Can 'eco villages' be sustainable without being exclusive?

A NewVista village sounds like an environmentalist's dream: a series of walkable, interconnected communities that produce their own local energy and food, offering a "low-impact lifestyle without daily automobile use." But to Austrian architect and urban consultant Johannes Fiedler, such a development is no better than a traditional housing project, gated community, or shopping mall. All of these types of construction fall under the category of what Fiedler calls a master-planned "compound" and as such "violate the principle of public space," a key element, he says, in truly sustainable city development. "Compounds are committed to their own logic -- they are inward-looking, retreating from the public sphere while relying on it for infrastructure," Fiedler explained in a small session at last month's 8th EcoCity World Summit in Istanbul that was devoted to "Masterplanning: Benefits and Complexities." In the main hall, developers such as David Hall of NewVista and city officials such as Brent Toderian, director of planning for the city of Vancouver, spent much of the conference promoting alluring visions of just the type of "eco-friendly" developments Fiedler scorned.