ABSTRACT
This chapter proposes a conceptual framework for achieving compact urban form in polycentric cities beyond the rail station. It draws on the experience of Phoenix, Arizona, the quintessential post-Second World War sprawling metropolis, in outlining lessons learned from historic districts (HD), transit-oriented development (TOD) and canal oriented development (COD) land-use zoning overlay strategies. TOD has been widely heralded as the premier urban planning mechanism for twinning urban development and sustainability goals. The chapter offers the example of canal oriented development in Phoenix as a best-of-both world's amenity driven high-density development (ADHD) exemplar whereby place-making and density-making align in generative, amenity-rich ways. The urban amenity is a slippery concept to grasp. They are 'location-specific goods'. One of the earliest Victorian-era definitions of the amenity concept in British urban planning encompassed three qualities that still resonate today: environmental health, pleasantness and civic beauty and preservation.
