The Zoning Guru frequently receives suggestions on new community planning and urban design related websites to check out.  Dwell.com and Inhabitat.com are two of the latest.

Intriguing e-magazine sites covering architecture, urban design, and sustainability topics, these two websites recently co-sponsored the “Reburbia” design competition, which was intended to “to come up with some radical new ideas as to how turn the bleak future of the suburbs around.”

One of those “radical” ideas is entitled, “Entrepreneurbia,” which takes the concepts of “home occupation” and “home-based business” out to and far beyond their logical extreme…

Rather than taking the traditional, additive approach to solving problems, the Entrepreneurbia model simply abolishes poorly conceived zoning laws to attract forward-thinking small business owners and start-up companies. The result is a community of entrepreneurs who transform inefficient single-family dwellings and purely decorative landscape spaces into intelligent home-based businesses. Rigid zoning laws have created many of the problems typically associated with suburban sprawl. Possibly the largest of these problems is the segregation of residential and commercial spaces. The problem is fairly straight forward. When people do not live, work, shop and eat within walking distance of where they live, extensive transportation infrastructure is needed to allow people to regularly travel greater distances. In Entrepreneurbia, such problems do not exist. Entrepreneurbia abolishes poorly conceived zoning laws to attract forward-thinking small business owners and start-up companies. The result is a community of entrepreneurs who transform inefficient single-family dwellings and purely decorative landscape spaces into intelligent home-based businesses. From chic shops & showrooms to designer offices, award-winning restaurants, and even boutique farms the new residents of Entrepreneurbia infuse once sterile suburbs with a distinctive sense of character & community.

Click on the picture to learn more about this concept.

Here’s an excerpt from the description of this “Reburbia” concept:

Rigid zoning laws have created many of the problems typically associated with suburban sprawl. Possibly the largest of these problems is the segregation of residential and commercial spaces. The problem is fairly straight forward. When people do not live, work, shop and eat within walking distance of where they live, extensive transportation infrastructure is needed to allow people to regularly travel greater distances.

In Entrepreneurbia, such problems do not exist. Entrepreneurbia abolishes poorly conceived zoning laws to attract forward-thinking small business owners and start-up companies. The result is a community of entrepreneurs who transform inefficient single-family dwellings and purely decorative landscape spaces into intelligent home-based businesses. From chic shops & showrooms to designer offices, award-winning restaurants, and even boutique farms the new residents of Entrepreneurbia infuse once sterile suburbs with a distinctive sense of character & community.

Important Disclosure Notice: Before our loyal clients and readers run for the exits, it is important to point out that neither Building Place nor The Zoning Guru endorse this concept, nor the simple abolishing of local zoning and land development ordinances.

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Airbia

However, it and the other 19 finalists in the Reburbia design competition offer up intriguing ’solutions’ to the perceived and real problems and limitations of single-use zoning and suburban neighborhood design.  Here are some of the other ‘radical’ and not-so-radical concepts:

  • Airbia proposes a new eco-friendly and efficient public transportation system based on airships.
  • Abandoned big box stores could be converted to bio-fuel generators, and their massive parking lots returned to agriculture.
  • A sprawl repair toolkit to retrofit the most typical suburban building types into more pedestrian-friendly and urbane designs.

Click here to view all 20 finalists.

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