New Urbanism is a planning movement that reacts against the sprawling, car-dependent suburb and instead pursues compact, mixed-use, walkable neighbourhoods. It arose in the United States and took organised form with the founding of the Congress for the New Urbanism in 1993. Characteristically it is not only a matter of urban design: in practice it usually goes hand in hand with traditional or historicist architecture, which is why it is sometimes called retro architecture.
Principles
- Walkability — everyday facilities within a five to ten minute walk
- Mixed use — living, working, shops and amenities interwoven rather than zoned apart
- A clear centre and a clear edge, so a neighbourhood reads as a place instead of a collection of streets
- A fine-grained street network with short blocks, rather than branching cul-de-sac layouts
- The street as public space — narrow sections, buildings addressing the street, parking to the rear or underground
- A mixed housing offer in type and price within the same neighbourhood
Retro architecture
Where New Urbanism is primarily a planning programme, its designers frequently choose a neotraditional language: brick, pitched tiled roofs, subdivided windows and elevations that refer to the pre-war or even pre-industrial town. Well-known examples include Seaside in Florida, laid out by Duany and Plater-Zyberk, and in Europe Brandevoort in Helmond in the Netherlands — an urban extension from 1996 onwards to a plan by Rob Krier, with a dense core, De Veste, set out as a small fortified town with a moat around it.
The approach is contested. Supporters point to legibility, human scale and high resident satisfaction. Critics call it scenery: historical packaging around a contemporary plan and contemporary construction.
Practical points
- Detail decides the outcome. A traditional elevation stands or falls on bond, joint colour, window reveal depth and the eaves detail. Flat facades in thin brick slips read as imitation immediately
- Parking is the hardest problem. The traffic-calmed street only works if parking is credibly solved elsewhere
- Budget for maintenance. Narrow sections, hedges and squares need more upkeep than a standard housing estate
- Sustainability and tradition need not conflict, but a steep tiled roof, small windows and a lot of wall area call for deliberate decisions on insulation, orientation and solar panels
Related terms
- Neomodernism
- Modernism
- Functionalism
- Zoning plan
- Renaissance Revival
- Ecological building
Want to know more about building terms? Visit our knowledge base at fredsdiyplans.com.