New Urbanism and the Generation of Social Capital: Evidence from Orenco Station

✍ Scribed by Bruce Podobnik

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2002
• Weight: 80 KB
• Volume: 91
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0027-9013
• DOI: 10.1002/ncr.91304

✦ Synopsis

Across the United States, efforts are under way to create socially enriching and sustainable urban communities. For developers who share these goals, New Urbanist models have emerged as being particularly promising templates. In an age when important segments of American society appear to be undergoing a process of social atomization, the perceived ability of New Urbanist projects to foster good neighborliness and trust at the residential level has become a particular selling point. Indeed, some analysts have claimed that New Urbanist projects are a perfect context for regenerating social capital in American cities. But are these expectations realistic? Are all the forms of social cohesion fostered within New Urbanist communities desirable on a broad level?

In this article, I offer preliminary answers to these questions by examining the social dynamics that have been generated in one particular New Urbanist community: Orenco Station, in Portland, Oregon. I have carried out a house-level survey in Orenco Station, as well as in two other neighborhoods in Portland. By comparing differences revealed in the surveys, I am able to show that social dynamics in Orenco Station vary in important ways from those in more typical Portland communities. Though not all the differences found in Orenco Station are completely positive, it nevertheless becomes clear that this New Urbanist community is indeed fostering a high level of social cohesion and community interaction. As such, this study lends support to the assertion that the New Urbanist community can foster generation of particular kinds of social capital in the contemporary American city.