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Traditional Neighborhood Design
New Urbanism

Rather than shopping centers, office parks, industrial parks, and housing developments, we need old- fashioned neighborhoods, where people can walk. This page lists groups working for Traditional Neighborhood Design, also known as "New Urbanism," and it has links to Publications, and Other Resources.

• National Trust for Historic Preservation: The most important national group promoting historic preservation, the national trust works not works to preserve individual buildings but also to preserve historic towns and neighborhoods and to stop the "superstore sprawl" that threatens them. It also runs the Main Street Program, to revitalize historic shopping districts.

• Congress for the New Urbanism: The most important organization of professionals working on Traditional Neighborhood Design. The name of this group is a reference to the International Congress of Modern Architecture, which promoted modernism early in the twentieth century, and it should prove to be just as important in changing the history of architecture and urban design.

• NewUrbanism.org: Information about new urbanism, including general background, news and events, and examples of good design.

• The Local Government Commission: California A major political voice for New Urbanism. This membership organization, composed of elected officials, planners, and other interested individuals, works with the League of California Cities and the California State Association of Counties to promote pedestrian- and transit-oriented land-use planning and other environmental goals.

• The Center for Livable Communities: The national initiative of the Local Government Commission, which "helps local governments and community leaders be proactive in their land use and transportation planning, and adopt programs and policies that lead to more livable and resource-efficient land use patterns."

• Preserve & Protect: This non-profit corporation provides free World Wide Web Sites for Historic Preservation and Environmental Protection Organizations. It has become one of the most important preservationist sites on the web.

Publications

• Katarxis: A web-based magazine dedicated to neo-traditional architecture and urbanism. This is the one architecture magazine that is making a sharp theoretical break with modernism. Most architecture magazines are still repeating cliches of the modernist avant garde of fifty years ago. Even most new urbanists tend to be apologetic about not using modernist architecture, though they have seen through modernist planning. Katarxis challenges the conventional wisdom and breaks new theoretical ground. Produced in Portugal, it offers a global perspective on the movement that we do not often get in the United States.

• New Urban News: This bi-monthly publication provides news about new projects, trends, and ideas in the New Urbanist movement. It is by far the best source of detailed news about the New Urbanism.

• The Town Paper: A quarterly publication about New Urbanism. This site contains an archives of about a variety of new urbanist topics and comprehensive links directory to TND and new urban neighborhood websites

• New Community Design to the Rescue: This publication of the National Governors Association presents new policy solutions to deal with sprawl at the local government level, and it includes an NGA checklist for evaluating projects, places, and communities for their consistency with smart growth principles. The report is filled with examples of new community design nationwide.

Other Resources

• Great Streets: A New Urbanist approach to the design of streets. Filled with useful information, plus a section with pictures of River City (from the musical The Music Man) as a examples of traditional street design.

• New Urban Timeline: A searchable database of firms, places, publications and events significant to the development of new urbanism.

• Alternative Development Standards for Sustainable Communities: This study shows that it costs 30 percent less to build housing in New Urbanist developments than housing in conventional suburban development, largely because of savings in the cost of land and infrastructure. There is also a brief summary of it available.

• Columbus Realty Trust: One of the nation's leading investment firms is now backing new urbanist design. Its goal is to invest in "real neighborhoods that have a dense population that can support retail services at tha ground floor level and create a real pedestrian experience on the sidewalks." Operating primarily in Dallas, Houston and Denver -- and building neighborhoods very different from the usual in those cities.

• Ahwahnee Principles: The basic principles of new urbanist design, developed by Local Government Commission in 1991. This statement is the closest thing to a manifesto of the New Urbanism.

• Sprawl of America: An article excerpted from Andres Duany's book Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream.

E-mail Lists

• The Congress for the New Urbanism discussion group, where the leading theorists behind new urbanism are talking. A very active list filled with fascinating information. You can join this list by sending the message sub CNU [your name] to listserv@lsv.uky.edu.

• PRO-URB: A closed discussion list hosted at the University of Georgia. Its primary purpose is to provide a forum where professionals and others who are already well-grounded in the principles of New Urbanism can discuss issues. Subscriptions are by invitation or application only.

Spread the Word

Please let us know about other groups working on these issues. Send e-mail to webpages@preservenet.com.