As our society gains an ever more quickening pace we seem to have less ability or will to demand authenticity in our environment. We want everything instantaneously and without effort and we seem less able to distinguish between what is real and what is a fabrication or representation of what is real. In many cases we have completely lost touch with the original concept that is being imitated.
I once had a conversation with a client about the details of windows and what gives them their quality. Many windows today are made of vinyl. They come complete with plastic dividers that snap in and out for easy cleaning. These dividers are extremely striped down representations of historic details that were made of wood called muntins. The muntins divide up the many panes of glass that make up the window. High quality windows still use this technique. The person I was talking with had no idea at all that these plastic snaps outs were in any way a shallow imitation of the original and thought that they were a sign of a high quality window (as opposed to a window with just glass and no plastic snap outs). It was a detail that was desired but had completely lost its original meaning in the name of expediency and cost savings. Our physical environment is full of examples like this. Have you tried to buy a pair of jeans today that are not pre worn out? It is nearly impossible. Not to sound like an old fogy but, when I was a kid you bought plywood stiff blue jeans and wore them in until they attained a beautiful patina. Today you can look through a rack of pre-worn in jeans that are aged in exactly the same pattern on every single pair. (do you think the guy in China that is wearing out the jeans thinks we are crazy?). This trend is common through out our society and is driven by large corporate concept marketing.
One of these concepts is the Lifestyle Center. It is a popular new type of mixed use shopping center that was born out of the New Urbanist movement. New Urbanism is a method of design and planning which returns to the values and principles that make many older dense urban neighborhoods so desirable. It rejects the suburban sprawl concept of development that has been popular for the last 50 years. New Urbanism calls for mixes of uses, dense building patterns, walkable streets, and humanly scaled buildings ( it does not necessarily call for historic building styles). Seaside Florida, designed and built (in the 1980’s) with these principles in mind is an early example of new urbanism and is credited with kick starting the movement. Unfortunately many projects using this concept of New Urbanism fail to meet all the criteria that make real urban settings so rich. Even Seaside, though physically beautiful, does not have the diversity and unpredictability of real urban settings. All of its residents are extremely wealthy and its streets are highly controlled. The variations of its architecture are provided by edict rather than individual choices. Many New Urbanist projects are stripped down versions of Sea Side. They leave out many of the most important concept, becoming New Urbanist in name only. They become a watered down copy of a copy.
With Benderson’s new development announcement the Buffalo area is finally scheduled to dabble in a piece of the New Urbanists trend. Lifestyle Centers ( like the type proposed by Benderson) attempt to recreate an idealized commercial main street. It is something like Disney World meets the Galleria Mall meets our most cherished downtown memories as a child. They are sold as an anti-mall. In the new urbanist spirit Lifestyle Centers attempt to provide mixed uses (including residential) something that traditional suburban planning eschews. They also create architecture that presents visually diverse facades that making monolithic retail buildings appear to be multiple smaller buildings. The facades are often detailed to appear historic as if they are buildings lining an older city street. On the surface this creates a pleasant atmosphere. But none of it is real. Unlike the real city street, this street is controlled by a corporate entity that has final say over everything from who lives there to what kind of sign a store can hang. The buildings are not the result of the lives of hundreds of people over many generations. Instead they are a marketing concept drawn up by a small team of people in little more than a one year span of time. The “street” is not a real street. It is a corporate driveway most likely leading to large hidden parking lots instead of urban neighborhoods.
While imitation urban settings such as these are very popular the true urban streetscapes languish and struggle. People are attracted to the image of the urban setting that is offered by the lifestyle center but shun the true urban experience. Many who enjoy the life style experience may have never even been exposed to the true environment that is being imitated. Life style centers offer what our society craves safety, convenience, and instant gratification and they very likely have no concept or appreciation of the richness and complexity found in the real urban setting.
Today it is very common to leave your residential subdivision named after a brook, forest, or glen that does not exist, drive in your SUV (and pretend that some day you will use it off road) wearing your pre worn jeans to the instant “main street” shopping center and eat food designed in a test kitchen to fit a theme (such as grandma’s home cookin). This trend is not limited to the suburbs. Many cities are following a path that is intended to sterilize the streets into a safe zone that makes suburban residents feel comfortable. Buffalo is embarking on just this kind of endeavor as it plans its huge Bass Pro project and nearby reconstruction of the Erie Canal Harbor area based on a historic theme.
These imitation environments are not inherently bad and can be very enjoyable and perhaps in the case of the Erie Canal they are appropriate. But, what are we giving up? What happens when nothing is real? Which would you rather have, Jeans that have acquired the individuality of your life or jeans that have been weathered based on a marketing concept?