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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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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=nyt7/31/2019 Historic Sprawl: A Future for Post-War Suburbia
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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/7/31/2019 Historic Sprawl: A Future for Post-War Suburbia
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Jonathan Hopkins Historic Sprawl Page 4
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/7/31/2019 Historic Sprawl: A Future for Post-War Suburbia
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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-17/31/2019 Historic Sprawl: A Future for Post-War Suburbia
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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/7/31/2019 Historic Sprawl: A Future for Post-War Suburbia
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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/7/31/2019 Historic Sprawl: A Future for Post-War Suburbia
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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/7/31/2019 Historic Sprawl: A Future for Post-War Suburbia
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Jonathan Hopkins Historic Sprawl Page 12
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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