New Urbanism: A Fake Urban Atmosphere?

town leaders, concerned about strip malls and chaotic development, adopted land-use rules rejecting the car-dependent strip malls that define suburban life...Birkdale Village looks like a traditional downtown, with a main street, apartments above the shops and a nearby neighborhood of single-family houses and townhomes...The project has drawn some criticism from people who say Birkdale provides an urban setting without a true urban community that mixes people of different cultures and income levels.