[from submission BCC

11.13.18, p. 21-22] 3c) AIA meeting, Historic Context

Historic Context

One of the most unique and appealing aspects of the Middle Rio Grande Region to residents, tourists
and businesses, has been its historic development patterns. Many tourists come here to visit the
nearby Native American Pueblos with their dance and ceremonial plazas, as well as Albuquerque’s
Old Town Plaza. This pattern is based on the fundamental principles inherent in historic Native
American and early Hispanic development patterns.
21

Basic organizing principals of both Native American and historic “Law-of-the-Indies” Hispanic
development, whether as a ceremonial/dance space or as a cultural/civic plaza, was centered on
a “space” that was the center and focus of “community”, versus an object such as a building or a
cluster of high-rises.

These cultural resources of ancient and nearby Native American and early Hispanic development are
one of the greatest attractions and primary reasons for tourists visiting the Albuquerque region.
Incorporating these basic, high-desert ecological principles into our continued pattern of new growth
could enhance this attraction, both for visitors, and for locals who may decide to stay in Albuquerque.
A quick review of certain historic urban design trends is helpful in understanding how & why

Albuquerque has grown in the highly dispersed, and expensive-to-service-and-maintain way that it
did, especially during the last half of the 20th Century.
Early Anglo development, which spread West during the “manifest destiny” period was based mostly
on the “Jeffersonian grid”, reflecting the principles of equality as expressed in the new U.S.
Constitution, and setting much of the early urban design pattern across much of America as well as in
Albuquerque.

In the late 20th Century, “New Urbanism” was the next major development pattern imposed on
Albuquerque. It included a tighter grid and long diagonal streets, all converging on one large central
plaza, (e.g. Peter Calthorpe’s “Mesa del Sol” pattern is a very pure example). Although this particular
development may have potential; to date it has been slow to realize its original growth projections.
This may be at least partially due to the Region’s lagging economy, out-migration and the
concomitant slow demand for more housing and commercial space.

Unfortunately, the pattern of development that the existing Santolina design-diagram would force
upon the 10-15 ft. high, longitudinal dunes on the top of the West Mesa doesn’t qualify as a “New
Urbanism” development. The Santolina Master Plan shows four separated, primarily single-use
subdivisions, around an undefined urban center. It also shows a large, adjacent drive-to-work
“industrial area”, as well as a separated “business park” and another separated “town center” area
facing I-40, not the suburban areas.

This two-dimensional design would be superimposed on a three-dimensional, undulating, dunebased

landscape without regard to, or even evident recognition of, the exorbitant costs of grading out
this landscape to provide drainage for this traditional, 20th century suburban design.

Because of the profound and long-term impact of urban design mistakes such as this, which were
pursued in the 20th Century and ultimately failed, it is urgent, in the 21st century, that Albuquerque
and Bernalillo County, develop and embrace a vision, such as in the Option 1 arrangement , for the
Metro area that aspires to be a truly unique and great place to live, while simultaneously being
conscious of the inherent climate, water, economic and other unique challenges when designing &
building, a group of buildings or a neighborhood in the high desert. (See Illust. 2 and 3, pp.30-31)
The organizing principles inherent in this ancient Pueblo and early Hispanic heritage can function at
a wide range of scales, creating identifiable, sense-of-place, single-building or multi-use development
areas, rather than endless, side-by-side single-use housing typical in suburban development areas. If
the fundamental reasons for replicating the performance, but not necessarily the forms, of these
22
historic patterns were applied to new development, particularly in conjunction with the revised grid
and perimeter public transit system described in Section E, they could be an important part of the
Region’s physical and economic growth.

These “reasons” for replication include, for example, moderated sun access, wind reduction and
creation of a more protected microclimate within the community open spaces that form the center of
these designs. These highly functional design features could make the Albuquerque Metro area a
genuinely unique and creative, culturally grounded, 21st century, millennial-keeping and tourist-
attracting place in which to live, work and visit. (See Illust. 3, “A 21st Century Alternative”, p.32)

The “new development” patterns put forward here, in Option 1, are based on, but not copies of, the
concepts and forms that created historic Native American and early Hispanic communities. They
could vary in size from small clusters to large, sometimes sculptural arrangements. By design, they
would be well served by public transit. By employing these historic principles, they could achieve the
economic, social and ecological value of the climate-protecting, security-increasing, micro-climate-
creating, and community-sharing common space forming the center of these developments.