Duany: The Celebration Controversies

In this essay, leading New Urbanist Andres Duany weighs up the pros and cons of what is perhaps the most high profile New Urbanist town ever built. He does not shrink from criticism:

"But Celebration is certainly not flawless. In terms of the housing, there were two errors made: one relates to the marketing, the other to affordability."Examining each aspect of the Florida town, Duany's conclusion is a plea for time: the time it takes for a town to settle into middle age and become a place, not a development. Duany notes:"In the end, Celebration must be assessed the way all urbanism should be assessed -- not by photos and short visits (which suffice for architectural criticism), but by inhabiting a place for a period of time."With extensive footnotes and bibliography, this is an important article that should not be missed, whatever you think of Celebration.

Thanks to Matthew Hardy