Beloved and Abandoned: A Platting Named Portland - read before Transportation Summit Nov 4-6 in Portland

For those coming to the CNU Transportation Summit Nov 4-6 in Portland, OR http://www.cnu.org/transportation2009, I'd like to recommend that you read the discussion on Planetizen titled Beloved and Abandoned: A Platting Named Portland by Fanis Grammenos and Douglas Pollard of Urban Pattern Associates: http://www.planetizen.com/node/41290.

Planetizen editors lead with "For American planners, Portland, OR is held up as a shining example of urban planning, and credit is given to its compact grid. But is Portland's grid worthy of adulation? Perhaps not, say . . ." Here's an argument from the article:

". . . The Portland grid uses 42% of land in right of ways for streets and has the highest length of road infrastructure of any alternatives. Simply put, nearly half of the land is used up in accessing the other half. A recent comparison of an existing 338 hectare subdivision’s curvilinear pattern to an overlaid TND plan showed that the land for roads was respectively 88 and 122 hectares or 40% higher for TND with a corresponding increase in infrastructure costs (IBI) (Figure 4). No developer or municipality would savor this arithmetic."

Don't fail to read the comments portion at the end as well where the authors make it into a real discussion with their readers. Perhaps your visit and the summit will inspire you to carry on the discussion. Hope to see you there!
Mary
--
Mary Vogel, Principal
PlanGreen
Toward a Sustainable Urban Ecosystem
A WBE/ESB in Oregon
503-245-7858
http://www.plangreen.net