America’s suburbs could build plenty more housing. Carmel offers lessons on how to achieve that
Save time by listening to our audio articles as you multitaskSince Mr Brainard became mayor Carmel’s population has almost tripled, to over 100,000 people. A few decades ago it had only a small central “historic district”. Now it has an actual “downtown” full of apartments, restaurants and shops, as well as a fancy music auditorium and two theatres. In summer families rock up on bicycles to watch children’s films projected on a screen in a new square.
A majority of Americans now live in suburbs. But while their residents are changing much like America, becoming more diverse, older and with a wider range of incomes, many of the suburbs themselves have barely changed in decades. Most new housing in America is built either in brand new tracts at the edge of big cities or in apartments in the centre.
The key to Mr Brainard’s power was not only the realisation that many people like to live in more walkable neighbourhoods but also that providing them can save the city money. Low-density suburbs cost a lot to maintain: when houses are further apart they need longer roads and sewage lines, and the bin men have to travel further between each one. A single mile of road can cost $15m to build, and must be maintained.
In the past 20 years Carmel has taken advantage of this using “tax increment financing”. To illustrate how this works, Mr Brainard points to an ageing strip mall which the city has purchased. Its nine acres of land, most of which is used for parking and is empty much of the time, currently generates around $61,000 in tax revenue each year. The city is working with a developer who will rebuild it with five-storey apartments and shops, with parking underground.
Unlike suburbs in places such as New Jersey or outside Washington, Carmel is densifying without the benefits of a decent regional public-transport system. That requires hiding the cars underground. But it also brings in one of Mr Brainard’s other innovations, the roundabout. The city now has 145 of them, far more than any other American city. Because they slow down cars and make “-Bone” collisions less likely, roundabouts are safer.
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