The New Urbanism

The subdivisions of suburbia are conceived as shopping centers
for housing and only later (if at all) as communities.
— Andres Duany, New Urbanist pioneer.

A new urban design movement caught fire in the early 1980's. The “New Urbanism” — also known as neo-traditional design, transit-oriented development, and traditional neighborhood development (TND) — was a reaction to an automobile-centered approach to urban planning which had been dominant since the 1950's.
 

The new communities — such as Prospect in Longmont, Colorado, designed by architect Andrés Duany — offered an antidote to conventional, sprawling suburban developments with their oversized front yards; wide, featureless streets; and inhospitable house fronts dominated by huge garage doors. Their compact, walkable neighborhoods sought to recreate the sense of place and feeling of community that disappeared along with our small towns.

Duany identifies 13 elements that are critical in the design of livable neighborhoods. These have strongly influenced new residential development, including most cohousing projects:

1.  The neighborhood has a discernible center. This is often a square or a green and sometimes a busy or memorable street corner. A transit stop would be located at this center.

2.  Most of the dwellings are within a five-minute walk of the center.

3.  There are a variety of dwelling types—usually houses, rowhouses and apartments—so that younger and older people, singles and families, the poor and the wealthy may find places to live.

Prospect in Longmont, Colorado: The diverse mix of housing types — traditional detached homes alongside aggregate housing units — and the adjacent commercial center, providing services and office space, is typical of new urbanist developments.

4.  At the edge of the neighborhood, there are shops and offices of sufficiently varied types to supply the weekly needs of a household.

5.  A small ancillary building or garage apartment is permitted within the backyard of each house. It may be used as a rental unit or place to work (for example, office or craft workshop).

6.  An elementary school is close enough so that most children can walk from their home.

7.  There are small playgrounds accessible to every dwelling — not more than a tenth of a mile away.

8.  Streets within the neighborhood form a connected network, which disperses traffic by providing a variety of pedestrian and vehicular routes to any destination.

9.  The streets are relatively narrow and shaded by rows of trees. This slows traffic, creating an environment suitable for pedestrians and bicycles.

10. Buildings in the neighborhood center are placed close to the street, creating a well-defined outdoor room.

11. Parking lots and garage doors rarely front the street. Parking is relegated to the rear of buildings, usually accessed by alleys.

12. Certain prominent sites at the termination of street vistas or in the neighborhood center are reserved for civic buildings. These provide sites for community meetings, education, and religious or cultural activities.

13. The neighborhood is organized to be self-governing. A formal association debates and decides matters of maintenance, security, and physical change. Taxation is the responsibility of the larger community.

Placemaking — Recovering Conversation and a Sense of Place

Parallel — and resonant with — the new urbanist movement is a world-wide movement focused on “place-making.” This takes the form in America of a concern with third places, the public places on neutral ground where people can gather and interact. In contrast to first places (home) and second places (work), third places allow people to put aside their concerns and simply enjoy the company and conversation around them.

According to Oldenburg, beer gardens, main streets, pubs, cafés, coffeehouses, post offices, and other third places are the heart of a community's social vitality... and the foundation of a functioning democracy.

“What suburbia cries for,” writes Ray Oldenburg in The Great Good Place, “are the means for people to gather easily, inexpensively, regularly, and pleasurably — a ‘place on the corner,’ real life alternatives to television, easy escapes from the cabin fever of marriage and family life that do not necessitate getting into an automobile.” Third places host the regular, voluntary, informal, and happily anticipated gatherings of individuals beyond the realms of home and work. They promote social equality by leveling the status of guests, provide a setting for grassroots politics, create habits of public association, and offer psychological support to individuals and communities.