District Regionalism
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
District Regionalism is an architectural term used to describe the organization of cities in city planning. District regionalism is the theory that life cannot be simply about getting from point A to point B, but rather the journey in between those places.
The term was originally used by the University of Kentucky's College of Design's (MODR) studio to describe sectors of communities in cities. [1]The practice concerns organizing cities into smaller communities by creating distinctive regional and cultural references and having all necessities met within walking distance inside of those neighborhoods. The practice has proven to alter larger sprawling co-dependant cities into smaller self-reliant communities. District Regionalism opposes the socialist Jeffersonian, or Roman grid and most historical pattern making. "Networks," or pedestrian developments between landmarks, are placed throughout communities to reduce the scale of cities back to the human scope rather than that of the automobile.
District regionalism allows residents to creatively transform the places (public property) where they live. Diagonals and organic paths comprised of sidewalks are created through dross environments creating permanent green spaces. Traffic in district regionalist cities is typically diverted away from areas with large populations of pedestrian movement. Streets are designed to terminate, often including a termination focal point such as a landmark building, park, or monument.
[edit] Share System
Community shares are sold in District Regionalist environments. As a community is defined by boundaries and image, the collective population places forth shares with monetary value. An increased number of shares allows a larger amount of voting privelages within that community, therefore allowing some margin within city ordinances and zoning. As more community shares are sold, the pool increases for that community allowing them greater ability to project that money towards community projects. In a District Regionalist community, the city never looses over 51% of shares, allowing the city government to retain rights to city property. As improvements are made to community properties, land values increase and improve the value of private properties within those districts. Cities can also use the community district funding pool to match grants at the discretion of a district's approval. The share system works on the premise that communities will care for what they own, as opposed to caring for properties owned by cities.
