New Urbanism

Columnist Michael Paul Williams of the Times-Dispatch worries that the planned New Urbanist development in Roseland, VA will turn out to be 'as antiseptic as a theme park."

Jason Miller reports how coastal Mississippi cities and towns are moving post-Katrina plans and ideas towards implementation.

Bay Meadows Racetrack in San Mateo,CA is being transformed into 19 blocks of office buildings, dense housing, parkland and plazas.

Jeff Speck, author of Suburban Nation, spoke recently at a conference in Winnepeg. 'Just as we have come to recognize that 'we are what we eat', there is a growing belief that 'we are where we live,' says Speck.

Simmons Buntin tours metropolitan Denver with local planner Carolyn Dooling and finds a host of vibrant developments.

Philip Langdon comments on the the economy of oil and its effects on urban design in the July/August issue of New Urban News.

Plans for a "new urbanist/smart growth" development on the waterfront of the San Francisco Bay Area town of Hercules has received unanimous approval from the city council, eliminating the need for inclusion on the November ballot.

Terrain.org profiles Bradburn Village, a successful New Urbanist project in Westminster, Colorado. As one resident puts it, 'Bradburn is designed around community.'

A key idea of western North Carolina's Mountain Landscapes Initiative is to create a map of land already in conservation, layered with land that should be preserved, so that developers, builders, and residents together can plan responsibly.

New Urbanism as a movement is fifteen years old this year; a state by state analysis by New Urban News shows steady growth (in some places more than others) and produced some surprises as well.

The US has never encouraged cycling as a practical mode of travel, and as a result, biking to work is a rare and hazardous activity, with four times the fatality rate of some European countries. A Rutgers University study shows how that can change.

An old-fashioned community barn-raising in Masonville, Texas could in fact be a glimpse of the future.

Developer Casey Roloff has built an ambitious new community on the Washington coast with New Urbanist ideas and a Northwest flavor.

Andres Duany led a recent charrette in Tsawwassen, B.C., resulting in a unique plan focused on walkability and local agriculture.

Plans to bring New Urbanist designs into British Columbia will do little to stem suburban sprawl, according to this column from the Globe and Mail.

A planned New Urbanist development in Northern California wants enable its eventual residents to live within their prescribed ecological footprint.

While the American Dream Coalition celebrates the 'freedom and affordability' of Houston -- Robert Steuteville wonders why the group ignores the environmental and financial consequences of such an auto-dependent city.

Harald Bodenschatz calls for a radical shift in the urban planning discourse when he claims for a revitalization not only of the downtown, but of the district centers and of suburbia itself, which should be made denser and more valuable.

As the housing industry flounders, New Urbanist developers are using the flexibility inherent in their community plans to their advantage.

While The New Urbanism has certainly helped to change the way people think about how communities can be built, it's still seen as a boutique product. More needs to be done if New Urbanist developments are to really compete with mainstream sprawl.