Columbia remains a 'company town'

May 9, 2008

One point that architecture critic Edward Gunts understates in his column "Bold ideas advanced for revamping Columbia" (May 5) is the basic fact that Columbia is a company town - one unlike any other in Maryland.

The initial decision by the Rouse Co. more than 40 years ago to design the town center around a typical enclosed shopping mall created today's reality.

Any attempt to shift that paradigm to another model of urbanism will fail until the citizens of Columbia exercise their right to create a municipal government, with power to implement plans for the public benefit, including the use of eminent domain.

Only then will this vibrant, growing community of 100,000 be able to create a true urban center for the 21st century.

Otherwise, the community will get only what "the company" decides to give, which will be an ersatz version of urbanism that ignores the "elephant in the room" - a 1,400,000-square-foot shopping mall.

Michael V. Murphy

Baltimore

The writer is a local architect and a member of Baltimore's Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation.

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