Historic Sprawl: A Future for Post-War Suburbia

7/31/2019 Historic Sprawl: A Future for Post-War Suburbia

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Historic Sprawl

A Future for Post-War Suburbia

Jonathan Hopkins, Graduate Student

5/14/2012

The National Register of Historic Places has helped encourage the preservation,

rehabilitation and restoration of urban neighborhoods and small towns across the United

States since the passage of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. However, the

benefits that are currently extended to neighborhoods and small towns will, because of

vague evaluation criteria, become increasingly available for use by sprawling Post-War

suburban subdivisions like Levittown, New York as they begin to reach the 50 year mark.

This paper establishes the importance of differentiating from sprawl and other

development patterns with criteria-based distinctions that should be used in developingstrategies to address the issues that are associated with sprawl. The aim of this paper is to

galvanize the general public and policy-makers in every level of government to chart a

new course for future development by investing in our existing places through the use of

studies, reports, peer-reviewed articles and other scholarly literature that establishes the

problem and possible solutions to the issue of Historic Sprawl.

ROGER WILLIAMS UNIVERISTY

SCHOOL OF ART, ARCHITECTURE AND HISTORIC PRESERVATION

ARCH 351: HISTORY & PHILOSOPHY OF HP SPRING 2012

Course Instructor: Hasan-Uddin Khan

Distinguished Professor of Architecture and Historic Preservation

Keywords: suburban sprawl; retrofitting suburbia; National Registry of Historic Places;

historic preservation in the 21stCentury; public policy reform


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Jonathan Hopkins Historic Sprawl Page 2

An example of the benefits of being listed on the National Register is the neighborhood of

Newhallville (Fig. 1), which is located in New Haven, CT. The Winchester Repeating Arms Company

established a factory in the northern section of New Haven along the Northampton Rail Road in the mid

19thCentury and quickly became the citys largest employer.5 As a result of the growing factory,

developers came into the area north of the factory and began subdividing land and building worker

housing along trolley lines. During World War 1, the factory massively expanded in order to meet the

demand of the Federal governments weaponry contracts, which helped make Newhallville into a dense

urban neighborhood with a thick network of commercial establishments. However, the companys hiring

went into steady decline after World War 2, and by the early 1980s had all but stopped completely.6 As

a result of the factorys reduced role in employing Newhallville residents, the neighborhood saw a steep

rise in crime rates, shrinking population, drop in property values, loss of small businesses, and the decay

of its building stock.7Today, Newhallville is largely characterized as a speculatively-built working class

neighborhood with a building stock that primary dates to the early 20th Century and is in need of serious

investment. Since 1987, when the neighborhood was nominated for listing8, many preservation projects

have been carried out to positive effect. Among these initiatives are numerous rehabilitation and

restoration projects like the faade restoration of 335 West Division Street, and the rehabilitation of part

of the now-abandoned Winchester Repeating Arms factory complex. Neighborhood Housing Services

(NHS) of New Haven - the non-profit affordable housing developer that completed the faade

restoration on West Division Street (Fig. 2) has been active in Newhallville for many years acquiring

5 William Finnegan. Work Boy: New Haven Cold New World: Growing Up In A Harder Country (Modern Library,

1999) p. 36

John S. Rosenberg. Gun Industrys Role Is Shrinking New York Times (August 9, 1981)

http://www.nytimes.com/1981/08/09/nyregion/gun-industry-s-role-is-

shrinking.html?scp=2&sq=olin+new+haven&st=nyt(accessed May 12, 2012)7

Finnegan.Cold New World pp. 3-928

J. Paul Loether and John Herzan. Winchester Repeating Arms Company Historic DistrictNational Register of

Historic Places Nomination Form (United States Department of the Interior, 1987)

http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NRHP/Text/87002552.pdf
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/08/09/nyregion/gun-industry-s-role-is-shrinking.html?scp=2&sq=olin+new+haven&st=nythttp://www.nytimes.com/1981/08/09/nyregion/gun-industry-s-role-is-shrinking.html?scp=2&sq=olin+new+haven&st=nythttp://www.nytimes.com/1981/08/09/nyregion/gun-industry-s-role-is-shrinking.html?scp=2&sq=olin+new+haven&st=nythttp://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NRHP/Text/87002552.pdfhttp://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NRHP/Text/87002552.pdfhttp://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NRHP/Text/87002552.pdfhttp://www.nytimes.com/1981/08/09/nyregion/gun-industry-s-role-is-shrinking.html?scp=2&sq=olin+new+haven&st=nythttp://www.nytimes.com/1981/08/09/nyregion/gun-industry-s-role-is-shrinking.html?scp=2&sq=olin+new+haven&st=nyt


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Jonathan Hopkins Personal Manifesto Page 3

distressed properties, rehabilitating them and selling them to low-to-moderate income families.9

Because of Newhallvilles listing on the National Register, NHS is able to use State preservation grants to

restore the facades of their rehabilitation projects.10

Access to these various kinds of tax credits and

grants has enabled NHS to rehabilitate more than 235 houses, many of which are owner-occupied

multifamily homes, in the City of New Haven.11 Encouraging home ownership in Newhallville has helped

to stabilize the neighborhood by bringing in invested families that view property maintenance as a

responsibility of homeownership and civic duty to the neighborhood, which helps raise property values,

induce further investment and create a sense of safety in the neighborhood.12 The rehabilitation of part

of the abandoned Winchester Repeating Arms factory complex (Figs. 3 & 4), another large rehabilitation

project in Newhallville, was also aided by State preservation grants and tax credits.13 Higher One, a

private company that provides financial services for college students, has been growing rapidly and was

in need of more office space, which was provided by Winstanley Enterprises, a private development

company that specializes in office buildings. Having opened their new headquarters in March of 2012,

Higher One may be on its way to helping Newhallville back onto its feet.

9Thomas MacMillan. On Winchester, To Pioneer Or Not To PioneerNew Haven Independent (July 21, 2011)

http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/who_will_be_the_latest_newhallville_pioneers

/(accessed May 12, 2012)10

Thomas MacMillan.As Speculators Flee, Paley Takes on WinchesterNew Haven Independent (February 7, 2011)

http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/as_developers_depart_nhs_moves_in_deeper/

(accessed May 12, 2012)11

Affordable Housing DevelopmentNeighborhood Housing Services of New Haven

websitehttp://www.nhsofnewhaven.org/ahd.html(accessed May 12, 2012)12

William M. Rohe, Shannon Van Zandt and George McCarthy.Social Benefits and Costs of Homeownership Low-

Income Homeownership: Examining the Unexamined Goal (The Brookings Institution, 2002) pp. 381-406

William M. Rohe and Michael A. Stegman. The Impact of Home Ownership on the Social and Political Involvement

of Low-Income PeopleUrban Affairs Review Vol. 30, No. 1 (September, 1994) pp. 152-172

http://uar.sagepub.com/content/30/1/152.full.pdf+html

Donald R. Haurin, Robert D. Dietz and Bruce A. Weinberg.The Impact of Neighborhood Homeownership Rates: A

Review of the Theoretical and Empirical Literature Economic of Innovation and New Technology Vol. 14, No. 5

(2005) pp. 3-4013

Mary E. OLeary. Dedication of higher Ones new New Haven headquarters set for TuesdayNew Haven Register

(March 17, 2012)

http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2012/03/17/news/new_haven/doc4f63fdaa02402784755412.txt
http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/who_will_be_the_latest_newhallville_pioneers/http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/who_will_be_the_latest_newhallville_pioneers/http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/who_will_be_the_latest_newhallville_pioneers/http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/as_developers_depart_nhs_moves_in_deeper/http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/as_developers_depart_nhs_moves_in_deeper/http://www.nhsofnewhaven.org/ahd.htmlhttp://www.nhsofnewhaven.org/ahd.htmlhttp://www.nhsofnewhaven.org/ahd.htmlhttp://uar.sagepub.com/content/30/1/152.full.pdf+htmlhttp://uar.sagepub.com/content/30/1/152.full.pdf+htmlhttp://www.nhregister.com/articles/2012/03/17/news/new_haven/doc4f63fdaa02402784755412.txthttp://www.nhregister.com/articles/2012/03/17/news/new_haven/doc4f63fdaa02402784755412.txthttp://www.nhregister.com/articles/2012/03/17/news/new_haven/doc4f63fdaa02402784755412.txthttp://uar.sagepub.com/content/30/1/152.full.pdf+htmlhttp://www.nhsofnewhaven.org/ahd.htmlhttp://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/as_developers_depart_nhs_moves_in_deeper/http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/who_will_be_the_latest_newhallville_pioneers/http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/who_will_be_the_latest_newhallville_pioneers/


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The preservation initiatives in Newhallville are indicative of the types of benefits gained from

being listed on the National Register of Historic Places. These benefits have helped to rejuvenate urban

neighborhoods and small towns across the country as well as preserve the unique character of the

historic places that are at least 50 years old.14 However, it is possible to foresee a great shift in how

these resources are being used in the near future with the increasing number of Post-World War 2

suburban subdivisions that are meeting the criteria for listing on the National Register.

The Implications: Historic Sprawl

Neighborhoods like Newhallville, which seem unquestionably worthy of historic status and

preservation today, actually share many characteristics with the type of Post-World War 2 suburban

sprawl that is embodied in subdivisions like Levittown, New York (Fig. 5). The implications of this are

that, according to the existing standards for eligibility for listing on the National Register and access to

all the benefits, nearly any suburban subdivision that is at least 50 years old could potentially be listed

on the National Register.

Like Levittown and other early automobile suburbs of the 1950s, Newhallville is made up of a

building stock that was built primarily with the platform framing method, standardized wood

components, industrially manufactured and mass produced construction materials and by builders that

used floor plan templates from catalogues.15 Furthermore, many of the houses in Newhallville have

been significantly altered through building additions or renovations or both, which has drastically

changed the appearance of many of the buildings within the Historic District. Additionally, several

residential buildings in Newhallville were modified into commercial storefronts before the passage of

14Main Street Program National Trust for Historic Preservation websitehttp://www.preservationnation.org/main-

street/(accessed May 12, 2012)15

Elizabeth Mills Brown. The Winchester Triangle New Haven: A Guide to Architecture and Urban Design (Yale

University Press, 1976) pp.167-177
http://www.preservationnation.org/main-street/http://www.preservationnation.org/main-street/http://www.preservationnation.org/main-street/http://www.preservationnation.org/main-street/http://www.preservationnation.org/main-street/http://www.preservationnation.org/main-street/


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zoning, which did not happen in New Haven until 192616 long after much of Newhallville was

developed. As a result, its quite possible that many Post-War suburbs are more substantially intact than

the older urban neighborhoods and small towns that are currently listed on the National Register.

Another characteristic that places like Newhallville and Levittown share is that they both are culturally

significant in their embodiment of the social values from their specific time periods. Newhallville is

indicative of the speculative development of industrial worker housing in the early 20th Century by

entrepreneurial capitalists. And Levittown is representative of a desire to provide affordable, single

family homes set in spacious and green surroundings to returning G.I.s in the immediate Post-War era

(Figs. 6 & 7). However, there are also some significant differences between places like Newhallville and

Levittown, but those differences are, unfortunately, not criteria used for evaluating a Historic District

nomination. Therefore, it is likely that places like Levittown will become increasingly eligible for listing

on the National Register of Historic Places in the years to come, assuming that the standards remain the

same.

The Problem: Preserving Sprawl

If sprawling Post-War suburban subdivisions like Levittown do become listed on the National

Register, as they certainly could be under the current standards, then the result will be to preserve

suburban sprawl. Like the projects in Newhallville that have kept the neighborhood and its

infrastructure functioning in much the same way that it has for the last 100 years, similar preservation

projects in Post-War suburbs could lead to their preservation in their current condition. While there are

many similarities between older urban neighborhoods and Post-War suburbs that make them both

16Mark Fenster.A Remedy on Paper: The Role of Law in the Failure of City Planning in New Haven, 1907-1913 The

Yale Law Journal Vol. 107, No. 4 (January, 1998) pp. 1093-1123


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eligible for listing on the National Register, there are also important differences between them that

should be considered when evaluating Post-War suburbs.

An important difference between Newhallville and Levittown is that Newhallville is a

multimodal, mixed use, and diverse neighborhood, while Levittown is an automobile-oriented, highly

standardized, single use and socially restrictive subdivision. Newhallville - with its mix of housing types,

employment options, transit connections, pedestrian infrastructure, social organizations, and

commercial establishments embodies many of our contemporary social values and planning ideals,

which make it resilient to market shifts, economic turndowns and changing market demands. Levittown,

on the other hand, is inherently a socially restrictive place because of its lack of multimodal

infrastructure, mixed uses, and housing diversity, which make it susceptible to changing market forces.17

As a study from 2009 on the relationship between housing location and organization on public health

found, sprawling subdivisions that lack adequate transportation options and thereby require driving and

low air quality due to the resulting congestion are a major factor in causing childhood obesity and

asthma.18

Another study from 2006 conducted for the Center for Neighborhood Technology found that

blue collar working families living in automobile-dependent suburbs pay more for their housing and

transportation than similar families who live in higher taxed central locations but also have access to

transit.19 And while suburbs made up of only single family homes are often justified by homebuilders

associations, developers, and the media for meeting the demand of the American public, a 2009 study

found that people prefer to be able to downsize their house while remaining in one area, which is

17Todd Swanstrom, Karen Chapple, and Dan Immergluck. Regional Resilience in the Face of Foreclosures: Evidence

from Six Metropolitan Areas Institute of Urban and Regional Development (MacArthur Foundation, 2009)

http://escholarship.org/uc/item/23s3q06x#page-118

David E. Jacobs, Jonathan Wilson, Sherry L. Dixon, Janet Smith and Anne Evans. The Relationship of Housing and

Population Health: A 30-Year Retrospective Analysis Environmental health Perspectives Vol. 117, No. 4 (April, 2009)

pp. 597-60419

Thomas W. Sanchez and Casey J. Dawkins. Housing & Transportation Cost Trade-offs and Burdens of Working

Households in 28 Metros (Center for Neighborhood Technology, 2006)
http://escholarship.org/uc/item/23s3q06x#page-1http://escholarship.org/uc/item/23s3q06x#page-1http://escholarship.org/uc/item/23s3q06x#page-1


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possible in older neighborhoods, but not in newer suburbs.20 Giving these sprawling suburban areas the

benefits of tax credits and planning grants in order to preserve their historic character, which they are

entitled to under existing standards, would also preserve all these negative, social, environmental, and

health related issues. Therefore, it becomes necessary to make clear criteria-based distinctions between

sprawl and other development patterns like neighborhoods and small towns in order to prevent the

preservation of obesity, social dysfunction, and environmental degradation.

The Proposal: Policy Changes

The first step towards preventing the preservation of Post-War suburbs in their current

condition is to establish a set of criteria-based distinctions between sprawl and other development

patterns. The next is to develop a new set of standards that can either be used in the evaluation of

Historic District nominations for excluding sprawl or for the type of preservation work that is supported

in those subdivisions that seek listing on the National Register. Lastly, any effort to reform sprawl must

be supported unilaterally at all levels of government and through many different departments in order

to be effective.

There are clear differences between a place like Newhallville and a place like Levittown that are

easily observable, quantifiable and distinct. However, making distinctions between developments that

are much closer together in time becomes more difficult. Fortunately, there is a substantial amount of

scholarship on the subject of separating sprawl from different, but otherwise very similar, development

patterns.21

Sprawl is typically characterized by relatively low densities, single use pods, and a dendritic

20Todd Litman. Where We Want To Be: Home Location Preferences and Their Implication for Smart Growth

(Victoria Transport Policy, 2009)21

David M. Theobald. Land-Use Dynamics beyond the American Urban Fringe Geographical Review Vol. 91, No. 3

(July, 2001) pp. 544-564


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road organization.22 Reid H. Ewing, author ofCharacteristics, Causes, and Effects of Sprawl: A Literature

Review, even defines different types ofsprawl such as scattered development, leapfrog development,

strip [and] ribbon development.23

These types of distinctions become important when establishing a

clear set of standards to be used in evaluating different development patterns, especially when it comes

to potential listing on a National Register. Another key component to developing standards for

evaluating sprawl is to establish clear criteria that are quantifiable and measurable. These criteria might

be based on something like an environmental impact study, which would record driving habits, measure

amounts of asphalt, study storm water drainage, etc. in order to determine the impact of certain types

of development patterns and use that as a way of making distinctions between places. It is also

important to, as Richard Peiser - author ofDecomposing Urban Sprawlpoints out, distinguish those

aspects associated with sprawl that are truly bad from those that are not, which could be determined

by environmental impact studies, surveys, and interviews.24

Once clear standards are in place for evaluating different types of development patterns, they

can be used to either prevent certain types of development patterns - like sprawl - from being eligible

for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, since they currently are not. Alternatively, those

standards could still allow for sprawl developments that are at least 50 years old to be listed on the

National Register but make them subject to a different set of requirements in order to receive benefits.

By making sprawl development ineligible for listing on the National Register, the legitimacy of that

development pattern is correctly denied and it makes a clear statement to our national values, which

encourage accessibility, affordability and diversity in how people live. Doing so would also mean that the

22John Hasse.A Geospatial Approach to measuring new Development Tracts for Characteristics of Sprawl

Landscape Journal Vol. 23, No. 1 (January, 2004) pp. 52-6723

Reid H. Ewing. Characteristics, Causes, and Effects of Sprawl: A Literature ReviewUrban Ecology Section V (2008)

p. 519 (519-535)24

Richard Peiser. Decomposing Urban SprawlThe Town Planning Review Vol. 72, No. 3 (July, 2001) p. 275


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Secretary of the Interiors standards25 do not have to be amended and that funding can be reserved for

neighborhoods like Newhallville, which would continue their ongoing preservation work. However, this

approach also would not encourage the reformation of sprawl into a more equitable, accessible and

affordable living arrangement and development pattern, which allows it to continue existing in its

current condition. Reforming sprawl through preservation initiatives would involve defining sprawls

characteristics, establishing a new set of standards for rehabilitation of sprawl buildings, and

encouraging these types of projects through various public policies. This approach is more difficult and

initially costly, but it is the proactive approach that may lead to the reformation of a destructive

development pattern into a more suitable setting for the American population. New Secretary of the

Interiors standards for reformation of sprawl would look very much like suburban retrofitting initiatives

like those outlined by Ellen Dunham-Jones and June Williamson in Retrofitting Suburbia: Urban Design

Solutions for Redesigning Suburbs. The book showcases various types of projects for retrofitting

suburban developments for more sustainable uses like higher density living, agriculture, and multimodal

transportation planning.26 Examples of projects include retrofitting suburban shopping malls, strip

developments and housing subdivisions (Figs. 8 & 9). The authors ofRetrofitting Suburbia even have a

chapter that is dedicated to design solutions, which include higher density housing development,

specifically for Levittown, New York.27 Other guides for redesigning suburbs include Galina Tachievas

Sprawl Repair Manual28;Andres Duany, Jeff Speck and Mike LydonsThe Smart Growth Manual

29; and

Environa Studios Reincarnated McMansion30. However, for these projects to be relevant for a historic

25Secretary of the Interiors Standards National Park Service websitehttp://www.nps.gov/hps/tps/standguide/

(accessed May 12, 2012)26

Ellen Dunham-Jones and June Williamson. The Examples Retrofitting Suburbia: Urban Design Solutions for

Redesigning Suburbs (Wiley, 2008) pp. 16-4327

Dunham-Jones and Williamson. Residential Case Study: Changes to LevittownRetrofitting Suburbia pp. 44-5828

Galina Tachieva. Sprawl Repair Manual (Island Press, 2010)29

Andres Duany, Jeff Speck and Mike Lydon. The Smart Growth Manual (McGraw-Hill Professional, 2009)30

Reincarnated McMansion (Environa Studio)http://www.reincarnatedmcmansion.com/(accessed May 12, 2012)
http://www.nps.gov/hps/tps/standguide/http://www.nps.gov/hps/tps/standguide/http://www.nps.gov/hps/tps/standguide/http://www.reincarnatedmcmansion.com/http://www.reincarnatedmcmansion.com/http://www.reincarnatedmcmansion.com/http://www.reincarnatedmcmansion.com/http://www.nps.gov/hps/tps/standguide/


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preservation approach, some defining characteristics must be retained in order to preserve the

aesthetic qualities that many people associate with single family housing subdivisions and justify the use

of preservation grants and tax credits. If retrofitting suburbia only involved demolition and other

inherent changes to the landscape, then it wouldnt be a preservation technique. Therefore, the projects

must retain those important defining characteristics that, as Richard Peiser pointed out, are not bad,

which are the associations that people have with homeownership and the preference of the American

public for single family houses.31 This can be accomplished by designing multifamily houses that appear

to be single family (Fig. 10) or by including a range of different types of housing (Fig. 11).

The goal of preservation-oriented sprawl retrofitting should be to retain as many of the good

defining characteristics of the development pattern while promoting mixed use, multimodal and diverse

building typology development.32 Additionally, these initiatives should improve accessibility to, from and

around the district in order to decrease the environmental, social and health-related impacts of the

development. These retrofitting projects should also reduce the demand for future sprawl development

by encouraging denser development within the subdivision. And finally, these initiatives should

encourage investment in central urban areas by encouraging the appropriate deconstruction of

unneeded buildings in suburban areas and reconstituting them for development on vacant urban lots

that already have infrastructure in place, which would also free up land in suburbs for retaining or

recreating agricultural uses.33 In order to accomplish these goals, there needs to be unilateral support

31Although the American public tends to prefer neighborhoods with different housing options, they also

overwhelmingly prefer single family houses.

Peter H. Rossi and Eleanor Weber. The Social Benefits of Homeownership: Empirical evidence from national surveys

Housing Policy Debate (March, 2010) pp. 1-3532

Peiser. The Town Planning Review p. 27533

Perhaps the suburban foreclosure crisis can select buildings that can be reconstituted.

Allan Appel. Green Demolition UnderwayNew Haven Independent (June 24, 2010)

http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/green_demolition_breaks_ground_in_new_hav

en/(accessed May 12, 2012)

For information of the suburban foreclosure crisis see:
http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/green_demolition_breaks_ground_in_new_haven/http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/green_demolition_breaks_ground_in_new_haven/http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/green_demolition_breaks_ground_in_new_haven/http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/green_demolition_breaks_ground_in_new_haven/http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/green_demolition_breaks_ground_in_new_haven/


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for these initiatives at every level of government local, State, and Federal. This massive project

demands Federal and State changes to transportation, land-use , development and tax policies; it

demands zoning reform at the local level; and it requires that various government agencies,

departments, law-makers and decision-making bodies support this initiative. One major issue today that

concerns efforts similar to the one outlined in this paper is that there is a lack of coordination between

government agencies and there are conflicting policies that result in wasted funds and contradictory

values. For instance, State tax credits in Connecticut help to rejuvenate urban neighborhoods like

Newhallville and homebuyers programs like Yale Universitys help retain the citys population34, but

those investments pale in comparison to other subsidies that encourage sprawl development.35

Expanding on coordination efforts between Federal agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency,

Housing and Urban Development department, and the Department of Transportation will be essential to

making meaningful investments in the future development of the United States, which must include

reforming suburban sprawl.

Conclusions

By anticipating the advent of suburban sprawl becoming increasingly eligible for listing on the

National Register of Historic Places, policy changes can be enacted that will incentivize the retrofitting of

this destructive, wasteful and unhealthy development pattern. Land-use, taxing and development

policies can be changed from their current sprawl-oriented status to prevent future sprawl from being

developed. This will help to preserve landscapes and reserve land for other purposes like agriculture.

Swanson, Chapple and Immergluck. Regional Resilience in the Face of Foreclosures: Evidence from Six Metropolitan

Areas Institute of Urban and Regional Development (MacArthur Foundation, 2009)34

Yale Homebuyer Program tops 1,000 purchase mark in 2011

New Haven Homebuyer Program Yale University websitehttp://www.yale.edu/hronline/hbuyer/(accessed May

13, 2012)35

$291 million for Biomedical Facility in suburban Storrs, CT

Growing Connecticut Jobs The State Senate Democrats of the Connecticut General Assembly website

http://www.senatedems.ct.gov/GrowJobs.php(accessed May 12, 2012)
http://www.yale.edu/hronline/hbuyer/http://www.yale.edu/hronline/hbuyer/http://www.yale.edu/hronline/hbuyer/http://www.senatedems.ct.gov/GrowJobs.phphttp://www.senatedems.ct.gov/GrowJobs.phphttp://www.senatedems.ct.gov/GrowJobs.phphttp://www.yale.edu/hronline/hbuyer/


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Next, policies changes, like adopting new local zoning ordinances, can enable the retrofitting of

suburbia. And finally, incentives that encourage the retrofitting of sprawling suburbs can be enacted

through initiatives like the National Register of Historic Places, which can provide benefits to

communities that enable them to retrofit their subdivision while preserving its good characteristics.36

By taking a proactive approach sooner rather than later, the prevention of preserving sprawl in its

current state can be realized. The preservation movement - in coordination with environmentalist,

developers, medical physicians, and others can encourage law-makers to pass legislation to amend the

Secretary of the Interiors standards to include suburban retrofitting guidelines that outline appropriate

initiatives to be funded by tax credits and planning grants at both the State and Federal level. In

coordination with land-use, zoning, tax and development policy reforms that discourage new suburban

sprawl developments, historic preservation funding sources can encourage the retrofitting of sprawl into

a more sustainable, accessible, affordable, and attractive living arrangement. Following through with

these initiatives would present a very different future from the one we are currently headed towards,

which will be defined by continued environmental degradation, social dysfunction and economic

inequality. This new future might be characterized by children being able to walk to school, families not

getting priced out of neighborhoods due to transportation costs, safer roads, healthier people, a more

empathetic population and many other positive changes. It takes a concerted effort to guide and write

policy that will get us to that point, but it is not beyond the means of the American public nor those that

represent the people.

36Peiser. The Town Planning Review p. 275


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Endnotes: Figures

Fig. 1 Birds eye view of Newhallville, New Haven, CT(Bing Maps)

Fig. 2 Before and After Photos of NHS Restoration and Rehabilitation Project in Newhallville (NHS)


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Fig. 3 Photo of the entry to the Winchester Repeating Arms Company factory complex from 2010 (New

Haven Register)

Fig. 4 View of the entry to Higher Ones headquarters in March of 2012 (Yale News)


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Fig. 5Aerial view of Levittown, New York(New York Times)

Fig. 6 Period photograph of family outside their home in Levittown, New York(University of Illinois at

Chicago University Library)

Fig. 7 Period photograph of woman in front of car in Levittown, New York(University of Illinois as

Chicago)


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Fig. 8 Retrofitting Suburban Shopping Mall(Retrofitting Suburbia)

Fig. 9 Retrofitting typical lone retail store (Retrofitting Suburbia)


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Fig. 10 Example of Multifamily House in New Haven, CT(Colin Caplan)

Fig. 11 New Urban Transect showing a range of housing (DPZ)


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References

Primary Documents:

Loether, Paul J. and John Herzan. Winchester Repeating Arms Company Historic DistrictNational Register of

Historic Places Nomination Form (United States Department of the Interior, 1987)

Bibliography:

Brown, Elizabeth Mills. New Haven: A Guide to Architecture and Urban Design (Yale University Press, 1976)

Duany, Andres and Jeff Speck and Mike Lydon. The Smart Growth Manual (McGraw-Hill Professional, 2009)

Dunham-Jones, Ellen and June Williamson. Retrofitting Suburbia: Urban Design Solutions for Redesigning Suburbs

(Wiley, 2008)

Finnegan, William. Cold New World: Growing Up In A Harder Country (Modern Library, 1999)

Retsinas, Nicolas P. and Eric S. Belsky (eds.). Low-Income Homeownership: Examining the Unexamined Goal (The

Brookings Institution, 2002)

Tachieva, Galina. Sprawl Repair Manual (Island Press, 2010)

Journal Articles, Reports, Studies:

Environa Studio. Reincarnated McMansion

Ewing, Reid H. Characteristics, Causes, and Effects of Sprawl: A Literature ReviewUrban Ecology Section V (2008) p.

519 (519-535)

Fenster, Mark.A Remedy on Paper: The Role of Law in the Failure of City Planning in New Haven, 1907-1913 The

Yale Law Journal Vol. 107, No. 4 (January, 1998) pp. 1093-1123

Hasse, John.A Geospatial Approach to measuring new Development Tracts for Characteristics of SprawlLandscape

Journal Vol. 23, No. 1 (January, 2004) pp. 52-67

Haurin, Donald R. and Robert D. Dietz and Bruce A. Weinberg. The Impact of Neighborhood Homeownership Rates:

A Review of the Theoretical and Empirical Literature Economic of Innovation and New Technology Vol. 14, No. 5

(2005) pp. 3-40

Jacobs, David E. and Jonathan Wilson, Sherry L. Dixon, Janet Smith and Anne Evans. The Relationship of Housing

and Population Health: A 30-Year Retrospective Analysis Environmental health Perspectives Vol. 117, No. 4 (April,

2009) pp. 597-604

Litman, Todd. Where We Want To Be: Home Location Preferences and Their Implication for Smart Growth (Victoria

Transport Policy, 2009)

Peiser, Richard. Decomposing Urban SprawlThe Town Planning Review Vol. 72, No. 3 (July, 2001) pp. 275-298


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Historic Sprawl: A Future for Post-War Suburbia

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