Here's a wonderful comparison between a "Texas donut" (also called a Dallas donut) development wrapped around a parking deck, and Charleston's traditional architecture. It comes from design consultants Bevan and Liberatos.
They write: "Both blocks have the same number of bedrooms and the same amount of commercial space, even though the Charleston block has buildings from only 2-4 stories, while the donut has six. There are 13 gardens in the Charleston block, none in the donut…. There are 68 porches in the Charleston block, none in the donut."
The donut does have more parking spaces, although the Charleston block has plenty for urban living.
Does the Charleston block remind you of Atlanta's own Glenwood Park? It should. We can do good design here.
Important: this is not to say that "good" has to look exactly like "old" in details -- urbanism is not about nostalgia. This is about the overall form of the developments, and avoiding the Texas donut's devotion of a space the size of a small office building to a a parking structure.
Source:
https://www.facebook.com/…/a.42444741764…/2253186541442163/…
