• Why climate change is now front and center

    The most critical opportunity for urbanists is to step up to the magnitude of the climate challenge.
    25 years ago, many of us we were in this same room, having already spent four years talking and planning for the first congress. We assembled a coalition of interested but uncertain allies and curious onlookers, all drawn to the potential opportunity to confront and combat suburban sprawl. At that...Read more

  • The infinite suburb? They must be joking

    In their visions of the future, the elite graduate schools of urban planning lately see a new-and-improved suburbia, based on self-driving electric cars, “drone deliveries at your doorstep,” and “teardrop-shaped one-way roads” (I think that means cul-de-sacs) as the coming sure thing. It sounds...Read more

  • New Urbanism is far from dead—but it is evolving

    The folks who brought us walkable downtowns and transit-oriented development have a new challenge to tackle: climate change.
    New Urbanism is dead, writes Bill Fulton on the October issue of Governing . Fulton, director of the Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University, says New Urbanist thinking has so thoroughly permeated the mainstream that it no longer needs a movement to champion it. Not so fast. Today,...Read more

  • Great idea: The polycentric region

    Market and local government support for new urbanist values is rising and that is changing the planning mindset in many regions.
    In celebration of the 25th Congress for the New Urbanism , Public Square is running the series 25 Great Ideas of the New Urbanism. These ideas have been shaped by new urbanists and continue to influence cities, towns, and suburbs. The series is meant to inspire and challenge those working toward...Read more