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Journal of Urban Design

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Help for Urban Planning: The Transect Strategy

Emily Talen

Online publication date: 04 August 2010

To cite this Article Talen, Emily(2002) 'Help for Urban Planning: The Transect Strategy', Journal of Urban Design, 7: 3, 293

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To link to this Article: DOI: 10.1080/1357480022000039349 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1357480022000039349

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Journal of Urban Design, Vol. 7, No. 3, 293312, 2002

Help for Urban Planning: The Transect Strategy

EMILY TALEN
ABSTRACT The transect approach is a planning strategy that seeks to organize the elements of urbanismbuilding, lot, land use, street, and all of the other physical elements of the human habitatin ways that preserve the integrity of different types of urban and rural environments. These environments can be viewed relative to a continuum that ranges from rural to urban, varying in their level of urban intensity. This paper seeks to position the transect strategy rmly within the inventory of urban planning approaches. It does this by exploring the ways in which the transect might be able to resolve the tensions, or con icts, that exist in contemporary urban planning practice. These tensions are organized into three interrelated groups: the tension between three-dimensional form and two-dimensional pattern; the tension between planning for order vs planning for diversity; and nally, the tension between town and country and the problems that have resulted from our failure to nd the proper relationship between the two.

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Introduction There exist a seemingly in nite number of proposals for organizing, developing and rectifying the problems of urban environments. From an urban planning point of view, these proposals vary in scalefrom lot con guration to regional planningas well as in ideological orientationwhere one proposal seeks to celebrate local vernacular traditions, another seeks wholesale redevelopment of economically de ned blight. In the midst of this range of proposals, and somewhat tangential to them, it is often the cold face of zoning regulation that actually determines the form, pattern and design of the urban environment. Over the past few years, a number of urban planners associated with New Urbanism,1 and speci cally associated with a compendium of principles organized as The Lexicon of New Urbanism, published by Duany Plater-Zyberk & Co. (2000), have formulated a new approach to planning urban environments that is, correspondingly, a very pragmatic, alternative system of zoning. The approach has been termed the transect after a well-established method of ecological analysis. This paper describes this new approach, and seeks to position its place rmly in the inventory of urban planning strategies. It does this by exploring the ways in which the transect might be able to resolve the tensions, or con icts, that exist in contemporary urban planning practice.
Emily Talen, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 111 Temple Buell Hall, 611 Taft Drive, Champaign, IL 61820, USA. Email:talen@uiuc.edu
13574809 Print/14699664 Online/02/030293-20 2002 Taylor & Francis Ltd DOI: 10.1080/135748002200003934 9

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The Transect Described The transect approach is an analytical method and a planning strategy. It can be formally described as a system that seeks to organize the elements of urbanismbuilding, lot, land use, street, and all of the other physical elements of the human habitatin ways that preserve the integrity of different types of urban and rural environments. These environments can be viewed as variations along a continuum that ranges from rural to urban. Along this continuum, human environments vary in their level of urban intensity. Adhering to this system of organization, urban environments are preserved in their urban state, while rural environments are preserved in their rural state, and the mixing of elements a rural element in an urban environment and vice versais avoided. This is analogous to the idea that dress and decor should be in agreement, thereby avoiding the disharmony that results from a three-piece suit on the deck of a Malibu beach bungalow (Rybczynski, 2001, p. 25). But the objective of the transect is more encompassing than stylistic harmony. Two broad goals are most important: rst, to link urban elements to natural ecologies in a conceptually integrated system; and second, to create immersive environments within that system that preserve the integrity of place. The two approaches are interconnected: cities are seen as having a place in natures order, but it is also recognized that cities must nd their own internal ordering system that binds them to that order. This is a matter of nding an appropriate spatial allocation of the elements that make up the human habitat. Rural elements should be allocated to rural locations, while urban elements should be allocated to urban locationsnot unlike natural ecological systems where plant and animal species coexist within habitats that best support them. Urban elements must somehow be distributed such that they strengthen rather than stress the integrity of each immersive environment. Scientists have observed that nature conforms to a logical spatial ordering of ecosystems, a progression of biodiversity that ranges from prairie to woodland or tundra to foothill. While the main use of the transect method is in research and education about biological and other natural systems, urban environments have been incorporated in transect analysis by extending the transect line into the urban core and investigating the intensity of biological diversity into this abiotic realm. With some adaptation of ecological theory, urban systems can thus be seen as an integral part of the natural transect continuum. The use of transects as an organizing principle in planning is not without precedent. Geddes theory of settlements was based on the idea of the valley section, essentially a transect. He used the device as a way of discovering the values of a placethe basis of his survey methodology. More speci cally, he used the valley section to nd the rhythms of the land masses of the earth from snow to sea, from highland to lowland (Geddes, 1915, p. xviii). Studying a place in this way, Geddes believed, the region of the geographer, the anthropologist and the economist could be brought in focus to gain a better understanding of a place. Geddes maintained that each valley section had a different level of natural intensity, and that this would determine what occupation was likely to be found there. Each section of the valley therefore had a corresponding occupation: miners and hunters in the higher elevations and shepherds on the grassy slopes, for example. Environment and occupation in turn determined the essential character of cities. Like transect planning, Geddes

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used the valley section to relate geography and settlement pattern to an understanding of existing cities. Most transect methods, like Geddes method, focus on discovery, interpretation and analysis. Transect planning is somewhat different in that it uses the urban-to-rural transect as a basis for normative planning. Discovery of urban-torural transects is used, for example, to expose the regional vernacular as an underlying foundation for a new regulatory code. Thus the purpose of transect planning is to proactively guide the urban pattern in a way that solidi es a logical progression of urban elements, from rural to urban. This kind of approach constitutes a fundamental change in current planning practice. Not only does it require a much stronger integration of plan and implementation, it also requires a new system of land classi cation and regulationone that arranges the elements of urbanism according to the principles of a transect-based distribution. Planners facilitate this system by learning how to allocate spatially, nding the appropriate location and juxtaposition of urban elements along a continuum of human habitats, from urban to rural. This serves to integrate natural and man-made systems in a way that is, in our modern world, conspicuously missing. To achieve this, transect planners have given maximum focus to the coding of a transect-based system. Such a system must: (1) spatially locate a discrete number of transect environments, ranging from urban to rural; (2) apply standards within each environment so that development within them does not detract from the integrity of each place; and (3) be exible enough to allow one transect ecozone to evolve into another, thereby incorporating a dynamic, rather than static, approach to guiding urban development. The most well-developed transect code is Duany Plater-Zyberk & Co.s Smart Code.2 In it, a generalized transect is segmented into six different zones: Rural Preserve, Rural Reserve, Sub-Urban, General Urban, Urban Centre and Urban Core. A diagram of the nomenclature of the Smart Code transect is given in Figure 1, and a list of the main elements is given in Table 1. While these categories work well generically, the Smart Code is meant to be applied as a framework. Applied to individual cities and regions, the elements of the regional vernacular transect are used to ll out the code. Applying standards for architecture, thoroughfares, landscaping, building type etc. to each zone is a matter of specifying the degree of urbanity appropriate to that zone. A few general guidelines give a sense of what this entails. At the rural end of the continuum, standards would call for lower-density, smaller, detached buildings, deep setbacks, paths, trails, open swales and irregular plantings. At the opposite end, the most urban end of the continuum, standards would call for higher-density, larger, attached buildings, shallow setbacks, street and alley sections, and formal plantings. From rural to urban, the density and complexity of human elements are increased, while the density and complexity of natural elements are decreased. All transect environments incorporate the principles of traditional neighbourhood development (TND): the mixture of land uses, the importance of public space, and an emphasis on pedestrian access. These essential principles have been used as a basis for a variety of human settlement proposals, for example hamlets (Arendt, 1994), villages (Krier, 1984), and transit-oriented developments or TODs (Calthorpe, 1993). The transect (as implemented in the Smart Code) incorporates these ideals. Using TND principles that re ect an appropri-

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Figure 1. The transect system. Source: Duany Plater-Zyberk & Co. (2001).

ate mixture and intensity of land use, each immersive environment of the transect is able to satisfy a different set of human needs and conditions. There are different ways in which transect zones can be tted together. For green eld sites, it is possible to encode a complete neighbourhood (the General Urban zone). However, other zones could also be accommodated, creating a modular and hierarchical pattern where different combinations of zones yield different combinations of immersive urban environments. The relationships are expressed in terms of ratios, as shown in Figure 2. For example, a hamlet,

The Transect Strategy Table 1. Description of transect zones

Zone Rural Preserve Main characteristic s

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Open space that is legally protected from development in perpetuity Includes: surface water bodies; protected wetlands and habitats; public open space; and conservation easements Open space that is not yet protected from development, but should be added to the Rural Preserve zone Includes open space identi ed by public acquisition and areas identi ed as TDR (transfer of development rights) sending areas May include ood plains; steep slopes; and aquifer recharge areas The most naturalistic, least dense, most residential habitat of a community Buildings consist of single-family detached houses Of ce and retail, on a restricted basis, are permitted Buildings are a maximum of two storeys Open space is rural in character Highways and rural roads are prohibited

Rural Reserve

Sub-Urban

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General Urban

The generalized, but primarily residential, habitat of a community Buildings consist of single-family detached houses and rowhouses on small- and medium-sized lots Limited of ce and lodging are permitted Retail is con ned to designated lots, typically at corners Buildings are a maximum of three storeys Open space consists of greens and squares The denser, fully mixed-use habitat of a community Buildings include rowhouses, exhouses, apartment houses and of ces above shops Of ce, retail and lodging are permitted Buildings are a maximum of ve storeys Open space consists of squares and plazas The densest residential, business, cultural and entertainment concentration of a region Buildings include rowhouses, apartment houses, of ce buildings and department stores Buildings are disposed on a wide range of lot sizes Surface parking lots are not permitted on frontages Open space consists of squares and plazas

Urban Centre

Urban Core

Source: adapted from The Lexicon of the New Urbanism (Duany Plater-Zyberk & Co., 2000).

similar to that prescribed by Randall Arendts cluster development (Arendt, 1994), is created when different percentages (listed in Figure 2) of four zones are assembled. A different set of ratios combine to create a village (Krier, 1984). Adding an Urban Core zone creates a town, similar to Peter Calthorpes TOD (Calthorpe, 1993). Conceptually, even Lynchs polycentric net (Lynch, 1991) and Howards satellite city (Howard, 1898) can be approximated using different combinations of zones in different ratios. Importantly, all of these modules and spatial schemes can be assembled using a single set of transect zones. Figure 3 gives an example of how one transect zone can be juxtaposed with another. To some extent, successful placement of each immersive environment is the essence of vibrant cities. The adjacencies may be in radical juxtaposition, as in the case of Central Park in New York City (where an Urban Core zone abuts a Rural Reserve zone), or they may be interwoven in a more complex, mosaic

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Figure 2. Source: Smart Code (Duany Plater-Zyberk & Co., 2001). Note: CLD, cluster development; TND, traditional neighbourhood development; TOD, transit-oriented development.

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Figure 3. Source: The Lexicon (Duany Plater-Zyberk & Co., 2000).

arrangement where the edges of one zone are imperceptible from those of another. To achieve a successful integration of environments (zones) at their boundaries, the transect must be coded in terms of parameters. This is theoretically appealing since it mirrors the fact that, in nature, there are no exact boundaries that differentiate one ecozone from another. Attention is also paid to the fact that some exibility is necessary to accommodate change as well as range of preference. This requires pragmatismthe transect must accommodate a full range of urban elements and it must also be open to continual re nement.

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Planning Tensions and Transect Resolution The transect approach has intuitive appeal, and already a handful of communities have adopted transect principles explicitly in their new land-use plans and regulations. 3 However, the concern in the remainder of this paper is with identifying and explaining a different kind of positive effect that results under transect planning. Speci cally, the transect may offer a way to resolve some of the deep-rooted tensions that currently (and historically) plague the practice of urban planning in capitalist countries. I have succinctly organized these tensions into three interrelated groups: the tension between three-dimensional form and two-dimensional pattern; the tension between planning for order vs planning for diversity; and nally, the tension between town and country and the problems that have resulted from our failure to nd the proper relationship between the two. All of these tensions are characteristic of current, Western capitalist approaches to urban planning, but they are not necessarily intrinsic qualities of urban planning per sein the sense that they are beyond resolution. It is possible to see these tensions operating simultaneously, often pulling planners in opposite directions. Long-range comprehensive plans compete with short-range zoning codes; the need for orderly neighbourhood units and streetscapes con icts with the desire to maintain everyday urbanism; and the need for compact development competes with an apparent preference for wide open spaces. In a sense, the dilemma of contemporary planning practice can be seen as an inability to resolve these ongoing con icts. The problem is that these con icts are not usually part of a natural dialectical process in which the resolution of two opposite trends leads to a progression of ideas. For example, the problem of rectifying long-range comprehensive planning that is two-dimensional and long term with short-term three-dimensional implementing codes like zoning may be linked to a failure to conceptualize them in similar terms. They are seen as polarizing rather than as part of a healthy, ultimately resolvable planning approach. Similarly, the quest for some kind of urban order is pitted against the need to respect local diversity in such a way that the two are seen as opposite and tension ridden, and therefore not likely to be integrated. These tensions and the way in which they are perpetuated rather than resolved can be viewed historically, but they have a very contemporary context as well, played out in the debate over the legitimacy of New Urbanism. In fact it is the failure to resolve the tension between form and pattern and between order and diversity that lies at the root of the critique of New Urbanism. For example, much criticism focuses on what is perceived to be a rigid spatial ordering that does not allow for a plurality of viewpoints (see, for example, Harvey, 2000). There are critiques that New Urbanism is either too compact for most peoples preferences (too much town) or too much like current suburban patterns of development (too much country). It may be possible, however, to see order and diversity, town and country, as interconnected parts. Either historically or contemporaneously, the tensions do not constitute a healthy debate between two sides. Nor are they about changing needs. While it is recognized that multi-sided problems can be constructive and do not always have to be neutralized, planning tensions tend to be chronic and debilitating, often rendering planning ineffective. Harland Bartholomew, an early leader in American city planning, lamented the failure of comprehensive planning in this

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same context in 1943, stating that the fundamental objectives of city plans were not being appreciated. Instead, such plans were being dismissed as too visionary or impractical (Wilson, 1989). In the paragraphs that follow, it is argued that the transect approach helps to resolve these planning tensions through its ability to build a durable system of organization. In a sense, the transect offers one approach to integrating these tensions in such a way that they become two sides of the same coin rather than different coins altogether. This integration is based largely on naturea system that is not culturally derived or relativistic, but durable in its ability to interconnect diverse elements. Form vs Pattern One of the most long-lasting tensions of 20th-century urban planning practice is the seemingly intractable problem of positioning architectural, threedimensional design in relation to pattern-oriented, two-dimensional planning. Generally, the former is physically speci c, short-term, and covers a small area, single project or planned community. The latter, conversely, tends to be physically vague, long range, and covers a large area in a comprehensive manner. The dif culty of bringing the two approaches into a shared framework is re ected in the difference between the urban designers master plan and the urban planners comprehensive plan. The differences can be enormous. One requires design skill and the ability to communicate notions of beauty and urban space, while the other requires analytical skill and the ability to evaluate socio-economic forecasts. One is seeking the tangible qualities of urban form while the other is trying to account for an entire metropolitan area at once, including the interrelationships among the elements of various urban systems. The short term and immediate is usually viewed as irrelevant or perhaps even antithetical to the long-term projections of community growth. This situation has a long history in American urban planning, and is in some ways exempli ed by the competing ideologies of Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr and his son Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr, the former promoting visionary plans, the latter focused on administrative process (see Peterson, 1996). Most planners and designers would agree that there is a need to consider both form, as a speci c, short-range quality, and pattern and its longer-term, more generalized focus. It seems obvious that the two endeavours would bene t enormously from a healthier, more productive integration. Urban designers are acutely aware of this needin particular, that it is necessary to nd the right linkage between two- and three-dimensional views of the built environment. Certainly there has been no lack of effort in the search for a meaningful vocabulary. Edmund Bacon (1967) used the art of Paul Klee to communicate the interrelation between planning and architecture. Bacon described the grey rectangles of Klees Polyphonic Architecture as suggesting usual planning procedures, while the architecture shown sets up a harmony which reverberates through all the spaces, showing that it is not necessary to design in detail every square foot of an area to achieve a great and uni ed work (Bacon, 1967, p. 319). Realistically, this approach to unifying planning and architecturepattern and formis too abstract for most planners seeking implementable solutions. What has emerged instead is a partial resolution in which zoning, which is

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supposed to be based on long-range planning, has assumed much greater practical effect than planning. Zoning does have an effect on pattern as well as form, but its concern is neither geographically broad nor temporally long range. It works one lot and one building at a time. Long-range comprehensive planning, on the other hand, quite apart from conventional zoning, seeks to guide the overall urban pattern in a much more abstract way, and in a manner that is rarely backed by legally enforced codes. It is interesting that this somewhat classic planning tension is highly visible in the history of urban planning in the United States (US). The tension is rooted in the beginnings of the profession, which had its rst national conference in 1909 and was formally organized as the American City Planning Institute in 1917. One of the longest-running stories in urban planning history is the tale of Alfred Bettman, the lawyer from Cincinnati who failed to adequately distinguish the difference between planning and zoning and therefore caused 20 years of confusion, according to renowned planner T. J. Kent (1964). The damage done by Bettmans inclusion of zoning as one of the ve elements of planning in his highly in uential Standard City Planning Enabling Act of 1928 is by now a standard entry in most renditions of US planning history (see Gerckens, 1979). On the surface of it, the basic argument separating planning (long-range pattern) and zoning (short-range form) makes sense. Planning is supposed to be about the future visions and long-term aspirations of a community. Zoning, on the other hand, is narrowly focused and piecemeal, dealing directly with immediate building issues that cannot adequately re ect on long-term community goals. Zoning, in other words, does not really care about pattern in a meaningful way, nor about spatial relationships or comprehensive thinking in which interrelationships between parts of the urban system are causally linked. But in terms of numbers and legal enforceability, zoning has always had the upper hand. As early as 1927 in the US, there were three times as many zoning ordinances as plans, and by 1941 the ratio had increased to 10; 1 (Burgess, 1996). Our current system is one of good plans, bad zoning (Russell, 2000, p. 319), and implementation regulations continue to defy the most well-intentioned plans. The underlying assumption fuelling the notion that zoning and planning must be kept separate is at least partly awed. It states that if planners are dealing with short-range, physical problems of urban three-dimensional form, they can therefore not be thinking simultaneously in terms of long-range, big-picture goals. Or, such long-range goals are rst set by an all-encompassing plan, only later to be worked out in terms of implementation through zoning. A tangible issue, however, is that this institutionalized division between zoning and planning, re ective of the division between form and pattern, has had very negative effects. It has meant, for one thing, that American cities lack an appropriate de nition of space, resulting in an American spatial pattern that is disorganized and often illegible. The narrow application of zoning codes, resulting in some of the worst sprawl and most explicit social segregation, has reached legendary status. The relevance of the transect can now be brought in, for it is possible to reason that there has not been a successful linkage between form and pattern short-term zoning and long-term planningbecause the theoretical infrastructure necessary to do it has been underdeveloped. In light of the fact that zoning lacks long-range vision and long-range planning lacks implementable speci city,

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one remedy is to seek a solid theoretical basis for linking the two. This is precisely where the transect may be of use. It is both a geographic spatial patterning system in which long-range objectives about the integration of urban and natural systems are given relevance, and a very speci c view of urban form grounded in the coding of urban elements. The transect accomplishes comprehensive long-range visioning not by trying to simulate every complex human interaction, but by tying discrete elements into a larger system. Transect planning thus offers a different approach to the usual separation of planning and zoning by incorporating planning goals directly into the devices of implementation. Rather than forcing zoning and sub-division regulations to conform to well-conceived plans (often an unsuccessful endeavour), the plan and zoning code are conceived as being inseparable from the outset. This is one way to imbue an aspiration document, often hopelessly vague and ambiguous in terms of implementation, with legal enforceability. It serves to enjoin urban form and urban pattern. The Smart Code (Duany Plater-Zyberk & Co., 2001), which is based on the transect, is an example of how the integration of planning and zoning can occur. The Smart Code integrates procedures for the preparation of plans directly into the code and uses these procedures as the main organizing structure of the code. These are not plans in the sense of long-range, comprehensive plans that are often vaguely de ned and dif cult to translate into code. The plans that make up the Smart Code are speci c guiding principles of good urban form that are used to provide a framework for the various transect zones. Ultimately, resolving the tension between form and pattern is a matter of nding the right way to foster interdependency. The transect as a conceptual framework relies on interdependencies in order to work. One zone is de ned by its relation to othersit is either more or less urban, more or less rural, identi ed by way of its position along the rural to urban continuum. Another interdependency, already discussed, is that transect zones combine to form different types of communities. In this way, no section along the transect exists in isolation: transect zone de nition depends on its interrelation with other immersive transect environments. Importantly, this represents a conceptual link to other current strains of thinking that call for urban integration on a number of levels: the plea for regionalism (Calthorpe, 1993), cities without suburbs (Rusk, 1993), and cities that are not autonomous and self-centred but thrive on metropolitan interdependencies (Frug, 1999). Order vs Diversity A second source of tension in planning is the ongoing dif culty of accommodating both order and diversity in urban environments. While few would proactively seek the ad hoc, fragmented urban pattern characteristic of post-war development in US cities, the attempt to turn chaos into order is challenged on aesthetic, political and moral grounds. The individuality of experience found in the Las Vegas commercial strip, immortalized in Venturi, Brown and Izenours Learning from Las Vegas (Venturi et al., 1972), and more recently celebrated in Everyday Urbanism (Chase et al., 1999), is dif cult to align with the ordered city that many urban planners and designers strive to create. Even if the planning profession had the wherewithal to impose urban order, the imposition of order, which is normative, would be likely to beand indeed

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isviewed as problematical. This scepticism is not unfounded. Order is often equated with extreme forms of control, inharmonious with more modest, individual human activities and needs. It was Le Corbusiers excessive obsession with order that spawned a whole generation of redevelopment schemes, wreaking havoc on any city that had the impertinence to be unruly (Hall, 1998, p. 204). The classic tension between the idiosyncracies of the everyday life of local residents, and the counter force of centralized, Haussmannesque authority, is not easily resolved. This tension affects many allied disciplines. In the architecture academy, order is viewed not only as the extinction of innovation and freedom of expression, but also as being out of sync with new, uid forms of technology, globalization of capital, and modern consumption patterns. The approach to creating urban patterns and architecture, it is believed, should be unfettered and therefore liberating (Kelbaugh, 2000). In the art world, the avant-garde has rejected order (associated with determinism) in favour of disorder (randomness) because order involves hierarchies, foundational principles and norms, all of which constrain freedom (Turner, 1995). In planning, increasing specialization of the profession feeds fragmentation and limits the ability to seek order. Each occupation transportation, economics, the environment, land usehas its own unique worldview and paradigm (Ellis, 1996), making the practical realization of a coherent order seem intractable. The planning professions experience with order has had two effects. First, order has been equated with the idea of social orderparticularly the physical determinist variety in which physical planning is seen as having a direct bearing on social relations. This approach has been a source of criticism for New Urbanists, since the main observation about the movement continues to revolve around the environmental determinist critique (Harvey, 2000; Soja, 2000). The ordered layouts of New Urbanist developments have been viewed as nothing more than an attempt to sanitize the world through rigid spatial ordering. Order is thus a mechanism for shunning social con ict and to control the unexpected (Falconer Al-Hindi & Staddon, 1997). Applied to New Urbanism, it represents a smaller-scale version of M. Christine Boyers critique of planning as imposer of disciplinary order and ceremonial harmony (Boyer, 1983, p. 7) where humans are organized, but alienated. The critique of order is rooted in the fact that almost all ideas about the spatial planning of cities have been linked to some form of social planning and reform (Kostof, 1991). The transparency of social intent has differedmore overt in Haussmanns grand planning, perhaps less authoritarian in the planning of neighbourhood unitsbut the issue of social manipulation has always been a source of disapproval. Ironically, however, the social damage caused by planning policies cannot be blamed on spatial planning ideals in their purest form, but instead on their incomplete and inappropriate application (see especially Hall, 1998). A strident example are the insidious zoning separation schemes that had, and continue to have, profound social effectsthat evolved out of Progressive Era spatial planning models. Social order can be viewed as both cause and effect of the second notion of order in planningthe idea of separation. This phenomenon of planning exists on a much more applied level, where planning implementation has translated into the notion of separating uses into functional classes. This is the legacy of conventional zoning, the outcome of which has been homogeneous, rigidly

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segregated suburban housing developments that are ordered in the extreme. The photography of Alex Maclean has captured this sense of order perfectly. Figure 4, showing a typical suburban sprawl settlement, is emblematic of a type of planning that mandates rigid, simplistic, monotonous forms of order. Despite these signi cant problems with the idea of order in planning, lack of order is equally problematic. When planners are dif dent and cautious about order, the result can be haphazard growth or chaotic urban form. This results when, on the one hand, there is an elevation of the importance of the mythic aspect of the ordinary and ugly (Kelbaugh, 2000, p. 287) and, on the other, there is a promotion of the view that strip malls merely represent a new, as yet under-appreciated, aesthetic ideal (Kolb, 2000). This is the extreme of planning relativism, akin to a philosophy that separates facts from values, regards all human nature as relative, and believes that virtues cannot be identi ed or ranked. It has ideological similarities to what philosopher Susan Haack has called preposterismthat nding out how things really are is viewed as nothing more than a smokescreen hiding the operations of power, politics, social negotiation [and] rhetoric (Haack, 1998, p. 1). By tying its system of order to nature, not social processes, the transect resolves both issues simultaneously. The key is that it focuses on the diversity of elements that make up a system of orderthe same type of structure found in nature (see Gleick, 1988), but here applied to a system of city building. As in nature, order does not mean a lack of complexity. On the contrary, complexity is an intrinsic, inseparable part of order. The transect emulates this natural, ordered system of complexity. It therefore eludes the criticism that the organization of spatial form must be a search for control over moral and political order (see Harvey, 2000). It is critical to understand the link between natural ordering systems and natural diversity. The transect is successful as a system of order because it appeals to natural order, connecting to the idea that intricately complex environments are nevertheless part of an ordered system. The idea of diversity within an underlying system of ecological order may at rst seem elusive, but it actually works to replace abstract modernist notions of in nite and uniform space with immediate, concrete [and] particular notions of place (Walter, 1988, p. 142). A few prominent planners have adeptly recognized this link, stressing the need for urban diversity that mirrors and integrates with the complexity of natural ecologies. Ian McHarg (1969) applied this to the regional scale, believing that the fundamental problem with conventional suburban sprawl was the imposition of a destructive simplicity on a complex system (Fishman, 2000). Jane Jacobs emphasized the intra-urban situation, pointing out that the diversity of a healthy city is analogous to the diversity of a natural ecosystem (Jacobs, 1961). Outside of planning, the link between natural and urban environments has been gaining recognition. The current new urban ecology, focused on developing the link between urban and natural ecologies, is nding renewed attention (see Collins et al., 2000). The transect approach extends this thinking to a logical, applied integration at the scale of building. Using this system, the elements of the city are arranged in such a way that, rather than a randomly occurring collection of urban elements, they make up part of a whole. This kind of organicism, where individual parts belong to an urban whole, has been criticized by Lynch (1981), but others have viewed it as an essential basis of holistic (rather than piecemeal) approaches to planning (Stelter, 2000). In some

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Figure 4. Alex Maclean aerial photo. Source: Mutations Slideset, Landslides Aerial Photography. sense, the connection between parts and the whole is analogous to the relationship between diversity and order. Most importantly, basing urban order on an ecological connection frees planners from having to rely on notions of social order. In this conceptualization, social agreement is not particularly relevant. There is no need to connect spatial pattern and moral order in the way that planning idealists such as Ebenezer Howard or urban sociologists such as Robert Park did. The notion of an organized spatial form that seeks to similarly organize human beings becomes irrelevant. If planners seek some way to strengthen the ecological bond between the human world and the natural world the focus can be about linking humans and nature, not about creating social utopias. There are some interesting connections to be made between this view and the view of radical centre theorists, discussed by Turner (1995). In this theoretical view, the universe is not deterministic but is self-renewing and in nitely creative, as demonstrated in phenomena like fractals. This way of thinking ultimately leads to the promotion of classical ideals in architecture, poetic metre in the arts, or even notions of ideal urban form in urban planning. But, because a sense of order is rooted in diversity at all levels, the problematic notion of rigid, deterministic order is avoided. The transects sense of environmental order is based on maintaining proper interconnections among urban elementsa balanced mix of landscape, building type and streetscape, for exampleto create a series of immersive environments. But how does this notion of order relate to social systems? Since social order is rejected, what are the social goals of the transect? The answer is, quite simply, that the transect tries to accommodate a diversity of people. It does this by creating a diversity of living environments. And while it is true that, since this

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is a normative proposal, not every type of environment is envisaged by the transect (explicitly excluding, in fact, most forms of single-use environments), there is nevertheless a strong emphasis on accommodating a variety of different types of human habitats. This goes some way toward promoting a plurality of viewpoints, creating a diversity of physical frameworks within which a diversity of people may ourish. It is also relevant that transect systems are locally generated: there is no single set of transects, but instead many transects that are determined in large part by local, vernacular traditions. Each one of these local transects can be said to be better or worse at satisfying the needs of a particular individual or family. This provides a useful framework for accommodating a diverse population. Town vs Country Finding the proper integration of town (or city) and country (or nature) is a compelling subject that has engaged scholars in various disciplines for centuries. While it is possible to view the man-made world as natural (the Hegelian view; see Crowe, 1997), it is more likely to be viewed in striking contrast to the natural world. We continually labour to create our second world in the world of nature, to use Ciceros phrase,4 but whether this can be a harmonious integration is puzzling. What we do know is that our sources for city building, and in particular our notions of beauty in the built environment, are derived from the systems of order and disorder found in nature (see Turner, 1995). In the context of modern, particularly 20th-century, planning practice, the issue is less metaphysical, and instead revolves very pragmatically around the issue of the growth or spread of cities into their surrounding hinterlands. And while the physical rami cations of town encroaching on country and the problems that are likely to occur is a main pre-occupation of modern planning, there is little evidence that the relationship has been adequately planned. The resulting sprawl has become a household term, and while the pros, cons, costs, measurement and effects are endlessly debated, in one sense the issue simply boils down to de ning a proper relationship between town and countrycity and nature. One of the common reactions to resolving the tension between town and country is to surround the town with an impenetrable green belt. This idea goes back well before Ebenezer Howards Garden Cities: Ledoux, Owen, Pemberton, Buckingham and Kropotkin all had towns of limited populations with surrounding agriculture green belts (Hall, 1998, p. 91). There are varying opinions about the success of such approaches. A major limitation is that green belts are dif cult and expensive to put into place. But another problem is that they do not necessarily have any bearing on development occurring within the green belt, which can still be sprawl. Further, development that occurs outside the green belt can be just as objectionable as any of the worst sprawl the green belt was designed to eliminate. Green belts, in most instances, offer a temporary spatial stay of sprawl, but the effect is usually localized. Another solution to resolving the tension between town and country in a planning context is the opposite of Howards garden city approachthe Corbusian proposal of extreme centralization, or towers in a park. The vertical garden city of Le Corbusier houses the masses in high-rise apartments that clearly demarcate town from country, all in an effort to avoid what Thomas Sharp

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viewed in 1932 as the essential problem of debased town development, where: Rural in uences neutralize the town. Urban in uences neutralize the country. In a few years all will be neutrality (Sharp, 1932, p. 11). The extreme, Corbusian solution to reversing town and country neutralization stands in marked contrast to the traditional, pre-war American city. One of its de ning qualities, so foreign to our current manner of urbanization, was the gradual intensity of land use from periphery to centre. The current metropolis, on the other hand, urbanizes rural environments haphazardly. The urban pattern plunges abruptly from edge-city high-rise to single-use residential development, creating a city that, instead of an organized system of greater or lesser intensity, is extended using easily reproducible units pulled from the box of urban tinkertoys (Abbott, 1993, p. 138). This is not to say that an attempt to nd the right balance and level of integration between town and country has not taken place. But there is no easy resolution. A large part of the issue, as far as physical planning is concerned, is how abrupt the change from one to the other should be. Should the city end steadfastly, like walled medieval towns or green-belted cities? Neither approach has been successful in the American context. The walling of towns lacks practical expression in contemporary times (or results, perversely, in the form of gated communities), and the political and ethical dif culties of green belting are notorious. The transect offers an alternative approach to nding the correct balance. It ties into a tradition of ecological planning that is more integrative than boundary driven. Rather than stopping urban growth with physical barriers that underscore urban vs rural division, the transect takes a different approach: it seeks to connect and integrate the two worlds along a continuum. The idea of uniting, rather than separating, town and country has strong parallels to the regional planning approach advocated by Geddes, Stein, Mumford, and other members of the Regional Planning Association of America. These planners, in particular Patrick Geddes (1915) and Benton MacKaye (1925), even made use of transects in their analysis of regions as a way of demonstrating ecological balance and the interconnection between people and their ecological region. They spoke of the need to view people, industry and the land as a single unit, emphasizing human values hand in hand with natural resources (Mumford, 1925, p. 151), part of a lineage that leads directly to Ian McHarg (1969). By now, the need to consider these relationships is a familiar dictum of planners, notably through the work of sustainability planners (see Beatley & Manning, 1997). But there is a need to put maximal effort into translating environmental ideals into urban design speci cs. Toward this objective, the transect can be thought of as an environmentally conceived approach to urban design. Whereas traditional urban design is usually thought of as having nothing to do with environmental health (Frey, 1999), the transect situates urban design within an environmental framework. The transects approach to the integration of town and country is an update on the idea of regionally dispersed garden cities, a concept advocated by the Regional Planning Association. The modi cation accommodates a more diverse range of development types, paying greater attention to the interconnections of various urban elements at multiple points along the urban to rural gradient. This has the bene t of accommodating a greater range of development choices,

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thereby infusing a greater sense of realism in the land development process. It also focuses on the need to work through existing development patterns. Rather than placing garden cities in a regional framework, the transect seeks to position a more complex pattern of development typesi.e. immersive environmentsin a regional framework. What is retained, however, is a clear focus on making sure that the integration between town and country does not neutralize either one in the process. Conclusion The three planning tensions discussed in this paper are endemic to a profession that has become mired in a culture of separation. This exists on multiple levels: professional specialization that separates economic development planners from transportation planners or environmental planners; a planning regulatory system that encourages land-use separation; and even a concomitant development industry that specializes in building or nancing only certain, speci c types of developments. Each of these separations creates problems for planning practice by splintering efforts, pitting specializations against each other, and thwarting attempts to implement a more consolidated approach. The separation plays itself out too in the context of social fragmentation. A variety of ill-conceived policies have had the unfortunate effect of creating cities that are socially fragmented. These are well known: the spatial con nement of public housing to downtown neighbourhoods, which spawned disinvestments in surrounding areas; the exclusion of multi-family housing in suburban areas; the zoning requirement for large minimum lot sizes; the destruction of neighbourhoods to make way for urban renewal. The de ning qualities of these policies are separation and exclusion. This re ects a tangible American ethos whereby, as Gerckens put it, Virtually every American problem, real, imagined, or socio-psychopathic, was solved by physical isolation and segregation: from race relationships, to illness, to illegal behavior, to undesired contact with persons of lower income (Gerckens, 1994, p. 10). Similarly, the way in which the crisis of urban form has been characterized re ects a sense of separation, since urban problems are often viewed in terms of polarities. A classic example is the way in which the crisis of cities is seen as one of too high density (the East End of London a century ago), or too low density (Atlanta-style sprawl). These two extremes have come to be viewed in strikingly similar parallels (Peel, 1995), but in either instance the resolution should not bebut often isfocused on obtaining the opposite. For the resolution of urban problems, planners tend to argue in terms of opposites, antagonisms, old versus new, traditional versus modern, progressive versus reactionary (Ungers & Vieths, 1997, p. 14). The irony, of course, is that the failure to establish links between opposites can have disastrous effects. Ungers and Vieths, in The Dialectic City (Ungers & Vieths, 1997), point out that the failure to establish a connection between dialectic views of the city has produced a profound urban malady, where the modern ideology of a tidy, well-ordered city has in fact produced the oppositechaotic urban sprawl. The transect, as an integrative system, de es these opposites and antagonisms. It de nes urban possibilities in terms of a continuum, using complementary elements. The result could be a signi cant move forward: the transect connects the urban and the rural in a continuum, it seeks to combine the ability to have

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both order and diversity in the urban environment, and it better connects the goals of urban three-dimensional form and two-dimensional pattern. The transect embodies the view that the crisis of metropolitan form is not one of too high density or too low density, but is an inappropriate mixing of elements, elements that need to be reintegrated in a more suitable way. This has the effect, I have argued, of resolving some of the most enduring tensions of urban planning. There are other integrative aspects of the transect that could be identi ed. One of the most important of these is the ability to connect urban development temporally. That is, as urban areas change, usually by intensifying, there is a need to connect changes in a way that can contribute to, rather than detract from, the urban environment. Conceptually, this parallels the idea of a secessional habitat, such as a forest. Natural environments are in a constant state of ux, seceding from one type of environment to another. Applied to human environments, the transect is able to effectuate the transition from one immersive environment to another, thereby contributing to the integration of urban elements in a temporal way. In practical terms, this involves a re-evaluation of transect zones and the arrangement of elements that de ne them at regular intervals. The end result of the transect system of integration, used to resolve planning tensions and separations, is a system that seeks beauty and sense of place in urban environments. These notions have been elusive in contemporary planning practice, and American planning policy in particular is reluctant to incorporate notions of beauty or good urban form in its approach. The transect system of organization provides a practical means to accomplish such otherwise elusive objectives. As Witold Rybczynski wrote in The Look of Architecture: To create a strong sense of place, the surroundings must be all of a piece: space, mass, shapes, and materials must re ect the same sensibility (Rybczynski, 2001, p. 97). The transect applies this intuitive arrangement, adapted to a regional scale.

Notes
1. 2. 3. Principle among them is Andres Duany, who has been the key motivator behind the use of the transect approach in urban planning. The Smart Code is copyrighted, and is a commercial product being marketed by DPZ. Information is available at , www.smartcode.org . . The Smart Code has been implemented in several places in the US, such as Belmont, North Carolina and Hillsborough County, Florida. Information on these particular codes is available at , www.ci.belmont.nc.us/tnd.htm . and , http://www.hillsboroughcounty.org/ pgm/home.html . . From De Natura Deorum, 1st century BC.

4.

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