New Urbanism

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New Urbanism An introduction
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Giving Physical Shape to Community
Across North America, and around the world, an
urban design movement called New Urbanism is
changing the way our cities and towns are built.
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Giving Physical Shape to Community
New urbanist developments are walkable
neighborhoods, rather than large, single-use
places with streets hostile to pedestrians.
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Giving Physical Shape to Community
New Urbanism provides a range of housing choices,
from apartments over storefronts to single-family
homes with yards.
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Giving Physical Shape to Community
Careful, participatory planning ensures that
everyone in the neighborhood has easy access to
the necessities of life, making life easier for
kids, the elderly, and people who dont want to
drive.
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Response to a Problem
Since World War II, cities have been spreading
ever-outward. Strip malls, parking lots,
highways, and housing tracts have sprawled over
the landscape.
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Response to a Problem
Too many urban neighborhoods have been blighted
by oversized housing projects and centralized
redevelopment schemes.
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Response to a Problem
Even older suburbs have suffered as new ones
continue to spring up,
skimming off tax base.
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Whats Old in New Urbanism
Many of the planning ideas behind New Urbanism
are not new.
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Whats Old in New Urbanism
Urban design has been an art for millennia.
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Whats Old in New Urbanism
Since America was founded, many of our best-loved
towns and cities have been carefully planned.
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Where its needed
In fact, New Urbanism guides development at all
scales, from the building to the region.
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Where its needed
It includes sizable infill projects within
existing cities and towns.
Like in Bethesda, Maryland.
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Where its needed
Or New Urbanism can be small projects on
individual blocks, like the block on 8th and
Pearl in Boulder, Colorado.
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Where its needed
It can also apply to redeveloped neighborhoods
like Park DuValle in Louisville, Kentucky.
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Where its needed
New Urbanism includes greenfield projects, also
called traditional neighborhood developments
(TNDs). Maryland's Kentlands and Lakelands are
among the best-known.
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Where its needed
New Urbanists also take part in regional
planning. In New Jersey, a statewide plan has
focused public investment into existing centers,
and a statewide design guideline is helping keep
the states small towns vibrant.
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The Principles of New Urbanism
The principles of the New Urbanism are defined by
a Charter, which was developed between 1993 and
1996 by a broad range of architects, planners,
interested citizens, scholars, elected officials,
and developers. It was ratified at the fourth
annual Congress, the annual meeting sponsored by
CNU.
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The Principles of New Urbanism
Its principles are divided into three categories

• The Region Metropolis, City and Town

• The Neighborhood, the District, and the
  Corridor

• The Block, the Street, and the Building

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The Region
For new urbanists, the region is the overall
context for all planning. That means planning
must often cross traditional jurisdictional lines
in order to create a healthy region.
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The Region
Towns within a region need a comprehensive
metropolitan strategy in order to prosper. Each
town should have both homesfor people of all
incomesand jobs. That way, residents arent
forced to travel far to work. Each town also
needs a discrete sense of place.
Jobs
Homes
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The Region
New Urbanism calls for towns to develop in the
appropriate style for their surroundings, while
respecting their neighbors.
Gainesville, FL
Boca Raton, FL
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The Region
Towns and cities within a region should have
clear boundaries, contributing to a sense of
place. The land between towns should be preserved
as open space wilderness or farm-land. These
edges are as important as the centers to the
success of New Urbanism.
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The Region
Wilderness, farmland, villages, town edges, town
centers, city neighborhoods, and city centers
each have their own building densities, street
sizes, and appropriate mixtures of retail,
residential, and other functions.
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The Neighborhood
Diverse, walkable neighborhoods are what
distinguish New Urbanism from other modern
development styles.
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The Neighborhood
The word neighborhood gets tossed around a lot
in real estate brochures, so it is important to
be clear what it means. Each neighborhood has a
center and an edge. The center should be a public
space, whether a square, a green, or an important
intersection.
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The Neighborhood
The optimal size of a neighborhood is a
quarter-mile from center to edge. For most
people, a quarter mile is a five-minute walk. For
a neighborhood to feel walkable, many daily needs
should be supplied within this five-minute walk.
That includes not only homes, but stores,
workplaces, schools, houses of worship, and
recreational areas.
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The Neighborhood
People within a quarter-mile radius will walk to
a major transit stop. Those who live further from
a transit node are less likely to bother with the
train or bus.
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The Neighborhood
People within a quarter-mile radius will walk to
a major transit stop. Those who live further from
a transit node are less likely to bother with the
train or bus.
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The Block, Street, and Building
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The Block, Street, and Building
In New Urbanism, streets are safe, comfortable,
interesting places for people to walk and meet.
Buildings open onto sidewalks, rather than
parking lots. Windows and doors facing the
sidewalk make streets safer, and more
interesting, for everyone.
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The Block, Street, and Building
New urbanist streets use buildings to provide a
con-sistent and understandable edge. This
accommodates buildings of all styles and
functions. Important locations are reserved for
grand, attention-getting buildings other sites
require buildings to respect their context.
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The Block, Street, and Building
New urbanist streets can accommodate cars while
also providing comfort and convenience for
pedestrians, bicyclists, and wheelchair users.
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The Block, Street, and Building
Since the suburban boom of the 1950s, urban
design has taken a back seat. New urbanists are
helping to rediscover this largely lost art.
Excellent design can make a dense neighborhood
feel livable and open. CNUs award programs
recognize beautiful, livable neighborhoods.
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Early Efforts
The first new urbanist town to get built from the
ground up was Seaside, on the Florida coast.
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Early Efforts
Between 1985 and 1993, several more large-scale
projects were undertaken in Americas
fast-growing suburbs. Kentlands and Laguna West
were two of the best-known and most ambitious
efforts.
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Early Efforts
In the early 1990s, the movement was often termed
neo-traditional planning. However, that term
was a misnomer. As the New Urbanism evolved, its
proponents recognized that good urbanism is
possible with many types of architecture, town
layouts, and densities.
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Progress in the Suburbs
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Progress in the Suburbs
Suburbs have not been immune to decline. As
places they often engender even less loyalty than
older cities. Today's suburbs can be as
impersonal as the large gray cities of the past,
and traffic has proved worse.
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Progress in the Suburbs
Suburbs provide fertile ground for new urbanists,
who are increasingly interested in infill
projects, housing project redevelopment, and
retrofitting town centers into existing suburbs.
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Progress in the Suburbs
In new suburban developments, new urbanists are
including an ever-wider range of architectural
styles. While many new urbanist developments have
been built with colonial-style architecture,
recent projects include neighborhoods of
contemporary homes and adobe.
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Cities Get It
In 1990, most older American cities were
neglected and deteriorating. New home buyers were
almost exclusively interested in living on the
urban fringe.
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Cities Get It
Today, young childless households and empty
nesters are jostling for urban real estate. Urban
reinvestment is paying off. Older cities have
become Americas hottest real estate markets.
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Cities Get It
New urbanists have been taking part in urban
redevelopment for years, and are now part of the
comprehensive movement for livable cities.
Projects include neighborhood plans, loft
redevelopment, transit villages, and the revival
of aging Main Streets.
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Other Successes
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Other Successes
Meanwhile, the U.S. General Services
Administration the federal governments
landlord and the nations largest developer has
adopted a new urbanist agenda. Where in the past
federal buildings have not always fit in with
their surroundings, the GSA has dedicated itself
to using federal investments to improve streets,
neighborhoods, and regions.
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Other Successes
Dead mall redevelopment Malls built in the
1960s, 70s, and even 80s are already failing in
cities and older suburbs. But with the help of
new urbanists, some are being converted into real
neighborhoods.
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Summary
Today, real estate investors are withdrawing from
sprawl development. Every year, it grows clearer
that there is a tremendous market demand for real
neighborhoods, for lively cities, and for regions
with plenty of protected open space.
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Summary
New Urbanism is inspiring political leaders eager
to solve social, economic, and traffic problems
all at once while making cities and towns more
beautiful and dignified. Popular "Smart Growth"
policies promote New Urbanism while reducing
subsidies for sprawl. These policies are now at
the top of the agenda for the nations mayors and
governors.
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Summary
Environmentalists, businesspeople, politicians,
developers, and citizens are coming together to
support the development strategy called New
Urbanism, and the policies of Smart Growth.
Together, we will create better cities and towns.
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