problem the car, or how we use the car?

If we were able to redesign everyone's home range so everything a community of 10,000 would need was within a 10-minute walk, almost all major challenges of today would scale back to a manageable level. We could still keep all our cars, trucks and roads, but they would be used for business, special trips, farming and rural life and the Sunday drive - no commuters, no driving the kids to school or recreation, no driving to the supermarket or mall to shop. As soon as we could shift most people's home range to walking distance, petroleum wars would end and all the worry about pollution end with it. More importantly, people would not be so isolated. Community would rebound. The young and old would have a place, not needing to drive because their home range would be about walking. Crime would drop because small, tight communities have a very low tolerance for crime - it's hard to hide. People would come out of their locked, alarmed homes and begin to socialize in person, not needing Facebook, cell phones, Twitter or Skype.

If we then take this concept of a local home range further, using it to build not only a strong community, but a strong local economy, we would find it possible to eliminate poverty, unemployment and other ills that plague modern society. This, in essence, is the VillageTown. At its core, what we do is to change the home range so it takes people out of cars and back into community. 

Eastern Missouri is the perfect place to build a Village Town. We need to begin with one village.  Write me.

THE HEART OF EACH VILLAGE AND OF THE TOWN IS ITS CENTRAL PLAZA

The Alfresco Plazas

The heart of each village and of the town is its central plaza. In 1996, the renown designer, Victor Papanek wrote: “We all sense that something has gone terribly wrong with our communities. Hamlets and cities, slums and suburbs all lack a sense of cohesion. Not only is there no centre there – there is no there there.” The need for a public center is primal and ancient. In nomadic times, it was the campfire in the middle. In the kainga it was the marae. In villages and towns it was the plaza or the market square, and in the colder climate of England, it was the village green. The public plaza is central to community life; it is where people meet without an appointment. It is where they go for a drink or meal.

Each village will be built around a public plaza. On the ground level, the perimeter will have cafes, pubs, shops, services, offices, and other commercial activity. The upper floors will be a mix of offices, lesser-shops, clubs, and apartments for people who enjoy proximity to plaza activity. Each plaza will also have an artist guild hall, a church, school classrooms and other similar facilities.

The plaza in the photo is notable. In the Mallorcan town of Soller, an elevated flat area was constructed specifically for children. They ride skateboards, play ball, and parents sit on the sides to watch. The walls are just high enough that it provides adequate separation from the adults having food and drink in the cafes adjacent to the play area. The stone appears to be marble, smooth enough to not scrape knees, and quieter when skateboarding.

Let's build this!  Contact me if you are ready.

 

URBAN LIFE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE COUNTRY

The 300-Acre Greenbelt

If the land is available and the conditions right, 60% of the 500 acre (200 h) VillageTown will be in what is called Greenbelt. The Greenbelt surrounds the urban core and industrial park, and it serves several purposes, e.g. a buffer to neighbors, the experience of nature, space for parks, sports activities, festivals, food and utility gardens and the supply of utilities, even a cemetery.

If there is additional land beyond the designated greenbelt, it may be used as productive farmland growing food for the VillageTown on a larger scale than the gardens.

 

The outer perimeter of the Greenbelt - all the neighbors see is Nature. It is recommended that the perimeter serve as a shelter belt and a corridor for native birds and animals.

     Buffer: Cross boundary conflicts is a planner's term for what happens when two different zones are side-by-side. The VillageTown has an active urban core with people, noise and lights.This could bother the neighbors. The greenbelt provides a buffer zone so the neighbors see trees and the villagers are buffered from rural activity.
 
     Nature: Nature grows by a different set of rules than a manicured garden. It is important to be able to walk in a forest or field, to see streams formed by gravity and earth, not concrete channels. If there is no land that is not the domain of Nature, it may be planted as a reserve.

     Field of flowers, sheep-cut lawns: Sometimes green should have no practical use, just beauty and quiet. Plant a field of flowers, provide a hillside of sheep-cut grass.
      Parks: Nature defines a garden as a collaboration between Nature and Human. Gardens can be rows of flowers, or a Japanese style work of art - a place of tranquility and mediation. They can be formal or casual. They can be native plants from the region, or a collection of exotic plants from around the world.

     Sports: Sports requires open space - ball fields, equestrian grounds, exercise fitness trails, all of which are best placed in the Greenbelt. Sports that have spectators should be placed within a comfortable walk from the transport center where visitors' cars and buses are be parked.

     Festivals:  Like the sports fields, festivals require flat open ground where villagers and visitors can mix. These fields can serve for the visiting circus and farmer's market. 

     Food and Utility Gardens: Community allotments for gardening are often popular. Likewise, commercial land use may include raising trees for specialty furniture and plants used in waste water treatment.

     Utilities: Water and perhaps a a reservoir, sewage treatment, recycling, energy systems are all potential activities appropriate for the greenbelt

     Cemetery: The VillageTown will have a place to bury its dead. This should be in a quiet part of the greenbelt, perhaps approached through the field of flowers.

Less than an hour outside of St. Louis, you are in the country.  Toward the north and west is farm country; toward the south are tree covered rolling hills as far as you can see.  Either are a perfect setting for a Village Town.  An hour or so and you are in a commercial center for connections to major transportation.  Eastern Missouri is the perfect combination for building the Village Town.  This is where your business should grow.  This is where your children should be raised.  Join me now and let's get started.

THE VILLAGE TOWN WILL BE A COMPLETE COMMUNITY WITH A WALK-TO INDUSTRIAL PARK

The 50-acre Walk-to Industrial Park

In a complete community with its own local economy, people make things. This is necessary both to provide employment for those sectors of society who prefer to work with their hands and to assure the community has the ability to provide for itself and have goods to trade. As the global economy changes, local manufacturing contributes to local economic resilience.

The VillageTown sets aside about 50 acres (20h) for a walk-to Industrial Park, meaning it is outside the VillageTown walls, but close - within walking distance. It is located near the transport center. The best facility would have a flat roof, partially covered in turf for sports events and with part allocated for solar panels and rainwater harvesting.

The focus would be to attract Small to Medium Enterprises, and certainly in the first VillageTown, to actively recruit notable and compatible businesses to move staff and shop to the VillageTown. The potential of a cash-enriched Legacy Fund may help in such recruitment.

Housing for industrial park workers becomes essential, yet runs the risk of gentrification as white collar workers may have greater purchasing power. For this reason, the industrial park may also have one or two villages set aside as a parallel market, where to qualify for a home purchase, one must work in the industrial park in a non-managerial job.

The Eastern Missouri Village Town is not a place where its residents simply live and commute to work.  We want the work to be here, too.  All kinds of work.  White collar, blue collar, craftsmen, artists, professional, and anyone who wants to work.  Let's make it happen.

 

150 ACRE URBAN CORE TO A VILLAGE TOWN

150-Acre Urban Core with 20 Villages and a Commercial Town Center

The central part of the VillageTown - the urban core takes up only 30% of the land, including the streets, plazas and open space. This is where people live, shop, go to school, enjoy life and where most of them will work - except for those who work in the Industrial Park.

The urban core is not a monolith. Instead it is made up of twenty villages built around the town center which is in the middle of the urban core. This provides for many different experiences and combines the social support found in villages with the economic critical mass and diversity brought by a 10,000 population town.

The Eastern Missouri Village Town will be in a country setting similar to the theoretical model above, the perfect combination of town and country.  Contact me with your ideas.


 

PRICING HOMES TO BUYER'S BUDGETS

On Pricing

 
Buyers want to know the cost. One of the first questions asked is: I love the idea, but can I afford it? For almost everyone, the answer should be yes.

In our theoretical model, we talk about an average or median price. We emphasize the word average because this means something very different than minimum as one blogging critic who was not paying attention assumed. The minimum price may be a compact apartment priced at $60,000 and the maximum a $10-million mansion. Range is determined by who needs what.

This median or average price is only useful for planning purposes - to enable one to get a sense of the numbers. The actual average will be dependent on the regional market for the particular project. And of course, it will be priced in the national currency, where we use the more vague term dollar, which could mean US, Australian, New Zealand or a number of other countries.

Open market home prices will be determined by comparable market values for the region. It is likely that over time, VillageTown homes will resell for a premium over nearby communities because of the amenities, Legacy Fund and lower cost of living. However, the organizing company's job will be to set the price the new homes so they sell rapidly, but not so low that speculators who have no intention of living there sweep them up. It is important that the founding villagers have a long-term commitment to living in their village.

Parallel market home prices will be determined by average income of the target market. These homes, which include the free-base artist guild homes, may number as much as 25% of the total units build. Their pricing is determined by what is affordable within their selected, restricted market. How ownership is structured for these units is determined by balancing the VillageTown intent with applicable law, to avoid the risk of running afoul of anti-discrimination laws.

In each village, it is expected that homes and workplaces will be priced by the organizing company based on location (which village and where in that village), footprint (the amount of land required), square feet or square meters for the basic shell, floors, roof style, door and window style, finish and amenities. In this way, buyers will be able to tailor homes to fit their budget.

The wider range of pricing is achieved in part by size and amenity. One affluent buyer may spend more on a luxury kitchen than another buyer on a tight budget may pay for a complete home. Housing needs tend to vary by country. In warmer climates, some homes may have open courtyards or actively used roof gardens. In Europe, many families happily live in apartments - one or more per floor. In New Zealand, Australia or America one would expect the standard home to be a three-story attached home with the third floor optionally an empty shell for future expansion.

To explain this latter feature, because the village will be treated similar to a historic district when completed – meaning no further structural additions or conversions – buyers who typically would add on as they can afford it, instead are encouraged to purchase the largest basic shell they anticipate needing, and finishing it later. For example, they may purchase a three story shell, where the upper one or two floors are completely unfinished with only street facing windows and stairs leading to an empty floor. Relative to the total cost, cost of exterior walls is not that significant, but it allows expansion later as the buyer’s budget allows.

Early on in a project, variables such as the price of the land, infrastructure development and cost of construction will be estimated and set by the organizing company. It is hoped pricing will be provided by an on-line price calculator that allows the buyer to put in their specifications to calculate what they want and can afford. Similarly, when the mortgage financing is in place, it is hoped the on-line system will provide a finance calculator to specify the maximum mortgage for which the buyer qualifies.

The Village Town is not for everyone, but it might be for you.  Let me know when you are ready to build one in Eastern Missouri.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING IS MIXED IN WITH FULL-PRICED HOMES

Parallel Real Estate Market

In this town, affordable housing is mixed in with full-priced homes.

Parallel Housing Markets - One of the most difficult challenges governments face is how to make homes affordable without creating segregated stigma-zones. Typically, they end up as state housing managed by a costly bureaucracy.

The VillageTown approaches this from a different perspective. It creates parallel markets. It identifies a disadvantaged buying class and determines why they have difficulty competing in the open market.

The ideal is to designate a particular home as restricted to age ranges, occupations or professions (such as a teacher), where the organizing company sells the home at a discount, keeping an interest as opportunity cost. When the buyer goes to sell, they can sell at any price, but only to buyers in the target market, where the fixed salary band or typical earnings power necessarily creates a maximum price range that may be significantly lower than the next-door, identical but unrestricted home. In this way, the market operates with a minimum of bureaucracy, while still accomplishing the objective of assuring the VillageTown remains a complete community.

A teacher, for example, is in a fixed pay band; if the average teacher’s salary is $50,000, the bank will loan on a $200,000 home. But if the VillageTown becomes desirable, that home could sell for $400,000, meaning the teacher has to commute or live in subsidized housing. In the parallel market, the VillageTown sells the teacher the $400,000 home for $200,000. It retains a partial interest in the home that requires when the teacher goes to sell, they can sell at any price, but only sell to a buyer in the target market – another teacher or a civil servant whose fixed pay band is the same. This guarantees a stock of affordable homes.Since market value is driven by what the bank will loan, the selling price is automatically inflation-adjusted.

The organizing company may find that whole villages are so designated in some cases. For example, to assure the blue collar workers in the Industrial Park can afford local housing, they may have a whole village where to buy, one must work in a non-managerial job in the Industrial Park.

Young people, say under the age of 26 have limited earnings power. If the rule requires a youth home be sold to a buyer under 26 who must then live in the home (no long term rentals allows), this will establish the market where older people cannot bid up the market. The buyer can live there until they are 100, but if they sell, the next buyer must fit the youth age test. In addition to the rule, such homes will be very small, designed for a single person starting out in life - not suitable for a couple or a family. Additionally, one will encounter social pressure if such homes are in a youth zone - they will appeal to youth, and folks will feel a social pressure to move up and out when their earnings power permits. This age restriction may require special legal attention to not run afoul of anti-discrimination laws.

In contrast, it should be easy to create parallel markets for elders, as most countries have precedent. Such homes would also be purpose-built: ground floor, no stairs, stoops or thresholds, compact and simple, with safety features and complete handicapped access design.

In some cases, parallel homes will be obvious, such as in the youth zone. But in most cases, unless the owner discloses it, no one will know. This is to remove the stigma that sometimes comes with living in state housing, and to remove the segregation that comes when laws require developers set aside a percentage of affordable housing, which they usually build somewhere else.

Of course, not all eligible for parallel homes will participate in the plan, and they are under no compulsion to do so. The parallel markets exist to offer more choice; to assure that the community remains complete. Such a system may not always work perfectly, but should work better than what is on offer today. It uses market forces to regulate the prices, but creates parallel markets to maintain affordable housing. The details will be worked out by the organizing company when it implements the systems.

Keeping all economic classes of people in a Village Town is important enough to consider alternative housing, but without the government bureaucracy.  We need to build one in Eastern Missouri.  Let me know if you are interested.

A MORE DE-MONETIZED SOCIETY IN THE VILLAGE TOWN

De-monitizing life in the Village

 

Monetized Water - - - De-monetized Water

In his book on Politics, Aristotle wrote: “When the inhabitants of one country became more dependent on those of another, and they imported what they needed, and exported what they had too much of, money necessarily came into use. For the various necessities of life are not easily carried about, and hence men agreed to employ in their dealings with each other something that was intrinsically useful and easily applicable to the purposes of life, for example, iron, silver and the like. Of this the value was at first measured simply by size and weight, but in process of time they put a stamp upon it, to save the trouble of weighing and to mark the value.” In other words, initially, money came into use because it was easier than barter.

However, our best and brightest go to business schools where they are taught to think laterally, to identify anything and everything that can be monetized: claim it, price it, own it and sell it to get more money. It's not a conspiracy but a belief system. Money becomes the measure of life. The problem with this belief system is in its excesses - it goes too far and creates new problems.

At one time, eldership was a part of life. Grown children and the community looked after their old people. Today, we rely on national and private pensions, national and supplimentary medical and pharmaceutical insurance and purpose-built retirement homes to take care of them. That works as long as there are enough younger people to pay for that care, but such systems are failing. For the next generation of elders, they need to significantly de-monetize elder care. The VillageTown proposes to do that. This may become especially important as aging populations around the world grow. The response from many governments is to conduct studies, but not to adopt policies, because they think of policies in terms of monetized solutions.

At one time, most day-to-day life was local. People walked to the shops, the job, to schools and recreation. As a result, the cost of roads was affordable. Starting in the 1950's, the US and then the world embarked on the largest public works project in history, building the roads and bridges so people would get around by car.

That infrastructure is now breaking down, and the funds required to keep it operational are insufficient. Day-to-day transport needs to be de-monetized. The VillageTown proposes to do that. Of course the VillageTown will continue to depend on the road system for access to the wider world, and will pay taxes accordingly. But on a local basis, it will de-monetize transport and give people exercise as a free bonus.

At one time, children were raised in families. Until they were school-aged, they lived at home, and if their parents worked, they went along. In the 1960's we saw the job market open up, so that women could hold more jobs than that of teacher, secretary, nurse or librarian. For a brief while families with two wage earners got ahead, but when it became the norm, the market adjusted so that it became necessary for both to work.

This resulted in the monetizing of child care, where today one is seeing the first generation of children who have been raised from infants in paid day-care. In the VillageTown, opportunity to de-monetize child care becomes available. The parents will work in the village. Parents can share childcare. Elders are available to help. The village can build a children's house on the plaza, where the facility adds a few dollars to the monthly mortgage of each home, and it is not staffed by paid workers, but supervised by villagers.

The Villagetown de-monetizes energy consumption through better insulation. It de-monetizes local communication through proximity. It lowers the monetization of food through eliminating the middleman. It reduces the cost of building maintenance by selecting durable materials. Removing the need for cars lowers the cost of getting around. By creating a community that has a low tolerance for crime (and having thousands of citizens keeping out a watchful eye), the cost of law enforcement and all the ancilliary costs of crime are substantially de-monetized. By taking a completely different approach to welfare, where the VillageTown actively uses its funds to keep all who want to work in gainful employment, it de-monetizes much of the business of social services. In all these, and many more way, the VillageTown de-monestizes day-to-day life.

It's cheaper to save a dollar than earn one.  A Village Town in Eastern Missouri is a place to begin.  Let me know if you are ready.

IN THE VILLAGE TOWN, THE LOCAL FARMERS FEED THE TOWNFOLK

The Town-Country Single Economy

Traditionally, a 10,000 population market town in the Old World was surrounded by farms growing the food that fed the region. There was great variety in foods region-by-region, which is what we now celebrate as French, Italian, Chinese, Lebanese, Thai, Greek, Mexican and so many more special national or regional foods... except that the original sources of those foods are literally dying off. Soon we may only have such foods served in chain restaurants and in the big cities completely disconnected from their regional roots.

Once a week in that old economy, the farmers would come to town, sell their goods and buy supplies. The region was also dotted with smaller villages that typically had a general store, a church and two pubs. The market town and the villages formed the single town-country economy with the surrounding farms.

The New World invented a new dual economy, in which farms shifted to monoculture, growing food that would be shipped to collection centers and then distributed nation-wide or even world-wide. This new system is entirely dependent on cheap oil and dosing fields with toxic chemicals to work. It also resulted in foods grown not for their flavor or health-giving qualities, but durability. Gradually, the middleman in this new industry became wealthy, and farmers became price takers, not price setters.

Europeans think they still live with the traditional single economy. However, increasingly they are witnessing the split so familiar in the New World. If the people in a community shop at a chain supermarket, the odds are that most of their food comes from somewhere else and they no longer have a single town-country economy. After the split occurs, pressure is brought to bear on the local government to permit rezoning the farms for suburban sprawl housing, strip malls and office parks. Food can come from "somewhere else", although eventually we may find too much good land was paved over.

This creates vulnerability as the middleman and speculators control the price of food. Farmers and consumers become price takers. It's not that the cost of growing food is increasing, it's the bidding for it in a global market that drives the price up... food shortages as a way for speculators to make quick profits. When one restores the single town-country economy, that economy steps out of the global casino economy, and steps back into a sensible one where fair prices are negotiated between grower and consumer, with fixed price contracts. This gives both the farmer and the consumer economic stability, and by cutting out the middleman and dependency on cheap oil, it assures long-term affordable, high quality food.

Not all farmers will choose to participate; some will continue with mono-crops. Others however, will appreciate the choice that is introduced in their region. They no longer are forced to be price-takers. Further, the VillageTown market promises to offer stability. As long as 10,000 people need to eat three meals a day, the market remains. From the VillageTown perspective, this also buys a form of long-term insurance. We read that food will increasingly become a commodity that is priced not on what it costs to grow, but on market demand, where the retain cost will be driven by speculation on demand. For the VillageTown to protect its commonwealth, it is prudent that it step out of this global market and get back to basics. The cost of food should be the cost of growing it, affected by rain, sun, wind and storm, not the speculators of Wall Street. In some cases, the VillageTown legacy fund may deem it prudent to actually purchase nearby farms so that food sources are permanently secured.

 All of this is based on leveling the playing field in the market economy to benefit the people and communities of the VillageTown and the surrounding region.  Wouldn't you love to be able to walk to a multitude of cafe's with different ethnic foods that come from local growers?  Just part of why a Village Town in Eastern Missouri is a good idea.  Let me know if you agree.

 

THE VILLAGE TOWN REQUIRES A CRITICAL MASS OF POPULATION FOR LOCAL ECONOMY AND SOCIAL STIMULATION

Critical Mass

A village of 500 can support a general store, a pub or two, and in earlier times a church. Today, because the local jobs are not there, a disproportionate number of its residents will be old, living on pensions .

To achieve economic critical mass that can support a whole street of businesses, one needs a population of 5,000 (at a bare minimum, perhaps 3,500) to provide the critical mass required to support local businesses. The ideal is 7,500 to 10,000 people. More than 10,000 people and governance becomes bureaucratic; people lose touch with their leaders. With too small a local population, not only is the economic critical mass lacking, but life can become too familiar; it does not offer enough contrast and variety to keep life interesting.

On the other hand, in towns of 10,000, the de-monetized support that comes when people know and support each other can be lost. This sort of support best occurs in villages of 250 to 750 people. There people know each other, and there is more compassion and support. When something goes wrong, they do not say "someone should do something about this"; instead they say "let's do something about it", and they do.

This is why it makes more sense to build a VillageTown with a 10,000 population economic and social critical mass, but to organizing it into 20 villages of 500 people each. In each village, the people know each other. They look after each other, and their social network is small enough that it does not tolerate empire building.

The adjoining village structure also provides diversity of culture and reality checking. If we have a single town, and something goes wrong, there is no way to gain perspective to ask if it is endemic of the town structure or situational... caused by some of its people. When we have twenty villages side by side, it is easier to test. If there is a problem with one village, then it's about individuals in that village; if it is happening in many or all the villages, then it is a structural matter needing attention.

People ask what happens as demand grows? The answer is to build another VillageTown ten miles down the road. Once critical mass is achieved, keep the size stable. No sprawl.

Eastern Missouri needs a Village Town.  Comment or e-mail me about what we need to do to get started.

A FUNCTIONAL, EFFECTIVE, LEARNING EDUCATIONAL ENVIRONMENT IN THE VILLAGE TOWN

Education of Children in the VillageTown

 

Place the classrooms on the plaza.

Many parents will relocate to a district that has good schools. The VillageTown intends to make all its schools outstanding, in a very practical way.

As a society, education of the next generation is essential for continuity and improvement of civilization.

In the past century, we evolved a bizarre form of age segregation in which our children are taken out of society and housed in isolated, uninspiring structures where they have little contact with adults except for harried teachers trying to control 30 students. Instead of fostering a passion for learning, considerable energy is devoted to a power struggle as students constantly test the patience of the teacher. Outside role models come from pandering media and games, especially video, creating false expectations for children as to what life is about. This bizarre educational system evolved to serve pecuniary interest and private agendas with the unfortunate outcome of poorly educating the next generations while distressing parents and concerned members of society.

Children learn by observing and interacting. Children learn to speak at home; they are not taught, it’s part of how human brains develop. They learn better if their parents talk not only to them, but, in their presence, to each other and to visitors. Children taken out into the community learn how to behave, not because someone teaches them, but because anti-social conduct elicits an adverse response. This is natural, it is how human beings are wired, and in every traditional society, children, adults and elders all share the same space. This is how culture, knowledge and expertise are passed from one generation to the next.

In our civilization, we developed advanced knowledge such as mathematics, the sciences and the arts that are not so easily learned in day-to-day living. For this we need more focused learning environments, with teachers who mastered their particular subject matter. In theory, this is why we need schools. However, somewhere along the way, the system got hijacked to serve the interests and agendas of special interest groups and to serve as babysitters for parents who must commute to somewhere else – away and unavailable all day long.

The VillageTown could, but does not have to use public education – if the state system proves so intractable that the VillageTown is forced to look at alternatives. However, it will not accept building (or bussing students to) separate campuses outside of the villages. Classrooms will be on the plazas, in the guild halls and some in the greenbelt. In this way, students observe the life of the community as a natural backdrop to their day-to-day learning. Instead of an institutional cafeteria, they will eat on the plaza, in the cafés, with their parents and other adults, or perhaps walk home for a family meal. Sports will be in community gymnasiums and on the greenbelt using the same facilities that adults use, although the schools have priority during the day. Parents will naturally be more involved with their children’s education, and the classes will make use of community resources in teaching. People running businesses will observe the students and in time some will be offered work after school and on weekends.

Through proximity parents and the wider community become more aware of the children’s education. The teachers should welcome this and take advantage of it. Within a community of 10,000 there will be people with remarkable stories. When the curriculum calls for a particular lesson plan, the teacher may use word-of-mouth or the VillageTown intranet to put out a call for someone to augment the lesson. The learning becomes real, personal and meaningful when instead of just a teacher and textbook, a member of the community comes in and talks about the subject. This applies at all levels of learning.

The change is simple – change only location. It saves capital development costs. It requires less overhead. The school system should contract with VillageTown corporation to provide for management of the paperwork, thus freeing teachers to focus on student learning rather than administrivia. It is simple and logical, not ideological or pedagogical.

At the same time, these changes are subtly profound as they remove so many obstacles to learning. Once again they are obvious, normal ideas in a world that has become abnormally dysfunctional. It really does take the village to raise the child.

Wouldn't you love to live in a place where the parents actually have a say in their children's education again?  A Village Town in Eastern Missouri could do just that.  Let me know what you think.

VILLAGE TOWNS INVESTS IN AND SUPPORTS ITS CREATIVE CLASS

Artist Guild Halls

 

The VillageTown invests in its Creative Class to attract the best, and then assure it never gentrifies them out. It does this by investing in what is called the Artist Guild Hall, a professional facility on the Village Plaza that provides work space for a group of 25 artists who share a common art. It also invests in free-base housing for the guild members.

By providing space, lowering the cost of living and creating a critical mass of creative artists, the guild members have a stronger opportunity to practice their art and earn enough that they need not take other menial work to pay the bills.

The VillageTown works with its future residents to identify a good mix of guilds. It then searches broadly to find the right mix of artists. It favors three levels of arts - the senior masters, the emerging, and the young. In this way, over time, the artists develop, and there is a gradual movement of members as the elders retire and younger ones take their place.

The VillageTown seeks cultural enrichment that comes by having creative and performing artists and members of what is called the Creative Class.The problem with attracting such creative people comes with what is called gentrification - by making the place so attractive that the artists get priced out of the market and the place becomes bland. To overcome this, the VillageTown proposes to do two things:

1. On most plazas to fund and build an Artists Guild Hall paid for by the organizing company but managed by the guild united by their members' art and commitment to its success
2. Provide free-base housing for Guild Hall members.

The Guild Hall - A large building with the amenities required by the artists, with visitor accommodations to provide an income for the guild to cover building costs and with classrooms for primary and secondary school children. Each guild hall is expected to address a different sector of the arts and creative class. One may be for actors, another musicians and a third for inventors or scientists. These creators are expected to be professionals for whom it is hoped the guild hall is a dream come true. There will be no mortgage on the building, no debt to service. When the guild artists have assembled and formed themselves as a group, they will make a series of decisions about what they need. For example, actors may need a stage, rehearsal facilities, perhaps even a recording studio. In addition, they will make decisions about governance of their organisation, addressing issues regarding day to day management, but also how to keep it fresh and how to rotate and retire members so it endures and thrives for decades. The artists will be encouraged to feature their work and supported to enable them to devote more (hopefully full) time to their art, not having to work at a labour job due to insufficient income through the arts. Festivals will be encouraged, as will be collaboration to make the village a place visitors come to discover and enjoy cultural excellence. In the performing arts, one may find one plaza with actors, and the next with film-makers and a third with musicians... all of whom collaborate to make movies, for example. In a village of 500, the Guild Hall may host say 25 artists or 5% of the community. By setting the guild hall on the plaza, it will set a particular tone for that village's life.

Parallel Housing - In the surrounding neighbourhood of primary and secondary pedestrian streets, the guild members will be provided with rent-free housing called free-base flats. If a member wishes to buy a conventional home, they may do so, and may rent out the flat and keep the income to assist with their living expenses so they may focus on their art. It's not "free" in the sense that the community is expecting them to pursue their art. It is de-monetized and much more the way art is supported in tribal cultures where artists are held in high regard, and taken care of by the rest of the community.

The Economics of Art - By lowering the cost of living, and by providing both the infrastructure and attracting a critical mass of artists to attract more patrons and buyers, the economic conditions should enable proficient members of the creative class to make a living. However, there are no guarantees, and as always, the artists must work as entrepreneurs where success or failure is based on their talent, skill and market conditions.

Theater of Life - The plazas can be expected to be more dynamic places, with a wider range of personalities.  Of course, some folks worry about the hystronics and drama that sometimes seems to accompany artists. Will they produce "good" art, will they get too comfortable and go stale? The system of checks and balances in the VillageTown should be able to deal with a guild that totally fails, but the lesser concerns about art controversy is regarded as the theater of life, and part of what makes village life interesting.  One of the roles of art in society is to hold up a mirror and show us that which we otherwise may not see. Work it out is the best advice... and don't take life too seriously. 

A Village Town in Eastern Missouri would have all the culture of some of the great cities of the world, but in a rural setting and the security of true community.  If you are interested in putting one together, write me.

 

CULTURE AND SOCIAL ENRICHMENT IN A VILLAGE TOWN

Culturally and Socially Enriched

 

This cafe naturally encourages social interaction

Places that are culturally and socially enriched do not get that way by accident. Cultural enrichment comes by investing in facilities that attract and support creative peoples and enable them to earn enough to afford to live in the VillageTown. Social enrichment comes from investment in public space - plazas, pedestrian streets, public buldings and facilities - that creates a 24/7 complete community.

Cultural Enrichment: More than any other investment, providing affordable space for the Creative Class promises to make the VillageTown a primary attraction.

Social Enrichment: Social enrichment is about diversity, but it also is about activity.
The opposite of conviviality is gossip. The opposite of citizenship is consumerism. The opposite of creative growth is boredom. People who come from small towns say they fled because they were narrow-minded, banal, spiritless infestations of incestuous boredom. One would not expect such a description for a VillageTown.

The VillageTown design includes multiple villages, founded by different groups of people with different values - meaning what is important to one group will be different than what is important to the next. By its very definition, this eliminates the mono-culture that makes some small towns toxic. The different villages provide reality checks. If your village gets boring, walk to the plaza in another. Social enrichment also comes through economic diversity. If everyone earns a living in the same sort of jobs, a form of conformity is introduced. The VillageTown endevours to be a complete community, meaning it supports a wide range of jobs. The outlook on life of a high-tech factory worker in the Industrial Park may be different than that of a professor in the college, a pork-belly broker working out of a second-floor plaza office or a violinist in the VillageTown symphony orchestra. Yet all these people may meet at a plaza tavern, and over time some may get to know each other, and in doing so, each of their social outlooks can be expected to expand.

Enrichment is Personal 
Nothing has a greater effect on our daily life than the physical environment that surrounds us all day, every day... our homes, where we work, where we go to relax, to shop, and the means by which we get to those destinations. Reality is a non-derivative experience. It is not what we read or hear about, but what surrounds and touches us in day to day life.

Yet due to the way we have structured the rewards people earn for their work, we pay insufficient attention to what's around us and life becomes bland.

For example, consider something as simple as buying a cup of coffee: the café where you go, order a drink, read the paper and watch the world go by. Good cafés become popular; a community emerges as people see each other day after day and strike up conversation. In fact multiple communities emerge... the workers first thing in the morning; the mothers with babies arriving mid morning, the lunch crowd and so on. Successful ones last for decades, so long as the proprietor keeps their focus on the physical environment... the taste of the coffee, the comfort of the chairs and most importantly, the sense of welcoming and community.

Contrast this experience with the chain store café phenomena. Founded by a businessman who sought to capitalise on that classic urban, European archetype (think Italy or Vienna), they transformed it into a brand driven by market dominance which aims for tens of thousands of branded stores all over the world. Is it the same as the archetypal Italian café that inspired it all? Sadly the answer is no.

It's a challenge to figure out what is missing. English author, Paul Kingsnorth, did a good job explaining it in a book he wrote, Real England - The Battle Against the Bland. He explains: The problem comes when change is initiated by distant, over-powerful forces, in the interests of their profit margins rather than of the people that the change will affect... What I'm after is the diversity and character which is created when people are given the freedom and power to express themselves without interference from deskbound, rulebound profit-watchers in some distant business park. Essentially the problem with the chain store model is that it is cartoon characture of the Milan café. But unlike those real cafés, it does not have a proprietor; it only has employees who must follow a prescribed routine that emanates out of some division of the remote corporate structure. The workers are there to earn money, the café does not belong to them, and the profits it earns leak out of their community to some distant place.

It is very difficult for designers to create a physical environment that remains invigorated, enriched and refreshing. When one looks at archetypes that succeed, one finds that authenticity and character comes from a less controlled process, where one provides the basic materials, but then steps back and lets people do what they do.

Another example: Consider two groups of children at play. One has been given a playground populated with engineered toys that do specific things. The other group has been given the large cardboard boxes those toys came in, some ropes, trees, old tires, and perhaps a few bales of hay. The second group will use their imagination and create their own world, their own playground and one will find them at it long after the first group of children have become bored and gone home.

What happens when the developer's brief includes creating an environment of positive effects and avoiding designs with adverse effects?

The very meaning of design changes. A designer who wants to control the process places a chain-store café on the plaza and ticks the box. A designer who sees value in a great café on the plaza makes sure there is a plaza with an available space on the sunny side, a population large enough to support a café and an infrastructure to enable a person or family to open their café. The designer may also make sure that the location is affordable, and the proprietor has access to credit that does not come with a requirement that the café only buy its goods from the lender's product line, as happens with franchises. But after doing all that, the designer steps out of the process, and lets a proprietor step forward to create the café of their dreams. Yes, there is a risk in this... not all such cafés will be great, and some will fail because the proprietor is bad at business, or has a personality seeking to emulate that of Basil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers. However, over time, such problems sort themselves out, especially in small communities. In an owner-operated business where the business is personal, success comes when the person running the business loves their work, loves their customers and loves their life. The designer cannot create such people, but the designer can help create an environment that attracts such people.

Let me know your thoughts.  I'm looking for people who would be interested in establishing a Village Town in Eastern Missouri.