Neighbors

The semi public courtyard, which is meant to be the center of weight for the whole community of houses in this project, is bordered on- in this section- by two private yards protected by two metre high walls. The courtyard and the private yards are two distinct areas, meant for different groups of people. The residents use these private yards for recreation and have no need or interest in making use of the courtyard, which is desolate. The public benches placed there by the developer seem out of place, if not something of a parody.

Neighboring

These images illustrate one of the problems with the attempt to replicate the pedestrian lanes of Old Malha in the new projects. The scale is lost and the clear facades created by the two facing rows of houses are replaced by a blurred area of protruding balconies, private flower beds (or are they public?), entrances to houses and the public lanes.












Neighborhoods















This is a scheme of an ideal neighborhood according to the principles of "New Urbanism". The 10 principles, as they appear on the New Urbanism website are:


1. Walkability


2. Connectivity


3. Mixed-Use & Diversity


4. Mixed Housing


5. Quality Architecture and Urban Design


6. Traditional Neighborhood Structure


7. Increaded Density


8. Smart Transportation


9. Sustainability


10. Quality of Life





To summarize a long and elaborate explanation, New Urbanism promotes creation of neighborhoods which emulate small American towns from the beginning of the 20th century, where everyone knew and trusted everyone, people would go for strolls, facilities were within walking distance, buildings where small and ornate, and pollution was low.


One criticism of New Urbanism is that it is not much more than a nostalgic idealization of a lifestyle way out of date, and that doesn't confront burning contemporary issues such as urban sprawl and the need for densifying cities rather than creating new suburbs.


The New Malha neighborhood can be seen as an attemp to materialize such ideals, as shown in the scheme below. It consciously tries to recreate the village life of Old Malha, and the neighborhood is criss-crossed with pedestrian paths, meant to connect the commercial and public buildings and create the coveted pedestrian traffic.


But the neighborhood plan has no such effect. The lanes are abandoned. The residents venture out only in their vehicles. The housing units are homogenous in their design and in their cost.