A Message from Andrés Duany:
Today, Maui has the opportunity to chart its own future and determine the manner and form of development that will occur on the island for many years to come.
The plan for Olowalu Town returns to the original Maui small town model of
complete and compact communities, where most, if not all, daily needs can be met within a five-minute walk of one's home.
Until recently what has proliferated on Maui and in Hawai‘i is the conventional suburban planning imported wholesale from the mainland. This development model comes with a number of disadvantages, penalties, and inconveniences, such as larger land consumption, segregated and isolated pockets of development, traffic congestion, pollution, and loss of open space and public amenities.
Olowalu Town's layout, structures, density, and land use all contribute to create a compact, walkable environment. Olowalu will have a wide range of housing types, including townhouses, apartments, bungalows, cottages and large houses on farmsteads, with a substantial portion given to much-needed affordable housing.
There will be live/work units to encourage people to start new businesses, which would help reduce the need to commute to work and create a wider, more diverse, economic base. Two town centers will feature facilities and amenities for the larger community, including retail and commercial spaces, civic buildings, and public open space.
The building of Olowalu Town will be guided and framed by a new design code. This new code marries traditional settlement patterns with sustainable ecological strategies, and is proposed to overlap and simplify the existing zoning code with the creation of livable streets at a variety of densities, uses, and residential unit types.
Olowalu Town is the model for a new opportunity to rebuild communities on the island of Maui.
