25 years after development started on Gaithersburg's model New Urbanist community Kentlands, Dan Malouff surveys the movement's impact on America's development patterns. He argues its products are more necessary in less-urban environments.
"New urbanism reintroduced Americans to the concept of urban living. And as recent history tells us, once we learned urban living was an option, people flocked to it," writes Malouff. "Thus, in a twist of fate, new urbanism's main lasting benefit may be that it's a gateway for suburbanites to become urbanites—a baby step towards regular urbanism. A necessary step, to be sure, but one quickly passed by."
"Despite the fact that regular urbanism is back, and that new urbanism is no longer the progressive cutting edge of city planning, we still need it in the suburbs," he contends.
FULL STORY: 25 years later, what can we learn from New Urbanism?
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Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
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San Francisco Muni Raises Fares a Second Time
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Electric Grid Capacity Could Hamstring EV Growth
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This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
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Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions