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Journal of Housing and the Built Environment 19: 129131, 2004.Walt Disney and the Quest for Community, Steve Mannheim, Vermont
Ashgate Publishing, London and Burlington, 2002, 199 pp., ISBN 0 7546
1974 5, Price not indicatedIn a book that is long on the Disney land development history, yet short on
critical analysis and comparisons with the development experience of mere
mortals, Steve Mannheim, in a very understated way, has demonstrated that
Walt Disney deserves to join the pantheon of forward-thinking theoreticians
and developers who have brought forth New Urbanism, such as Christopher
Alexander, Andrs Duany, and Peter Calthorpe.New Urbanism is about replicating European compact communities,
featuring reduced automobile presence through narrowed and calmed streets,
a dense commercial center including mixed uses such as housing and
offices over shops, and offering a pedestrian-friendly environment that would
encourage walking. Disney planned for a residential community at EPCOT
(Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow) in Florida that would
feature modern transit systems and a laboratory to study revitalization of the
urban core. New Urbanists recognize that sustainability demands the essential goal of revitalization of the urban core. Walt Disney envisioned shops
within walking distance from housing and where children should not have
to cross a street to get to school. The Disney vision was almost certainly
an early articulation of todays transit-oriented development, what I have
called Smart New Urbanism. Disney also borrowed from Le Corbusiers
notion of decongesting the center, while increasing density, and Ebenezer
Howards Garden City design. Disney, like the New Urbanists to follow,
created entire new codes rather than attempt development under traditional
zoning and...