The New Urbanism

Cars moved us — as a society — from the city to the suburbs. High gas prices may move us back. With pump prices soaring, everyone is looking for ways to reduce travel. Many are considering changes they would have never considered before — from mass transit to bicycles. Some employers are trying to help by offering extra pay to cover fuel costs, flexible work schedules and telecommuting.

Another option some commuters are considering is moving closer to work. It is too soon to tell if these thoughts will lead to the kind of action that develops into a trend, but with wages failing to keep pace with fuel prices, there is more incentive than ever to retreat from the suburban lifestyle that is so reliant on cars.

We have lived through gasoline sticker shock before during the last 40 years, but this time seems different from the gas shortages of the 1970s and the $2 and $3 gallon milestones. There’s something about paying $4 and $5 per gallon that changes the equation. Perhaps the difference is that $4.50 a gallon can end up costing you $100 a week, $400 a month, close to $5,000 a year, or in a two-car family, more than 10 percent of Connecticut’s annual median household income.

Primed For Smart Growth

In a state with limited mass transit options, the current economic environment provides Connecticut’s large, medium and smaller cities an opportunity for rejuvenation. It also provides the opportunity for the development of new population center and commerce centers tied to the location of existing clusters of employment.

Some call it smart growth or transit-oriented development, but drawing on history, it may be more of a return to the village — homes built close to major employers served by retailers and service providers all within walking distance. It could be the end of retail as destination entertainment and the zoned segregation of residences from the workplace.

This trend does not necessarily mean a return to Connecticut’s traditional urban enclaves — Hartford, New Haven and Bridgeport — but it could. All the state’s major cities are still home to large employers and a transition away from the auto dependent suburban lifestyle could lead more of us to move into and rejuvenate urban housing stock to be closer to work.

Growing city populations with money to spend would lead to more economic activity and a reawakening. Now would be the time for municipal and state government leaders to develop policies to foster such a trend.

Such a movement does not have to be limited to large urban settings. Smaller cities, like Middletown, Meriden, New Britain, East Hartford and Manchester, are in a position to repurpose their old downtown centers to provide space for small and medium-sized businesses. The once bustling main streets of Connecticut’s smaller cities are to this day ringed by underused housing that could support a walkable lifestyle.

The key to a policy that would promote this kind of smart growth is job creation. In a society trying to wean itself off gasoline, the decision about where to live will be based first on where we work.

Urban planners have been pushing this approach for decades, but advocates of the return to self-contained villages of living, commerce and entertainment may have been ahead of their time. They were fighting the convenience of cheap gas. We may be witnessing a turning point. Each time the price of a barrel of oil goes up it represents another blow to a way of life that has flourished since the middle of the last century.

Dean Pagani is a former gubernatorial advisor. He is V.P. of Public Affairs for Cashman and Katz Integrated Communications in Glastonbury.