Suburbia 2124: Re-examining Suburban Development through a Contemporary Lens

Abstract

Suburbia 2124 explores how suburban development will shift in a future without dependence on private automobiles. This thesis takes Hybla Valley, a site characterized by autocentric strip malls and a mobile home community, and transforms it into a pedestrian focused, densely populated, mixed-use development with direct access to nature. This is accomplished by reexamining Fairfax County's Zoning ordinances and proposing a form-based zoning code. The research covered in this thesis includes a brief history of suburban development and zoning codes to understand how American suburban development has become what it is today. This thesis argues that suburban development was intended allow their inhabitants to live in harmony with nature, and that the American suburbs do not embody this sentiment. Instead, the majority of America's contemporary fabric demonstrates man's dominion over nature by clear cutting biodiverse areas, replacing them with impermeable pavements, inefficient buildings, infrastructure that allows stormwater runoff to harm the remaining ecosystems, and a vegetative monoculture. The reality, of which, was only achievable through the development of the private automobile. Instead of living in harmony with nature, most of the inhabitants of suburbia are divorced entirely from nature, forced to use their vehicles to commute to and from work, school, and all their daily activities. This thesis compares American suburban development to two European variants, one in Frankfurt, Germany and the other in Vilnius, Lithuania; Both of which have developed to seamlessly integrate residential and mixed-use development to create more efficient neighborhoods where their inhabitants can live, work, and recreate in one square kilometer, eliminating an inherent need for a private automobile. This is accomplished by zoning codes that are less stringent than the ordinances in the United States, allowing for more leeway and a suburban fabric which is more organic and less prescriptive. The site of Suburbia 2124, Hybla Valley, is on the precipice of a new life, being both in Fairfax County's Federal Opportunity Zone, a zone, in which, the county will provide tax incentives to developers who reimagine the landscape, and along the site of Fairfax's Bus Rapid Transit line, "The One". This line will not only connect Hybla Valley to the rest of Fairfax County, but also to the rest of the DC Metropolitan area as "The One" is being developed in preparation to ultimately be replaced by the DC Metro System within the next century. Suburbia 2124 proposes a radically new future for Hybla Valley by introducing Form Based zoning to the area. Without the constraints of Fairfax County's use based zoning codes, Hybla Valley has the opportunity to become a node for the Washington Metropolitan area and an example of how a different approach to new urbanism and suburban development, at scale, can transform an underperforming site into a community full of promise.