I think of this bit from an article by conservative and urbanist Josh Delk once in awhile, especially one line:

For the NIMBYs in Arlington devoted to preserving a sense of character in their neighborhoods, a plan for redevelopment that emphasizes the creation of traditional town centers with beautiful public spaces, medium-density housing, and urban parks could help remedy the county’s chronic placelessness. The best New Urbanist projects make places feel more like themselves. Now, as Arlington seeks to reassess how it uses its space, it should plan to build more of the things that make it appealing in its own right, not just an off-brand version of D.C. At its best, Arlington mixes quiet, family-friendly neighborhoods with exciting streets. At its worst, Arlington blends into the region’s monotonous outer-ring suburbs, with all the expenses of city life and few of its benefits.

The best New Urbanist projects make places feel more like themselves.

Is that mumbo-jumbo? Or is it something very insightful?

What does it mean for a place to change but remain the same in essence? Is it a legitimate concept that the essence of a place can be different from its present physical form? To retain an inward substance by changing the outward form? What is the land-use/urban-growth equivalent of a child maturing into an adult?

I think, also, of this quote, and my reaction, from a book talk I attended for Nolan Gray, who had just published a book on zoning reform (he actually wants to pretty much scrap zoning completely):

Gray was talking about older folks in extremely expensive neighborhoods that were once middle class, and how these older residents will wonder why, for example, their children are leaving, and they feel lonely and isolated in their retirement years. “Their community has been destroyed by not allowing the built environment to change,” he said.

That’s a distillation of a really important point. “Neighborhood character” isn’t just the physical appearance of a place. It’s how that place functions: the social and economic relationships that actually turn it into a place. When you encase its physical appearance in amber, and treat built form as the sine qua non of character, you don’t preserve it; you squeeze out the things that actually give it life and character in the first place.

Their community has been destroyed by not allowing the built environment to change...