Experiments in New Urbanism: Planning or Fantasy?

Alan Ehrenhalt, executive editor of Governing magazine and author of "The Lost City" writes a New York times Op-Ed that Orenco is actually the latest in a string of closely watched New Urbanist experiments. In the 1980's, there was Seaside, the small Victorian re-creation on the north Florida Gulf Coast. In the late 1990's, there was Celebration, the Disney-backed traditional town built from scratch near Orlando. All told, there have been several dozen efforts in various parts of the country to establish or retrofit communities in a traditional direction, with walkable streets, downtown shopping, front porches and the numerous other accoutrements of New Urbanist values and ideas.