Planning: general Planning terminology that YOU coined

[Otis]

This isn't one that really qualifies as making up terminology, but I remember when 10 or so years ago, I used the phrase "high density sprawl" to refer to the development pattern around I-66 in Northern Virginia when speaking to peers. Many of them acted like I blew their darn minds with the idea that sprawl could be high density, or that dense areas could be sprawling. Does anyone have a better term for what I am describing?

I think you have a good one there. Whenever I fly into Dulles I am amazed at the spread of high-rises along the access road. How about "high-rise sprawl" or "tall sprawl?"

 

[The One]

Well.....

It isn't really planning terminology per se......but I have coined a new term for a boat full of women in the channel at Lake Havasu City Arizona:

a VARGE
:-c
Badda Thump!

and a boat full of dudes is called a:

BROAT!
:h:
or

BRO BOAT
:lmao:
Having lived in a Spring Break haven for so many years got my creative juices flowing:-o

 

[mendelman]

Does anyone have a better term for what I am describing?

No. That should make perfect sense to professional planners worth anything. Isn't that an apt descriptor for much of the auto-oriented suburban development in AZ and Las Vegas and Florida and California, etc, etc.

 

[Suburb Repairman]

I think you have a good one there. Whenever I fly into Dulles I am amazed at the spread of high-rises along the access road. How about "high-rise sprawl" or "tall sprawl?"

I've heard "tall sprawl" used in reference to the Galleria area of Houston--a sprawly, but intense, high density development pattern. What you are describing is also a bit similar to an Edge City.

 

[Shellac And Vinyl VelocitY]

The 'Flying Monkey Alternative' - Used to describe only alternative available when all sane alternatives have been explored, yet you are asked to 'think outside the box' and go back to the 'drawing board' by people in positions of power who are not educated in things like design, and physical science or math.

Used in a sentence; "After all other alternative were rejected, in a fit of late night drinking, it came to him, the flying monkeys alternative... the ultimate transportation solution....genetically engineer flying monkeys and train them to fly each of us where we want to go. It would save gas and gainfully employ underemployed monkeys...brilliant."

I like this expression, but it may offend some people who are African-American, (even though you did not mean to do so).

Has anybody coined a Flying Monkey Alternative alternative?

 

[Dan]

I've heard "tall sprawl" used in reference to the Galleria area of Houston--a sprawly, but intense, high density development pattern. What you are describing is also a bit similar to an Edge City.

I see Toronto as the poster city of "tall sprawl" in North America, with what seems like thousands of high rise apartment buildings in vehicle-oriented environments, even deep into distant suburbs. It's basically like the Uptown/Post Oak area in Houston, but everywhere, and with Canadian-style zoning.



Toronto, and most smaller cities in Ontario, also have a lot of tower in the park-type development. Even little Fort Erie, across the Niagara from Buffalo, has some big commieblocks that would probably never see the light of day in similar towns on this side of the border..

 

[Random Traffic Guy]

Has anybody coined a Flying Monkey Alternative alternative?

Not quite the same, but I have drawn one site concept as "Architect Bait" within a group of more rational concepts. We needed 5 concepts IIRC, but there really were only 3-4 ways the site could work given the constraints. Obviously, the Architect Bait concept had lots of curves and crazy angles. I was almost sad when it wasn't followed up on, as it did have the best pedestrian connectivity, but at a severe cost to parking efficiency and plain ol' constructability.

 

[mgk920]

A couple of more that I've not seen used by anyone else:

Beigeville(s) - Those master-planned 'communities' where every aspect of life, especially regarding the layout, appearance and settings of the properties, is so regimented and conformed, usually by neighborhood covenants and the ruling home-owners' associations, that there is little, if any, individualism allowed by their residents - named because of the most common color that is allowed to be on the exteriors of the buildings. It is not unusual to see similarities between images of these developments and images of the regimented lower-density housing blocks found in totalitarian states, most notably in urbanized parts of China.

And

Premature development - a less 'clichéy' and, IMHO, a more accurate way of saying 'sprawl'.

Mike

 

[Cardinal]

A couple of more that I've not seen used by anyone else:

Beigeville(s) - Those master-planned 'communities' where every aspect of life, especially regarding the layout, appearance and settings of the properties, is so regimented and conformed, usually by neighborhood covenants and the ruling home-owners' associations, that there is little, if any, individualism allowed by their residents - named because of the most common color that is allowed to be on the exteriors of the buildings. It is not unusual to see similarities between images of these developments and images of the regimented lower-density housing blocks found in totalitarian states, most notably in urbanized parts of China.

The term I use is Taupe Town.

 

[DetroitPlanner]

I don't meant to brag but I came up with the following:

• Zoning
• New Urbanism
• Transit Orientated Development
• Condominium
• McMansion
• Historic Preservation
• Transportation Model (ing)

I swear its all true!

 

[Dan]

I can't say I coined the term, but I use it a bit.

Developer's Daughter Syndrome - where streets in a subdivision are named after the daughters of the property owner or developer. More often than not, the daughters' names are "country" or trendy among a blue collar crowd at the time, which is why you encounter names like Patti Lou Way more than Jennifer Drive. It's common in exurban and rural areas, and parts of the country dominated by smaller developers that aren't market savvy. DDS is actually an old custom; consider the names carved above the front entrances of prewar apartment blocks, and clusters of "old lady" street names in prewar suburbs.

 

[Faust_Motel]

The "HMS _____"

Used to refer to a large commercial building that is overly lit and can be seen from a great distance.

In my town it was the "HMS CVS"

 

[DVD]

I can't say I coined the term, but I use it a bit.

Developer's Daughter Syndrome - where streets in a subdivision are named after the daughters of the property owner or developer. More often than not, the daughters' names are "country" or trendy among a blue collar crowd at the time, which is why you encounter names like Patti Lou Way more than Jennifer Drive. . It's common in exurban and rural areas, and parts of the country dominated by smaller developers that aren't market savvy. DDS is actually an old custom; consider the names carved above the front entrances of prewar apartment blocks, and clusters of "old lady" street names in prewar suburbs.

One of my old neighborhoods must have had a good sense of humor, I lived near Mary Jane Lane.

Add in my town it's the HMS McDonald's with the multi colored roof lighting.

 

[terraplnr]

I didn't create these but I thought they were amusing...

"Introducing 15 New Words for Los Angeles Traffic"

http://la.curbed.com/archives/2014/04/introducing_15_new_words_for_los_angeles_traffic.php

I can definintely identify with this one:

suckstream [sək·strēm]: Single-lane backup on the freeway caused by one guy driving slower than the speed limit either because he's in a clunker that shouldn't be on the freeway in the first place or, you know, for no reason. Characterized by everyone else's inability to change lanes because traffic on either side is going at a normal pace. Like a slipstream, but one that sucks.

And these are the worst:

haltgeist [hôlt·gīst]: Congestion due to the freeway's natural "memory" of an accident that was actually cleaned up hours earlier. Anecdotally known as "traffic for no reason."

 

[DVD]

I didn't create these but I thought they were amusing...

"Introducing 15 New Words for Los Angeles Traffic"

http://la.curbed.com/archives/2014/04/introducing_15_new_words_for_los_angeles_traffic.php

I can definintely identify with this one:

suckstream [sək·strēm]: Single-lane backup on the freeway caused by one guy driving slower than the speed limit either because he's in a clunker that shouldn't be on the freeway in the first place or, you know, for no reason. Characterized by everyone else's inability to change lanes because traffic on either side is going at a normal pace. Like a slipstream, but one that sucks.

And these are the worst:

haltgeist [hôlt·gīst]: Congestion due to the freeway's natural "memory" of an accident that was actually cleaned up hours earlier. Anecdotally known as "traffic for no reason."

One of the nice things about living in small town Kansas, no haltgeist (that one always pissed me off), no suckstream, and no chokepoke (for me it was always getting stuck behind the city bus).

 

[bentobox34]

I think you have a good one there. Whenever I fly into Dulles I am amazed at the spread of high-rises along the access road. How about "high-rise sprawl" or "tall sprawl?"

I've heard the term "vertical sprawl." In the contexts I have heard it, it is usually just NIMBY shorthand for "It's tall and I don't like it." However, it could be a good term for tall buildings that relate poorly to their surrounding context, if used judiciously.

 

[terraplnr]

I've heard the term "vertical sprawl." In the contexts I have heard it, it is usually just NIMBY shorthand for "It's tall and I don't like it." However, it could be a good term for tall buildings that relate poorly to their surrounding context, if used judiciously.

It's hard to get the best perspective using Google Streetview, but I immediately thought of an example for this:

http://goo.gl/maps/xqNnr

These two tall buildings always stick out like sore thumbs to me.

 

[DVD]

I was bored at a one day conference and our table of other bored planners came up with this new term.

Vegentrify. First, be careful in pronouncing your vowels, it's an e not an a. You need good diction.

It's the term for when community gardens raise the value of the surrounding houses.

 

[Random Traffic Guy]

I'm not quick enough to have coined it, but it had half the room rolling and half scratching their heads:

Mobibus Strip: When multiple people sequentially throw each other under the bus, repeating without end

 

[Doberman]

Popsicle Lot-Lot that gets road frontage through a narrow strip in the middle of the lot versus a narrow strip on the fringe like a flag lot.

 

[otterpop]

SOL Zone

SOL Zone: The unzoned parcel of land neighboring your property, where the property owner is doing something you want stopped but cannot stop, because the area is not zoned or otherwise regulated.

 

[mendelman]

SOL Zone: The unzoned parcel of land neighboring your property, where the property owner is doing something you want stopped but cannot stop, because the area is not zoned or otherwise regulated.

Nice. I once had an internet 'discussion' with an property owner (in an incorporated muni) next to a zoned, but unincorporated property that was leasing land to a cell tower company. The project was permitted by-right on the unincorporated property. He didn't appreciate the rational explanation.

 

[Dan]

Eurosprawl

Eurosprawl undermines the romantic ideal of "superior" European urbanism that is held so dearly by young urbanist types. Many seem to believe that a typical European suburb looks something like this.



Of course, it's connected to the nearest city with a high speed rail line, with service at 10 minute intervals.

The reality is much different.



"Is our esprawl, yes, with no influence from, how you say, estupide American ... oh, wait."

Cities throughout the EU are surrounded by suburbs that reflect terrible planning, by any standard. Some defining traits of Eurosprawl:

* Residential area? There's large, squat "commieblock" apartment buildings, often surrounded by token green space, There's subdivisions of single family houses, usually with walls or tall hedges separating yards and houses from the street. If there's sidewalks, they're used for parking, not walking.

* Commercial areas? Consider the hypermarket was invented in Europe. There might be some smaller shops and gas stations sprawled along a major road, like in a 1950s-era American suburb only with buildings closer to the street. Otherwise, generic vehicle-oriented shopping centers are the norm. On a positive note, many have block paving and traffic circles.

* Signs? Not like what you'd see in Houston or El Paso, but certainly big and tall. Billboards are smallish (24 sheet), but more closely spaced than in the US, and often next to or in residential areas. Roof signs are very popular, as are three-sided freestanding signs.



Somewhat similar shit, different continent. Bad as it is, young urbanists will probably find a way to defend Eurosprawl, as somehow being more "authentic", "greener", or "having more soul" than its equivalent in North America.

 

[mendelman]

And here's more European sprawl from suburban Seville, Spain (in 2005):







Sanlucar la Mayor, Spain

 

[Dave F]

I recently came up with one:

"Free Bird" Commissioner

Commissioner who is obsessed with a single issue that tries to work it into every discussion, no matter whether appropriate or not, much like a concertgoer requesting "Free Bird" regardless of which band is playing.

Can also be used for residents or city council members.

 

[whittx]

Agree with Dan about Hippie Urbanism.

How about hippie urbanism? Some defining traits:
.

Ithaca is definitely the best example, with the wildflower/weed aesthetic even reaching into the CBD.

I do have one that I might add: Soviet Collegiate (A modernist/brutalist building style favored by colleges and universities between the late 1950's and the early 1990's.) Examples can be found on nearly any SUNY campus, the eastern bloc looking dorms at Florida State, and nearly any college built in that period.

 

[Dan]

Urbasexual: a young urbanist who espouses the trendiest, sexiest, and most bandwagon-jumping-onest aspects of contemporary urbanism, while being ignorant of the more mundane aspects of planning practice, human geography, and urban history as a whole.



Some defining traits:

* They focus heavily on on transportation - specifically walking, cycling, urban rail, and services that reduce the footprint of car ownership (Uber, car sharing, etc). They're also obsessed with the idea of car-free cities. They hate, hate, hate cars with the fiery rage of a thousand suns.

* They embrace buzzword urbanism - tactical urbanism, lean urbanism, popup urbanism, situational urbanism, and so on. They might think landscape urbanism is a great idea, too, until you tell them it's really just a rehashing of 1970s-style pod-path-and-park urban design.

* The "urbasexual view of the world" features only select "hip" cities - New York, Washington, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle, Austin, Vancouver, and Toronto. Detroit is their Rust Belt token.

* Their ideal rural-to-urban transect conveniently skips T3 and T4. They despise North American suburbs. In the Rust Belt, it also includes municipalities outside of a core city, even those with dense urban scale neighborhoods. Lower density development from before WWII, and suburban "gayborhoods" (Lakewood OH, Ferndale MI, West Hollywood CA), get a pass.

* If an idea has its origins in Germany, the Netherlands, or Scandinavia, it has to be good.

* They oppose gentrification -- if it impacts traditional minority communities. For Little Italy, Little Tokyo, Little Warsaw, and enclaves of Orthodox Jews, on the other hand, bring on the Starbucks!

* They're extreme local first followers. They hate larger businesses and chains (except Whole Foods, Buffalo Exchange, American Apparel, Shake Shack, IKEA, Wegmans ...), and love food trucks and farmers' markets.

* They seem to believe a kind of folk history about how contemporary suburbia came to be. Before WWII, there were no suburbs as we know them, and urban neighborhoods were mostly mixed use utopias like the Greenwich Village described by Jane Jacobs. After WWII -- cars, freeways, National City Lines conspiracy, white flight driven by racism, and federal subsidies of sprawl, end of story. Nuance, backstory, and local conditions are downplayed. The built environment as a whole going on 15+ years of deferred maintenance, post-WWII housing shortages, rising incomes, shrinking household sizes, built-out central cities, millions of speculatively platted suburban lots sitting vacant since the 1920s, Northern Cities migration and the resulting housing crunch, busification starting years before NCL, and the late-19th century origins of contemporary suburbia -- well, you're just an apologist for the suburbs.

 

[michaelskis]

Urbasexual: a young urbanist who espouses the trendiest, sexiest, and most bandwagon-jumping-onest aspects of contemporary urbanism, while being ignorant of the more mundane aspects of planning practice, human geography, and urban history as a whole.



Some defining traits:

* They focus heavily on on transportation - specifically walking, cycling, urban rail, and services that reduce the footprint of car ownership (Uber, car sharing, etc). They're also obsessed with the idea of car-free cities. They hate, hate, hate cars with the fiery rage of a thousand suns.

* They embrace buzzword urbanism - tactical urbanism, lean urbanism, popup urbanism, situational urbanism, and so on. They might think landscape urbanism is a great idea, too, until you tell them it's really just a rehashing of 1970s-style pod-path-and-park urban design.

* The "urbasexual view of the world" features only select "hip" cities - New York, Washington, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland, Austin, Vancouver, and Toronto. Detroit is their token Rust Belt idol.

* Their ideal rural-to-urban transect conveniently skips T3 and T4. They despise North American suburbs. In the Rust Belt, it also includes municipalities outside of a core city, even those with dense urban scale neighborhoods. Lower density development from before WWII, and suburban "gayborhoods" (Lakewood OH, Ferndale MI, West Hollywood CA), get a pass.

* If an idea has its origins in Germany, the Netherlands, or Scandinavia, it has to be good.

* They oppose gentrification -- if it impacts traditional minority communities. For Little Italy, Little Tokyo, Little Warsaw, and enclaves of Orthodox Jews, on the other hand, bring on the Starbucks!

* They're extreme local first followers. They hate larger businesses and chains (except Whole Foods, Buffalo Exchange, American Apparel, Shake Shack, IKEA, Wegmans ...), and love food trucks and farmers' markets.

* They seem to believe a kind of folk history about how contemporary suburbia came to be. Before WWII, there were no suburbs as we know them, and urban neighborhoods were mostly mixed use utopias like the Greenwich Village described by Jane Jacobs. After WWII -- cars, freeways, National City Lines conspiracy, white flight driven by racism, and federal subsidies of sprawl, end of story. Nuance, backstory, and local conditions are downplayed. The built environment as a whole going on 15+ years of deferred maintenance, post-WWII housing shortages, rising incomes, shrinking household sizes, built-out central cities, millions of speculatively platted suburban lots sitting vacant since the 1920s, Northern Cities migration and the resulting housing crunch, busification starting years before NCL, and the late-19th century origins of contemporary suburbia -- well, you're just an apologist for the suburbs.

I believe that is the definition of hipster. I also find that while they oppose gentrification, it happens because the hype value skyrockets.

 

[Dan]

I believe that is the definition of hipster. I also find that while they oppose gentrification, it happens because the hype value skyrockets.

It's not so much hipsters, but more younger armchair planners and idealistic students that tend to be active on urbanism and local development blogs.

 

[Dan]

Old home limbo - the state of old housing that's too expensive or incurably obsolete to update and make livable by today's standards, but not cheap enough to justify teardown and building new.

Details? Here's a good summary of "teardown economics."

So, you start at the end: How expensive can a new home on the block be before it sticks out? If prevailing prices nearby are $600k – $800k, you can probably go as much as 20% higher (to around $1M), especially if the neighborhood trend is clearly up. However, anything more than that is risky. After all, if your budget for a new home is $1.5M, you’d probably want to build it on a block where the other homes also cost that much.

The other relevant consideration is the established ratio of land to home prices. Conventionally, land accounts for 25%-33% of the total land-plus-home cost. So, most $1M homes sit on lots worth $250k to $333k. Again, common sense suggests why: a $1M home on a $500k lot would feel undersized, while the same home on a $100k lot would seem ridiculously out-of-place.

Combine the foregoing and you come up with a fairly accurate rule of thumb: if the cost of the tear-down multiplied by 3.5 doesn’t overshoot the top of the block, the home’s a legitimate tear-down candidate. If it does, the answer’s “no.”

Now, let's apply it to one of the cheapest "in town" houses for in a small Upstate New York college town.



Whether it's true or not for this house, assume the usual traits of functional obsolescence common in similar houses - 6.5' to 7' ceilings, main bathroom off the kitchen, walkthrough bedrooms, no closets, 60 amp service with un-grounded knob-and-post wiring, floorplan that undermines practical furniture/appliance placement, etc.

Most expensive houses on the block? Maybe $350K, but they're on larger lots. This house is on a 35' x 73' lot -- 2,555'² (~240m²),. Most houses on the block are similar folk Victorians, on small lots with limited or no off-street parking, so figure $200K tops for its peers. $200,000 + 20% - $240,000.

Buy the house and tear it down. $170,000. $170,000 x 3.5 = $612,500. Yeah, that's not going to work.

Still, let's play around with it a bit more. Let's say you want to go on with that $612K target price, and make an $80,000 proftt . (To make the math easier, assume all expenses are cash.) That calls for $362,500 in construction. ( $170,000 teardown + $362,500 new build = $532,500.)

In this small town, residential construction costs are about $175/square foot. $362,500 will get you 2,068 square feet of house. You have to sell that house for $532,500 to break even.

Comps? Not many at that high $500K/low $600K price range, thanks to low inventory. Today, it'll get you a 2,700 square foot house, with 1990s-era builder grade updates, on an 11,000 square foot lot.



For the little folk Victorian to be a viable teardown candidate, it has to be worth less than the land it sits on. With the rule-of-thumb that land is about 25% to 33% of the total cost of a house, the lot cost should be $50K to $65K, considering top end peer lot occupation by $200,000 houses.

 

[Doohickie]

1979, during my first planning (technician) gig. I was car-free, and really hated using the city pool vehicle for any reason.

Wrote an article about it, published in Bicycle Forum magazine.

Handlebar surveys can really help you learn about a city. I've lived in Fort Worth for over 20 years, but only really learned my city since I started riding a bike again about 7 years ago.



And here is an example of both Stalag Luft Suburban and Tall Sprawl, both from pre-War 20th century. Local lore is that the tower was built by one of the oil barons in 1930 to provide a nearby place for his mistress to stay. If he built a simple single family home it would have aroused suspicion by his wife, but he portrayed the tower as more of a development project. Supposedly it became the place to live for mistresses of some of the most influential people in town. I'm not sure if that's the real story. There's nothing else nearby more than 2 stories.

 

[whittx]

Cyclist of Last Resort- Typically male, lower income residents that cycles to work or around town because they can't afford a car and/or have had their license pulled. You can typically find them with a beat up bicycle that was either purchased at a pawn shop or stolen, no helmet, no lights, and disregarding most traffic and safety laws. They are particularly noticeable in areas with little or no cycling or pedestrian infrastructure. These are the people that every cycling advocacy group never seems to connect to, even though they are the majority of bicycle commuters.

Old home limbo - the state of old housing that's too expensive or incurably obsolete to update and make livable by today's standards, but not cheap enough to justify teardown and building new.

Details? Here's a good summary of "teardown economics."



Now, let's apply it to one of the cheapest "in town" houses for in a small Upstate New York college town.



Whether it's true or not for this house, assume the usual traits of functional obsolescence common in similar houses - 6.5' to 7' ceilings, main bathroom off the kitchen, walkthrough bedrooms, no closets, 60 amp service with un-grounded knob-and-post wiring, floorplan that undermines practical furniture/appliance placement, etc.

Most expensive houses on the block? Maybe $350K, but they're on larger lots. This house is on a 35' x 73' lot -- 2,555'² (~240m²),. Most houses on the block are similar folk Victorians, on small lots with limited or no off-street parking, so figure $200K tops for its peers. $200,000 + 20% - $240,000.

Buy the house and tear it down. $170,000. $170,000 x 3.5 = $612,500. Yeah, that's not going to work.

Still, let's play around with it a bit more. Let's say you want to go on with that $612K target price, and make an $80,000 proftt . (To make the math easier, assume all expenses are cash.) That calls for $362,500 in construction. ( $170,000 teardown + $362,500 new build = $532,500.)

In this small town, residential construction costs are about $175/square foot. $362,500 will get you 2,068 square feet of house. You have to sell that house for $532,500 to break even.

Comps? Not many at that high $500K/low $600K price range, thanks to low inventory. Today, it'll get you a 2,700 square foot house, with 1990s-era builder grade updates, on an 11,000 square foot lot.



For the little folk Victorian to be a viable teardown candidate, it has to be worth less than the land it sits on. With the rule-of-thumb that land is about 25% to 33% of the total cost of a house, the lot cost should be $50K to $65K, considering top end peer lot occupation by $200,000 houses.

My grandparents house in said community kind of fit into the latter range and was about 3-4 blocks from (an 1880's era house that had last been updated in the early 1970's before being almost completely rebuilt in the last couple of years, since a complete teardown would have eliminated the grandfathered in <1 foot side lot line.) At the time, it sold for just over $140K. If it were to go on the open market. now, it would be in the 450-500K range, due to the upgrades and location (more centrally located and in a better neighborhood than the first example but not quite as close to the main university as the second one.)

 

[The Terminator]

FOD: Feline Oriented Development. Theoretical structures in designated public (or sometimes private) spaces that are friendly and welcoming places for Feral and Outdoor Cats to take refuge in inclement weather, that include common litter areas maintained by a municipalities (or private entities) sanitation department. In these designated structures the public is invited to leave food and toys for the Cats. Volunteer vets would periodically visit these sites to undertake "capture, neuter, release" programs to help control the pet population and cater to any Cats with medical issues. These areas would be funded by private foundations and animal welfare groups.

DIY District: A special zoning district meant to cater to the lower income arts and creative community, a means of incubating small businesses and the arts to foster ground-up economic development. In DIY Districts certain noise regulations and quality of life restrictions (drinking in public, marijuana possession, controls on businesses like music stores and bars) would be removed to encourage creative class usage. Affordable housing protections would come built in with AMI restrictions on rentals and new construction so lower income artists would be protected and have a place to foster their art. These districts must NOT be located near Schools and Senior Citizens centers. Examples of places where these districts could flourish that come to my mind are Peekskill, NY, parts of inner West Side Chicago and parts of Bushwick, Brooklyn (as if NYCDCP would *ever* consider this lol). This can also be a means of encouraging creativity while keeping gentrification in check.

These ideas have yet to catch on obvs, hahaha.

 

[Dan]

Cyclist of Last Resort- Typically male, lower income residents that cycles to work or around town because they can't afford a car and/or have had their license pulled. You can typically find them with a beat up bicycle that was either purchased at a pawn shop or stolen, no helmet, no lights, and disregarding most traffic and safety laws. They are particularly noticeable in areas with little or no cycling or pedestrian infrastructure. These are the people that every cycling advocacy group never seems to connect to, even though they are the majority of bicycle commuters.

I like that! It seems like the bicycle infrastructure that are omnipresent in areas with heavy concentrations of urbasexuals -- bike lanes, bike shops, racks, bikeshare, etc -- are lacking in areas where people depend on them the most. I wonder if some groups don't embrace cycling because of this -- bike use is a true last resort for transportation, and thus the antithesis of something to aspire to.

I wish pete-rock was here to lend some insight into the phenomenon. He moved on to his own blog, and has a few articles that explain similar phenomenon; for example, how black professionals see suburban living in a far more favorable and aspirational light than their white peers.

FOD: Feline Oriented Development. Theoretical structures in designated public (or sometimes private) spaces that are friendly and welcoming places for Feral and Outdoor Cats to take refuge in inclement weather, that include common litter areas maintained by a municipalities (or private entities) sanitation department.

Interesting. Around here, the local SPCA has an active capture-spay-release program for feral cats. With the growing city chicken phenomenon, I wonder if there will be a growing effort to control feral cats. Seems like canine-oriented development could be a real thing, though -- small dog parks, dog water fountains, looser laws about dogs on restaurant patios, etc.

DIY District: A special zoning district meant to cater to the lower income arts and creative community, a means of incubating small businesses and the arts to foster ground-up economic development. In DIY Districts certain noise regulations and quality of life restrictions (drinking in public, marijuana possession, controls on businesses like music stores and bars) would be removed to encourage creative class usage.

Almost like a North American version of Christiana?

 

[Dan]

Giving a bump to this old-timey post with a new one.

Naked building.

What's a naked building? One where there's absolutely no screening of mechanical equipment or service areas.



A couple of examples:

https://www.google.com/maps/@42.430...4!1sRoZ_nAtbsLZD37-9Wo_iiA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

https://www.google.com/maps/@42.430...4!1sm9Q4hdZv1U69nJ327we1lw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Municipalities around here generally don't require mechanical equipment or dumpster screening. The sight of massive HVAC RTUs, vents, electrical boxes and conduit, and dumpsters out in the open are the norm, not the exception. Those buildings are naked -- their "junk" is proudly displayed out in the open for all to see.

(The FBC I'm writing has standards for location and screening of rooftop and wall-mount equipment, and waste collection and service areas -- something that's pioneering around here.)

For what it's worth, naked buildings are a prominent feature of Eurosprawl. Of course -- they're not as uptight about it as we estupide Americain, no?

 

[mgk920]

I recall a number of years ago that all (or nearly all) of the businesses in the area were in compliance with the rules for such screening - and then the state and county imposed new rules requiring separate containers for various categories of trash and recycling. Where could all of those new bins go?

Mike

 

[Dan]

I didn't make up this term, but it's new to me.,

Freeway Noose. Also, noose freeway and noose expresway. It's an "inner inner belt" around a city's downtown, completely shutting it off from surrounding neighborhoods.

A few examples:

Kansas City: https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1008153,-94.5906099,15.26z
Nashville: https://www.google.com/maps/@36.1684221,-86.7927639,14.31z
Charlotte: https://www.google.com/maps/@35.2280254,-80.8606669,14.56z
Los Angeles: https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0406566,-118.2670915,14.01z
Charleroi, Belgium (one-way counterclockwise!): https://www.google.com/maps/@50.4106862,4.4428804,15.48z

 

[Dan]

Okay, I made this one up.

NITBY. Not In Their Back Yard. A NITBY is usually an urbanist who may be very pro-development, pro-urban and pro-density -- very much a YIMBY -- except when it comes to redevelopment and revitalization of distressed neighborhoods with a majority black or Hispanic/Latino population. Seeing gentrification as just a collective action by racist wypipo to colonize working class neighborhoods, force out the minority population, and fill storefronts with Starbucks, yoga studios, axe throwing clubs, and farm-to-table restaurants, NITBYs work to freeze "threatened" neighborhoods in amber, and oppose any development or activity they perceive as appealing to "outsiders".

Another form of NITBY: opposition to dense new urban-style projects in the suburbs, because ... well, it's the suburbs. They hate the suburbs because it's not urban, but feel urban-style development there will compete with and ultimately hurt "authentic" urbanism inside city limits, closer to the urban core.

 

[DVD]

I get a different kind of NITBY. The kind that hates whatever development is coming in because traffic and stuff, but they live far enough away that some minor extra traffic is the only thing that might affect them. So they use the actual neighbors as their reasoning. They won't like the building this close. They won't like...

 

[Wannaplan?]

Have you ever heard of a "plazza"? It's a food truck court when all the food trucks are serving pizza.

 

[RandomPlanner]

I think we have all used Old Urbanism at one point or another.

I started using the terms New Suburbanism or Old Urbanism when learning all about New Urbanism -- which is neither a new idea nor is it often built in urban areas. New Urbanism -- like old urbanism but worse.

 

[Dan]

Have you ever heard of a "plazza"? It's a food truck court when all the food trucks are serving pizza.

There's gotta' be a better term than "food truck rodeo" and "food truck corral" to define a semi-permanent collection of food trucks on a lot.

 

[DVD]

It's a truckapalooza. Sorry, I got nothing.

 

[Wannaplan?]

There's gotta' be a better term than "food truck rodeo" and "food truck corral" to define a semi-permanent collection of food trucks on a lot.

A Pod of Gastromobiles

Gastromobile Pod

A Fleet of Gastromobiles

Digestion Station

Taste Bud Bay

An Eat Fleet

Stomach Station

 

[Bubba]

A Pod of Gastromobiles

Gastromobile Pod

A Fleet of Gastromobiles

Digestion Station

Taste Bud Bay

An Eat Fleet

Stomach Station

Pretentious Phoodie Parking Lot

 

[Faust_Motel]

God's Work Variance

-the desire for a variance from the rules, usually invoked by a small business owner who is "doing god's work" by employing people (usually below livable wage). See also hobby-farmers who think they are actual farmers going god's work selling a couple of tomatoes and people who fancy themselves "animal rescue" (hoarders).

 

[Faust_Motel]

I came up with a new one this week in a staff meeting: the Han Solo Letter.

When you have a project in progress or pending inspection and the owner/applicant appears to be in danger of stepping in it big time, but there is no formal path to action (project's not under review, the zoning violation hasn't occurred yet, stakes in the ground sure look like they're thinking about putting the building too close to the property line because somebody didn't read the approved plan right, etc) you can't cite 'em on a zoning violation or address it in permit review. But we're headed for a crash-and-burn and it will be a lot easier to address before the applicant goes and does the Bad Thing.

When this is happening, somebody on the staff looks at a co-worker and says:

And, that, my friends, is when you send the owner/applicant (and the file, and your boss) a Han Solo Letter.

 

[HillSlug]

Faux Rural

I came up with this in the mid-1990s while working for a community that at one time was rural, but had become a rich person enclave next to a metro area. Large lots, vinyl split rail fences, mega barns. . .

 

[Dinky]

carsy as the opposite of pedestrian-friendly or cyclist-friendly
carsy roads, carsy intersections, carsy neighborhoods, carsy shopping centers, carsy people
One of my children invented this term for the through-streets in our city neighborhood where there are more lanes, faster cars, and less patience for pedestrians. When we travel outside the city, he also applies it to car-dependent places and to friends/relatives whose lives require having to drive everywhere. He has also recently decided it applies to neighbors who complain a lot about parking and advocate against bike lanes.

 

[Doberman]

Plannery-To use typical or 'pie in the sky' urban planning rhetoric such as 'aging in place' or relying on breweries as part of your urban renewal endeavors. It's mostly a way to insult my colleagues.