Test your understanding of the Charter of the New Urbanism

We've developed this fun little quiz based on the Charter of the New Urbanism. To see how well you've done, fax your response back to CNU at +1 312 346-3323, attn: Grading Dept. We'll respond with your grade. CNU members receiving better than 90% will receive a special star on their CNU.org member profile!

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Part A. Reading comprehension

1. What buildings deserve distinctive form?
a. None. All should be regulated by codes.
b. Civic buildings and public places
c. Commercial and mixed-use buildings

2. Which of these is appropriate for a District?
a. A performing arts complex
b. A regional commercial center
c. A university campus

3. Physical solutions are _____ to address social and economic problems.
a. Necessary but insufficient
b. Necessary and sufficient
c. Neither necessary nor sufficient

4. What is the Charter's position on greenfield development?
a. Outlying development is encouraged to improve growth patterns and keep pace with sprawl.
b. Outlying development should be contiguous, where possible, and organized as neighborhoods.
c. Where development happens is less important than the form that it takes.

5. What is the proper way to organize non-contiguous development?
a. As bedroom communities located in close proximity to major job centers.
b. As towns and villages with their own edges and jobs-housing balance.
c. As conservation communities that site moderate-density housing among preserved natural lands.

6. Which are two particular tools for planners named in and encouraged by the Charter?
a. High-efficiency methods of heating and and renewal of historic buildings.
b. Citizen-based participatory planning and graphic urban design codes.
c. Bicycle systems and noncontiguous development.

Part B. Analogies

7. The region is to the neighborhood as:
a. A molecule is to an atom
b. A street is to an alley
c. An ocean is to a river

8. The house is to the garden as the metropolis is to:
a. exurbia
b. regional economic unit
c. farmland and nature

9. The corridor is to the region as:
a. A zipper is to a jacket
b. A capillary is to a cell
c. A bone is to a skeleton

10. Affordable housing's location is to the region as:
a. transit locations are to corridors
b. historic buildings are to blocks
c. park locations are to neighborhoods

Part C. True/False

11. The New Urbanism, when applied to architecture, transcends style.
True / False

12. New Urbanism promotes a blending of town and countryside at the metropolitan edge.
True / False

13. Fear of crime must be addressed in urban environments; compromising some openness is inevitable and sadly acceptable.
True / False

14. Development should seek to absolutely minimize the role of the automobile.
True / False

15. A broad range of housing types and land uses within areas benefits people of all incomes.
True / False

Part D. Except one

16. All of these need to respond to and link to their local context -- including but not limited to climate, history, and surroundings -- except one:
a. Governmental cooperation
b. Landscape design
c. Individual architectural projects
d. Development of towns and cities

17. All of the below encourage transit ridership, walking, and bicycling, except one:
a. Appropriate building densities
b. Interconnected networks of streets
c. A range of parks within neighborhoods
d. Appropriately sized and located schools

18. Urban architecture and landscape must address all of these, except one:
a. Definition of streets as shared spaces
b. Organizing metropolitan structure
c. Reinforcing safe environments
d. Providing inhabitants with sense of place and time

19. Large users of all these types should be embedded in, not isolated from, neighborhoods and districts, except one:
a. Educational and institutional
b. Ports and goods distribution
c. Retail, office, and commercial
d. Civic and governmental

20. Neighborhoods require all of the following, except one:
a. A corridor
b. A center
c. An edge
d. Mixed uses

Part E. Short answer

21. What three things does the Charter identify as the essential elements of development and redevelopment in the region that form?

22. Properly configured streets and squares should be ____ to pedestrians, thereby ____ walking.

23. Name three specific types of public open space (hint: there are six) named in the Charter.

24. Name two local elements that landscape design should respond to.