New Urbanism

New Urbanism is an urban design movement that promotes a return to traditional neighborhoods, as well as the revitalization of cities and town centers. It was officially founded in the 1990’s by a group of renegade architects and planners, in reaction to sprawling development patterns of the automobile era. The Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) spearheads the effort to create compact, walkable neighborhoods.

New Urbanism (NU) takes many forms. It includes masterplanned communities like Traditional Neighborhood Developments (TND) and Transit Oriented Developments (TOD), but also smaller projects, such as a group of renovated row houses within an existing city block.

History of Suburbia

James Howard Kunstler, writer and critic of the American surburban landscape, explains that suburbs emerged because people wanted to flee the true horrors — pollution, bad air, poor sanitation, crime — of industrial cities of the late 19th and early 20th centuries [1]. People yearned for a cabin in the woods or a little house in the country, or at least an escape from the factories that were filling the central city.

However, before the car, some of America’s best building and urban design was being done in early decades of the 20th century. Good examples of neighborhood design are found in streetcar suburbs and in small towns, along Main Street, USA. These neighborhoods, mixed-used and scaled for people, are the standard that many New Urbanists try to emulate today.

With the rise of the automobile after World War II, Kunstler describes that suburbia "became a cartoon of itself. It became a cartoon of ‘country life.’ It was no longer country living in any meaningful way; it had become basically industrial living in an industrial box in a fake country setting.” [1] Most American suburbs, especially those built between 1970 and the present, are cheaply constructed, poorly designed and hastily planned.

History of New Urbanism

New Urbanism began to take shape after Seaside, Florida was developed in 1981. Seaside opened as an old-style, walkable neighborhood that displayed attractive architecture and thoughtful design – all of which were rare for new construction at the time. By the 1990’s, there was growing frustration with suburban sprawl, so an alternative vision would easily attract scores of devoted followers.

Congress for the New Urbanism

The Congress for the New Urbanism, formed in 1993, is the founding organization of the New Urbanism movement. It sponsors annual meetings called Congresses, where “architects, landscape architects, planners, economists, real estate agents and developers, lawyers, government officials, educators, citizen activists, and students discuss issues related to the health and vitality of regions, towns, and neighborhoods.” [2] CNU was originally assembled by Peter Katz, who became the group’s first Executive Director.

The organization takes a very broad approach and “advocates the restructuring of public policy and development practices to support the restoration of existing urban centers and towns within coherent metropolitan regions.” [2]

Charter

The Charter for the New Urbanism [3], unveiled in 1996, establishes the principles of NU that revolve around reinvesting in central cities, reconfiguring suburbs and preserving countryside – with the goal of creating real places. The charter is divided into three main sections that descend in spatial scale:

The Region: Metropolis, city, and town
The neighborhood, the district and the corridor
The block, the street and the building

Each section presents 9 principles that should be considered not only by New Urbanist planners and architects, but by all decisionmakers involved in urban development. One key idea is that cities and towns should have recognizable centers and borders, beyond which new construction is strictly avoided. In addition, neighborhoods should be “compact, pedestrian-friendly, and mixed-use”. Regional architectural styles, historic preservation and shared public space are also crucial.

Canons of Sustainable Architecture and Urbanism

CNU created an addendum to its charter – partly in response to criticism has been leveled at New Urbanism, but also to address the emerging environmental crises of the new century. For example, critics pointed out that several New Urbanist developments were built on farmland or open space, much like sprawling subdivisions. The Canons [4] attempt to link green building with urban planning, while emphasizing environmental issues like land conservation and global warming.

Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina brought New Urbanism national attention, as New Urbanist planners were called upon to help rebuild New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.

New Urbanist Developments: Some Examples

Seaside, Florida, USA (1981)

The Kentlands in Gaithersberg, Maryland, USA (1989)

Oceanview Lofts in Berkeley, California, USA (1993)

Celebration, Florida, USA (1995)

Civano in Tucson, Arizona, USA (1997)

Orenco Station in Portland, Oregon, USA (1997)

Highland Terrace, Louisville, Kentucky, USA (2000)

Paseo Colorado in Pasadena, California, USA (2000)

Del Mar Station, Pasadena, California, USA (2003)


Criticism

One of the most salient critiques of New Urban projects is that many of them have consumed valuable farmland and open space. Just like conventional suburbs, they sometimes sit far from town centers. CNU’s revised Canons have therefore called for building primarily on urban infill and urban adjacent land.

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