Urban Design

Open Space

Ezekiel 48:15, 17 The remainder, 5,000 cubits in breadth and 25,000 in length, shall be for common use for the city, for dwellings and for open country. In the midst of it shall be the city, … And the city shall have open land: on the north 250 cubits, on the south 250, on the east 250, and on the west 250.

Community Gardens

Ezekiel 48:18-19 The remainder of the length alongside the holy portion shall be 10,000 cubits to the east, and 10,000 to the west, and it shall be alongside the holy portion. Its produce shall be food for the workers of the city. And the workers of the city, from all the tribes of Israel, shall till it.

Consolidation of Land

Isaiah 5:8-10 Woe to those who join house to house, who add field to field, until there is no more room, and you are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land. The Lord of hosts has sworn in my hearing: “Surely many houses shall be desolate, large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant. For ten acres of vineyard shall yield but one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield but an ephah.”

Restoration

Isaiah 61:4 They shall build up the ancient ruins; they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.

Safety Regulations

Deuteronomy 22:8 When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof, that you may not bring the guilt of blood upon your house, if anyone should fall from it.

Incremental Changes

Exodus 23:29-30 I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you. Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land.

“By increating the distance between people in the built environment, automobile-oriented development tends to decrease the intimacy that people can have with one another in their environments.” – Eric O. Jacobsen, in The Space Between: A Christian Engagement with the Built Environment, page 42.

“…reimagine places that cultivate human flourishing instead of strife.” – David P. Leong, Race & Place: How Urban Geography Shapes the Journey of Reconciliation, page 19.