Skip to Content
Streetsblog USA home
Streetsblog USA home
Log In

Today on the Streetsblog Network, member blog Sprawled Out takes on haters of New Urbanism -- specifically, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel columnist Patrick McIlheran, who wrote a piece lauding a designer of subdivisions named Rick Harrison.

McIlheran quotes Harrison saying, "People don't want to walk five minutes to a park. They want to see it outside their window. And they don't want to see
their neighbors and they don't want to sit on their porch all day."

Sprawled Out's John Michlig points out that there are already plenty of places where people can buy houses that offer just that neighbor-avoiding lifestyle (including much of his home turf in Franklin, Wisconsin). Denser development models aren't taking that option away, as fear-mongering sprawl advocates like to imply:

3911008071_23f775a09f.jpgOld-fashioned suburbia: Space still available! (Photo: Charlie Essers via Flickr)

Like
others who lobby for Sprawl, Inc., McIlheran conveys the ludicrous
notion that -- in a region overrun with non-planned, non-sustainable
suburbs that have grown at the whims of developers and their desire for
increased and quicker profit (a condition that has created the need for
cuts in services while property taxes continue to climb) -- creating
provisions for New Urbanist or Traditional Neighborhood Development
subdivisions somehow limits our choices rather than increasing them by adding another flavor to the mix.

You see, in McIlheran's worldview, the appearance of a non-standard choice in some way magically eliminates countless existing subdivisions -- and their ready-to-buy vacancies.

In other words, no one is going to make you sit on a porch if you don't want to. But wouldn't it be nice to have the choice?

More from around the network: Second Avenue Sagas on the subway's din. Smart Growth Around America on how public transit creates more jobs for the stimulus dollar than highways. And Copenhagenize on the heart-warming story of a bicycle thief who stole a cargo bike with three sleeping children inside, then shepherded them home. Only in Denmark?

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog USA

Advocates: The Senate’s Chance to Ensure America’s Public Transit Future Is Now

Congress is in the process of writing America's next big transportation bill — and more than 100 organizations are demanding it deliver for transit.

October 20, 2025

Why Does Female Leadership Break Through the Status Quo?

"This is not a feminist agenda. This is just logic," said one woman in power.

Maybe Monday’s Headlines Drive, Maybe They Walk

Nobody tells you where to go, baby. So what's the difference if a computer's behind the wheel or a person?

October 20, 2025

More Tantrums: Trump DOT Threatens NYC Over Building a Bus Lane (Yes, Really)

The feds threatened to cut city and state funding if New York doesn't halt all work on the 34th Street busway so the FHWA can review the project.

October 17, 2025

Hasta La Vista, Friday’s Headlines

Will the Gateway Project be back? Or will anyone taking a train have to get to da choppa instead?

October 17, 2025

‘Embarrassment’: Pedestrian Automatic Emergency Braking Still Flawed at Night

Relying solely on vehicle automation for pedestrian detection and collision avoidance is not advised, a new study said.

October 17, 2025
See all posts