Industrial Age Conformity or Creative Age Creativity?

The following article outlines the establishment vision of planning urban development to mimic industrial age cities and the common themes they share:

Think big, build big - Majority of council agrees residential high-rises should be part of the city centre's future

The image above also shows the skyline of London, UK, which is famous for its historic efforts to limit high rise development and compromise the architectural integrity of its historic building stock, even after much of it was destroyed in World War II.

The ideas in the above article are contrasted with another emerging point of view presented in the opinion piece below by Ron Roy that presents a challenge to be creative with the city's blueprint in Saint John, NB:

I read with great concern the article in this morning's TJ [Telegraph-Journal]. If there is a city in North America that has managed to attract residents to their uptown core by simply erecting a high-rise, I am unaware of it – this is a misguided attempt at progress that will not survive the test of time.

The approach is depicted in neither Smart Growth nor New Urbanism and it is potentially unsustainable.

Today, the situation in Saint John is that many second floors remain empty. The uptown currently boasts a great collection of new parking lots. Comments made by several councillors and Mr. Baird harken back to the urban redevelopment schemes of the 1950s and 60s in Saint John – an era that hardly delivered on its shiny new promises yet resulted in mass clearings and social disintegration of Saint John's urban fabric.

Good, informed planning is essential during this time of pending growth – a well-educated council could do wonders, unfortunately many ideas from these urban novices are misguided as a desperate attempt at 'growth at all costs' permeates decisions made. What I would give to hear someone, anyone!, articulate ideas that truly mirror New Urbanism concepts or the Smart Cities movement.