New Urbanism

Two Cheers For the Planners’ Pledge
A “Planners’ Pledge” created by some of the leading authorities on planning sets forth a bold urbanist agenda- even if not every idea in the pledge is equally useful in all cities.

A Better Understanding of Smart Growth Benefits
Smart Growth creates compact, multimodal communities where residents consume less land, drive less, and rely more on non-auto modes. Planners have important stories to tell about the benefits of Smart Growth.

200-Acre Traditional Neighborhood Development Coming to Northwest Arkansas
A local group recently completed the purchase of 200 acres near Rogers, in Benton County, Arkansas, that will become a master-planned, mixed-use neighborhood called Warren Park.

A Primer on Suburban Urbanism
How one master-planned development used lower-density urbanism principles to build a community focused on affordability, sustainability, and conservation.

A ‘New Urbanism’ Travelogue
I visited three New Urbanist developments in North Carolina. Here's what I liked, what I didn't like, and what I learned.

When Planning Issues Become ‘Culture Wars’
‘Commonsense’ urbanism projects are being painted by opponents as sinister plots to limit movement and erode property rights.

What Is the Transect?
In urbanism and planning, the term transect provides a conceptual framework for understanding how the scale of built environments can vary from place to place.

Disney Plans New Residential Developments
Despite the less-than-magical results of its experiment in Celebration, Florida, Disney has announced plans to build a chain of master-planned communities around the country.

Urban Villages: The Key to Sustainable Community Economic Development
Compact, walkable urban villages support sustainable economic development by reducing transportation costs, leaving residents with more money to spend on local goods, and by creating more efficient and attractive commercial districts.

Looking Beyond the 'Sidewalk Ballet:' Jane Jacobs in the 21st Century
While The Death and Life of Great American Cities remains an urban planning classic, today's planners must contend with challenges that Jacobs couldn't have anticipated.

Road Design Still Privileges Cars
Author Jeff Speck discusses the progress made since he first wrote Walkable City–and how far we still have to go to build streets that are safe for all.

How the Built Environment Impacts Public Health
New research sheds light on how the brain responds to urban environments and architecture.

Deconstructing Saint Jane
The iconic urban thinker has influenced generations of planners, but how do her ideas hold up in an age of massive upheaval and economic inequality?

Defining the Buzzword: What's a 15-Minute City?
What does it mean to be a 15-minute city?

Reassessing New Urbanism
A thematic issue of the peer reviewed journal Urban Planning provides a framework for reassessing New Urbanism.

What Is New Urbanism?
New Urbanism is one of the most influential planning and urban design reform movements of recent decades.

The Villages and the Dangers of Holding Too Tightly to the Past
Some parts of The Villages, Florida, the nation's largest retirement community and one of its most popular master planned communities, bear a striking resemblance to the neotraditional development favored by famous early examples of New Urbanism.

Different Types of Pro-Development Urbanism, Explained
Can't tell New Urbanism from YIMBY? This post tries to help.

New Urbanism and Jacobs: A Tangled Disconnect
New Urbanism was in part born of the criticisms of 20th century planning principles popularized by Jane Jacobs, but Jacobs infamously derided the new school of thought.

New Urbanists and New Housing
The Charter of the New Urbanism favors infill development, yet new urbanists sometimes oppose infill, especially in historic urban areas. This post speculates on why that might be the case.
Pagination
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Borough of Carlisle
Caltrans
Heyer Gruel & Associates PA
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Salt Lake City
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service
City of Cambridge, Maryland