Military Embraces The New Urbanism

"In the suburban jumble of southern Fairfax County lies an oasis of pleasant living straight out of a classic small town or cozy city neighborhood. Residents can roll out of bed and walk downstairs to a handsome Main Street lined with a coffeehouse, corner grocery and barber and adorned with vintage-style lampposts, signs and clocks. They can stroll along the sidewalk and greet their neighbors. They can walk to work without worrying about a car.

There's one catch. To visit, people have to show identification at an armed checkpoint. And to live in the town, people have to join the Army or marry a soldier, because this Main Street is in the middle of Fort Belvoir.

'We're just bringing in a little taste of off-post,' said Col. Brian W. Lauritzen, Fort Belvoir's commander, who was clad in his usual camouflage and boots as he picked up a coffee recently at the street's new Starbucks."