The new urbanism: Repairing twentieth-century suburban sprawl with nineteenth-century townmaking principles.

摘要

The New Urbanism is an architectural and urban design reform movement which attempts to address many of the social and environmental ills afflicting metropolitan areas nationwide: auto-oriented sprawl, relentless traffic jams, social segregation and isolation, and placelessness. Eschewing current methods of development which have resulted in suburban sprawl, the New Urbanism calls for a return to traditional late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century American town-making principles, laying out brand-new towns and new suburban and infill development according to old-fashioned fundamentals. New Urbanist designers seek to incorporate the convenience, walkability, aesthetics, livability and ecological integrity of classic American towns into new residential development by channeling growth into compact, tightly woven communities. Although currently comprising only about one percent of the new housing market, these "oldfangled new towns" offer alternatives to the deficiencies of current suburban planning and greatly appeal to potential homebuyers disillusioned by typical subdivisions.