In the early part of the 20th century, Baltimore and DC were very
dense so much so that at the onset of the automobile age, they had very
little room to adapt. The high density of the Baltimore and DC did not
allow for cars to be kept therefore density in those Cities was lost to
make way for acres of parking lots. As growth continued, the average
consumer wanted their housing package to be reflective of the
automobile. It was at this point that the suburbs were born outside of
both Baltimore and DC. Suburbs are in low in density, and built around
the idea of driving everywhere rather than walking or taking public
transportation. Single Family Homes came with a generous piece of land
and traditionally high density choices such as Apartments, even they
were lower in density with large "Garden Apartment" complexes with large
parking lots as the order of the day. The suburban Main Street became a
Retail Drag of uncomprehensively planned strip malls with a hodge podge
of styles. The only thing they had in common was their large parking
lots geared towards, you guessed it, the automobile.
As the 20th Century wore on so did the expansion of the DC and
Baltimore suburbs. James Rouse attempted to put the brakes on the
automobile dependence in the 1960s when designing Columbia but that part
of the experiment didn't go that well and Columbia's Residents depend
on their Cars just as much as the rest of Howard County. In Baltimore it
was discovered that the Harbor can be an attraction and that can be a
way to bring revenue to the City. Old boarded up buildings by the Harbor
were torn down in favor of surface parking lots to allow for automobile
access in the City. It soon became apparent that the Harbor was not
only a tourist attraction, but a place where people want to both live
and work. It was at that point that surface parking lots were
redeveloped into high density Apartment Buildings and Office Buildings
with waterfront views. Baltimore at the time wasn't in the midst of a
job market so a lot of the Offices with Harbor Views were merely
existing companies relocating from Charles Center. All of these
buildings either had underground parking or attached multi level parking
garages. It makes you wonder if urban planners had thought of that at
the onset of automobile dependence, if the suburbs would have taken off
like they did.
Growth is continuing and probably will continue in the Baltimore DC
Area. In the Citys themselves, only certain parts seem to attract new
Residents and investment. This begs the question; where will all this
new population go? After all, the suburbs have been built out and with
gas being so high the consumer doesn't want to move any further out. Now
maybe suburbs have reached build out quite yet, maybe we're sitting
tons of land that could be "urbanized" to make way for certain growth.
Maybe that land is right here in Howard County!
Yes this post is ultimately about Howard County. In order for it to
make sense I had explain the evolution of the suburb and the City's
relations to one another. In recent decades, suburban Communities have
begun to urbanize in other Counties such as Silver Spring, Bethesda,
Rockville, Germantown, Gaithersburg, Towson, Owings Mills, Bowie,
Laurel, Hunt Valley, White Marsh, and Glen Burnie. Columbia is at a
stand still because the aging hippies that are Columbia's earliest
Residents are getting in the way of progress. Columbia's Downtown will
eventually be Howard County's introduction to urbanization.
Other parts of the County in need of urbanization are in no
particular order Wilde Lake, Harpers Choice, Oakland Mills, Long Reach,
Owen Brown, Route 40, Route 1, Route 103, Route 100, North Laurel, and
Savage. All of these places have dated Graden Apartments, sprawling
parking lots, and unused land that would fit the definition of "smart
growth." At the same time, these areas are very much a great draw to
prospective Residents and redevelopment of Garden Apartments and surface
Parking Lots will only enforce their ability to attract new Residents
and with denser urbanized layout, growth can continue full speed ahead.
Who knows maybe if Howard County and surrounding suburbs are denser,
more public transportation can come here and the dependence on the
automobile can lessen.
Now that I've explanied urbanization, what it is and why it's
coming, I can write more posts to that tune and then I will go into
detail as to coming up with plans to urbanize certain areas. Stay tuned!
