New Urbanism/Neo-traditional Planning 

New Urbanism, alternately termed Neo-traditional Planning or Traditional Neighborhood Development (TND), is a community design reform movement evolving in response to the prevalence and consequences of urban and suburban sprawl. The primary design characteristics of New Urbanism include the following: 

1) Pedestrian-centered neighborhoods with primary social and economic facilities within a five-minute walk 

2) Community orientation around public transit systems 

3) Mixed land uses within neighborhoods 

New Urbanism
This New Urbanism website focuses on Creating Livable Communities offers discussion, news, resources and references on various aspects of new urbanism.

Congress for New Urbanism
Committed to reestablishing the relationship between the art of building and the making of community, through participatory planning and design. The website presents New Urbanist principles to guide public policy, development practice, urban planning, and design.  The Congress for New Urbanism also publishes New Urban News, a bi-monthly newsletter covering traditional town planning and development.

New Urban News
A professional newsletter for planners, developers, architects, builders, public officials and others who are interested in the creation of human-scale communities. Featured articles are online.

Articles

Charter of the New Urbanism, Congress for New Urbanism (pdf)

New Urbanism, a special issue of Conscious Choice

New Urbanism, an Online NewsHour Special Report from PBS

"Sustainable Development Meets New Urbanism"

"The New Urbanism Challenges Conventional Planning"

Publications 

New Community Design to the Rescue
This 2001 publication of the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices explains how states and communities can encourage New Community Design -- mixed-use, mixed-income, walkable development that is distinctly different from sprawl -- by eliminating institutional barriers in the marketplace.

The Town Paper
A quarterly publication specializing in new urbanism and traditional town planning. Their website also contains a large linked list of Traditional Neighborhood Developments.

New American Urbanism: Re-Forming the Suburban Metropolis, Skira, 2001. ISBN: 8-88-118741-8. 
By John A. Dutton, this book is a critical examination of projects that attempt to restructure urban growth based on some of the principles commonly promoted by New Urbanists.

The New Urbanism: Toward an Architecture of Community, McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1994.  ISBN 0-07-033889-2.
A book of 24 case study projects illustrating New Urbanist design ideas and methods.

The Next Metropolis: Ecology, Community, and the American Dream, Princeton Architectural Press, 1993.  ISBN 1-878271-68-7.
Describes the ecological principles of diversity, interdependence, scale, and decentralization and their roles in our concepts of suburbs, cities, and regions.

The New Urbanism: Hope or Hype for American Communities?, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy 1996. 
A report reviewing the history of new town planning and examining the potential of the New Urban communities to solve the problem of auto-oriented sprawl.

Last updated: November 29, 2004

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