Thursday, October 19, 2006

The Furture of Downtown Columbia: Part Two

Many people us are concerned by the possibility of a more-densely populated Downtown Columbia. I too am concerned that more density, without carefully and skillful planning and adequately funded public services and infrastructure, would result in disaster for our county. However, a much greater population density, along with carefully planned and well funded infrastructure, would provide the best opportunity to meet many of our common goals, such as energy efficiency, pedestrian friendliness, and the availability of affordable housing .

One Local Candidate for County Executive, Chris Merdon has contended that we ought to first study the amount of traffic the downtown area can handle and then decide on the density level downtown. But this approach is based upon a highly flawed assumption. There is no one optimal level of traffic that a particular area can accommodate. The amount of population density/land use intensity that a particular area can accommodate is dependent on many variables: For example, a well functioning mass transit system would allow for greater density without increasing traffic (interestingly, the greater the density, the more economically feasible mass transit becomes). Moreover, designing our new downtown to be pedestrian friendly would decrease automobile traffic. A well designed mixed-use approach to zoning can shorten commutes and therefore allow for greater density with less traffic. Of course, a well designed road system will allow for greater density with less traffic as well. So density isn’t really the issue. Stay tuned for Part Three, where I will discuss the real issues.

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