EDUCATION AT THE COMMUNITY LEVEL, WHERE IT SHOULD BE

The VillageTown as Campus:  education of the young

For many parents their primary concern today is securing a good education for their children. Families will move home to enroll their children in a good school district; they will seek out communities that protect and inspire the young.

Schools face many problems, but perhaps the largest is the loss of support structures that prepare students for learning. Where once there was an extended family and supportive community, today's society isolates families into parents (or solo parent) and then looks to teachers to fill the gaps. Due to tight funding, it is not uncommon for a teacher to face 30 children in which class control becomes a significant part of the job. The VillageTown changes this.

By its very nature, the VillageTown becomes a supportive community. As soon as people get out of their cars and slow down, they begin to recognize each other. This change has a significant effect on how children live, and how they learn about the world of adults and community:

• Children live in an adult world, not an artificial world of children
• Adults become role models... at work or relaxing on the plaza.
• Daycare comes to mean something very different.
• Parents don't hire babysitters, they buy an extra bed for sleepovers.
• Boredom is replaced by an enriched social and cultural environment.
• The plaza and the pedestrian streets are safe for young children to play.
• Children dine on the plaza among adults, or walk home to dine with family.
• Students witness the relevance of their studies, as they see adults applying knowledge and learning on a day-to-day basis.
• Predators do not find opportunities in such a community, there are too many people watching.
• Elders form natural bonds with young people - as humans did since the beginning of time until we invented retirement homes
• Teens have space, but not too much space to hurt themselves or other (such as no cars means fewer crashes)

These attributes come with the territory in the VillageTown. Can we then do things different to make education even better?

Yes. A core principle of the VillageTown is presence, being there.

To these natural characteristics, the VillageTown proposes a slightly different structure to formal education. Instead of carving off large parcels of land for walled-in primary & secondary school campuses:

• place about five primary (elementary) classrooms on each plaza, some as store-front and others in the Guild Halls. Design these to be multipurpose so when class is over for the day, the room may be used for community purposes.
• place the high school in the town center, and have at least three different schools - academic, creative arts and apprentice/technical.
• use the sports fields and VillageTown gymnasia & pools for school sports during the school day.
• use the gardens, the equestrian area and other outdoor space for specialised education.
• place classrooms in the Artist Guild Halls and invite the guild members to teach from time to time.
• incorporate apprentice learning in the industrial park and with selected businesses in work places.
• contract with the VillageTown Corporation to manage the "administrivia", the paperwork that the state demands.
• use Telepresence extensively.

If education consists of time, place, subject matter and social relationship, the element proposed to be realigned is "place". Do not segregate students, include them in the life of the community, but as students. This has numerous educational benefits and it saves millions in investing in a separate campus infrastructure that is then used less than 15% of the year.

For the Board of Education:

Objective: The VillageTown might consider being part of the public school system, but wishes to change the place where learning occurs.

In a VillageTown of 10,000 persons, one may project 2,000 will be primary and secondary students. All will live in the VillageTown, and the VillageTown can be considered a safe place for the children because it has no cars, and because at all times there will be many adults keeping an eye on the children. Just outside the VillageTown walls, the greenbelt will provide sports fields, and it is desirable that these be allocated for students during school hours but used by the community the rest of the time.

• There are 8,760 hours a year, and the public school system occupies classrooms approximately 1,176 hours a year, which means the classrooms are reserved for use less than 15% of the time. This is inefficient use of resources.

• The educational benefit of learning within an active, dynamic community provides students with many role models to prepare them for adulthood. For some it provides a seamless transition to internship and apprenticeship as the plaza businesses will know the students, and the students will be familiar with the businesses around them.

• At one time schools were within the community, but as the world shifted to a machined-scaled environment, schools needed to be protected from the public street. This was both to protect against the hazard of cars running over children, and because the car brought anonymous predators where the safest solution was to separate the school from the community and build a fence around it. In the VillageTown, the need for these barriers is removed.

• While the VillageTown can build private schools, this tends toward an impression of elitism, whereas the VillageTown seeks to be a mainstream development representative of the general cross section of society. It would prefer to work with the public school system, where it proposes to change the location of learning - to shift the classrooms

Solution: On each plaza, in addition to the workplaces, the offices, shops and cafés, primary and secondary classrooms will be built. These classrooms will be designed for flexibility, with pocket walls so the teacher's work can be slid into a wall and locked away when the classes are over, and the room then used by the community for other purposes including meetings, adult education and community education. The administrative functions of the schools will be provided in the centrally located VillageTown Hall building (provided by school personnel, but in a purpose-build management building), to achieve efficiencies of scale. Classrooms can be equipped with telepresence systems to enable better learning and to enable better management by the principals and their support staff. Optionally, students moving from class to class within the VillageTown can be provided with electronic identification that tracks their location, so truancy would be immediately identified.

Precedent: This is how education used to work. Schools were in the community, not segregated behind high fences.

Incentive: Infrastructure costs will be less, and quality of construction can be higher, with more durable buildings and maintenance costs spread over multiple uses.

Wouldn't you like to take back control of your children's education?  We can do it in an Eastern Missouri Village Town.

HAVING FUN, ENJOYING THE COMPANY OF OTHERS, ENTERTAINMENT AND SPORT IN THE VILLAGE TOWN

Conviviality

Conviviality is about having fun, enjoying the company of others, often with food and drink.



Conviviality is also about entertainment and sport. It is facilitated by car-free streets & plazas with cafes, taverns, alfresco dining, performance halls & entertainment as well as the greenbelt for sport & outdoor activity.


Each village decides on its level and the nature of its activity. This adds character and authenticity. When one looks for variety, a short walk to the next plaza brings a whole new experience.

More on Conviviality

Conviviality – comes from the Latin words for to come together and to live. It is associated with feasting, celebration, enjoying others company. Conviviality includes café lifestyle, travellers’ inns, parties, friendly sports events, or a pleasant stroll through the village streets. Go into almost any community designed before our present age, and you will find the tavern, the pub, the coffee house or the inn that welcomes members of the public. Conviviality means different things to different people, and the important part in this business plan is to provide for those different opportunities for local, accessible convivial activities.

The Plazas Set the Stage for Conviviality

Towns and villages with car-free central plazas, surrounded by active shops, stores, workshops and cafes provide the natural stage for conviviality. Food and drink plays an important part in conviviality, but the most important characteristic is no appointment needed. Each 500 person village has its own plaza. People may walk to their own plaza when they want to see people they know, have a chat over a drink or while walking. When their village gets too familiar, they can walk to another of the twenty plazas, or to the more cosmopolitan town center.

The Sports Fields Provide other Forms of Conviviality

In the greenbelt, the sports fields provide both for amateur and school level sports as well as life-long recreation such as tennis, ball sports, equestrian and jogging trails. This enables participation at all ages as well as standing on the sidelines, cheering.

 

 

Slow Food - The Convivium

The VillageTown subscribes to the principles of Slow Food. Slow Food is a core part of conviviality. Slow Food is about growing local foods for flavor, health and convivial enjoyment. Slow Food involves growing local and heritage foods not foods grown to endure long transport between harvest and table, or foods chemically or genetically pushed to increase yields. Slow Food is about taking time with preparation and time with eating, in which dining becomes a social activity, not refueling.




Isn't this what we miss in our communities today?  We have to travel to even simulate conviviality.  Why don't we build a Village Town in Eastern Missouri and live it?  Join us!

A SELF-SUPPORTING LOCAL ECONOMY IS A LARGE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE VILLAGE TOWN AND A CONVENTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

The Local Economy

The self-supporting local economy is perhaps the largest point of difference between a VillageTown and a conventional development. A conventional development relies on the health of the regional or national economy. When that economy crashes, the community suffers.

Not so with the VillageTown which builds in resilience by looking after its local economy from day one.

A VillageTown creates its own self-supporting local economy, meaning people bring their businesses and jobs with them. It also keeps the net profits from the development (normally taken by the developer), so that it starts out with a large legacy fund that can support its local businesses. It uses these funds and their expert managers to expand markets and inject resilence into private small to medium enterprises. It de-monetizes many aspects of day-to-day life, on the principle that it is cheaper to save a dollar than earn one. In all of these aspects, it relies on market forces, but smartly. It sees the wisdom in combined purchasing power and in protecting the local economy from outside predatory practices that seem to have become the norm in business.

Built on a self-supporting economic foundation

Developers build in response to a growing regional economy; the VillageTown does not. The VillageTown creates its own local economy not dependent on the health or vulnerable to the weakness of the region. It provides work places on the plazas, on the main streets and in a walk-to Industrial Park. Buy or rent, it lowers the cost of living and increases the quality of life to attract better employees at lower costs. It combines purchasing power to lower mortgage costs, insurance, health care, food, utilities, goods and services, and of course it eliminates daily transport costs that consume about 15% of the average family's income. It lowers dependency on petroleum. It operates its own bank. It buys its food from local farmers.

The VillageTown seeks a ratio of 20% local-to-global businesses and 80% local-to-local. The local to global businesses benefit from telepresence. The local-to-local benefit by money-turn that provides villagers with feedback so they know how much local content goods and services contain. Every dollar they spend locally increases the VillageTown commonwealth, which seeks to minimize money leaking out - to overseas oil fields by not needing cars, or with a wholesale buying group to avoid badly-designed, wastefully-packaged stuff that breaks prematurely.  But one of the most unique parts is how the VillageTown handles the profits derived from the development: they stay in the community because it does not use a developer. Permit us to explain:

Read this part carefully: Your VillageTown could begin with a legacy fund of hundreds of millions of dollars: The future villagers self-identify in advance. Their mortgages aggregate to combine purchasing power. When thousands of homes are built at the same time, cost of construction per home drops. But market value stays the same, creating a bigger profit, possibly in the hundreds of millions. Normally, the developer takes the profit. Not so in a VillageTown which does not use a developer. It uses an organizing company that becomes the VillageTown operating company owned by the VillageTown citizens - an operating company that owns the net profits in the bank. Thus, the VillageTown begins with a cash-rich Legacy Fund that becomes the foundation of what we call the commonwealth. This fund is used to strengthen and sustain your local economy, which may include direct or indirect investments in VillageTown businesses. In essence you buy a home at market value or a parallel market home and get a cash-rich operating company free.

This company makes motors using 1/3 the electricity of normal

Know your farmers - it's important to grow things

 As individuals, the ordinary person has little clout in today's economy. But when 10,000 combine purchasing power and look after their economic wellbeing, the VillageTown becomes a force to be reckoned. Its economy is shaped to attract small to medium enterprises (SME) to level the playing field so they can compete effectively in an increasingly predatory global economy. Such power is possible when we combine purchasing power to return control of its money to the community.

In Eastern Missouri, we can build a Village Town of 10,000 residents that can participate, but does not have to rely, on the world economy.  Join us with your small or medium business and let's make it happen.

THE VILLAGE TOWN WILL BE LIKE A HISTORIC DISCTICT

No Sprawl - It's like a Historic District

 Traditionally villages and towns had absolute boundaries. They did not sprawl, but stayed within their limits, surrounded by green.

This historic town in England does not allow change - but the cars change it completely.

The concept of a historic district has two parts. One part refers to a place that is old. The other refers to a set of rules that inhibit or prevent exterior alteration to buildings, streets and the urban landscape. When we speak of making a VillageTown like a historic district, we mean the latter understanding.

In a VillageTown, once built, the job of construction is over. It should have been designed so it will serve the evolving needs of the community without the need or whim of tearing down or building new. There are several reasons to do this:

Simplicity: In building a 4,000-home community in 12 months, it becomes important to eliminate as many variables and complications as possible. Knowing we have a locked plan to work from eliminates bottlenecks, cost overruns and delays. Having said this, those initial requirements must not be allowed to compromise the beauty, character or authenticity of what is built... it's going to be around for a long time.

Living Environment: Living in a place with the noise, traffic and dust of construction is noxious. While it is a temporary activity for one building, there are places where it seems as if at all times someone is tearing down and building something new, or putting on another addition. The cumulative effect of construction in such places is not temporary, and over time it degrades the quality of community life. When the rule is simple... no new construction, no altering of exterior shape, size or scale. The only work that occurs happens inside buildings that already have windows. The noise and dust is contained, and the construction supplies delivered do not need large trucks.

Regulation: As soon as one opens the possibility to change the urban landscape, a whole set of rule-making kicks in. One needs rules on building heights, frontages and setbacks, view corridors, open space, etc. This involves considerable cost and time delays because the rules need to be developed, negotiated and written in advance to anticipate what someone might do under the rules at some time in the future... in effect preventing clashes between private pecuniary interest and the public good. A project can get held up for months, or even years, as various professionals, officials, special interest groups and the legal profession get involved and keep the meter running. In a historic district, the rule on exterior alterations or new construction is remarkably simple and non-negotiable: "No."

Of course, there must be a procedure whereby changes can occur, just as there are such rules in historic districts, but these are evaluated with a far stricter, case-by-case set of criteria than the zoning rules that govern most districts - strict enough that they will rarely, if ever, be needed.

The importance of simplifying the regulations cannot be overstated. As one highly experienced developer commented "half of the job of development is securing permission." We need to streamline the permission process, and one of the best way to do this is to use what in the computer industry is called WYSIWYG or what you see is what you get. We then add to this the Dynamic Engagement Process whereby the plans are publicly developed, using a 100:1 3D scale model (sometimes called a Charrette) in which the local permit officials attend and dynamically approve or disapprove as the model is built. They see the height of buildings. They see the impact on solar gain, view shafts and other issues subject to development controls. They immediately identify offending proposals, and the matter is resolved instantly.

When all the modeling is done, and the provisional plan is re-reviewed to make sure there are no cumulative adverse impacts that only show up with the big picture, the plan is locked. The locking includes the binding representation that once built, there will be no exterior alterations, additions, new construction or demolition.
The simplest way to do this is to designate the VillageTown as an instant historic district. Of course, if during construction, certain engineering problems arise that require alterations, the local officials must have the power to approve such changes, but those powers cannot include approving requests to expand, only to correct.

Note that we use the word external. The VillageTown will provide for growth by an emphasis on two and three story buildings rather than single floor. Families that cannot afford a big home, or that will find their needs grow later as they have children and need more room, will be encouraged to order a three story building but only finish perhaps one or two floors of it. Using the rapid build process and a single bulk material, the actual cost of the extra walls and floors will be a relatively small portion of the total home cost.

Further, we recommend a building system that has no internal load bearing walls and uses interior wall systems that are relatively easy to install and remove. This allows for internal flexibility. Finally, we recommend staircases that allow floors to either be part of one home or divided into apartments, so a building can be a single family home, or three flats, without any changes required to the primary access stairs. Following these guidelines, homes can be modified as needs change without exterior construction or demolition.

On the question of what external changes means, each working group of founders for each village will draft an architectural code that becomes part of their regulatory approval. While the scale and shape of the buildings are locked, each village will decide how much regulation they want on surface and ornament. This code provides immediate guidance to the architect each homeowner hires to design the exterior face of their home. It also becomes relevant a few years or decades later when individuals want to freshen the look of their home.

In addition, the initial historic designation may include certain variables that one typically would not find in a traditional historic zone. For example, many villages may consider rooftop living space - a flat roof designed for outdoor living. However, depending on the climate some home owners may find they wish to install an open-air roof over some or all of the rooftop. Anticipating this in the beginning, and setting out specific rules related to non-combustibility, angle, roofing material and roof coverage, the permit may include permission to build this addition at some future time. It may also include a timeline, such as saying this right can be exercised only once every three years, so that needed crane trucks come in and disturb the community infrequently and can do several jobs sequentially.

Would you prefer to live in a picturesque town of many villages, surrounded by meadows, trees and countryside, or the sprawl you see below?  Eastern Missouri is the perfect place to build.  Let's do it together.  Take the time to read all of the other articles, then refer this blog to others, and contact me.  The time to build is now.

 

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.