• Proposed: A new California city

    California Forever in the Central Valley offers an opportunity to test walkable community-building on a scale we haven’t seen in a century.
    At the first Congress for the New Urbanism in Alexandria, Virginia, in 1993, planning Professor Robert Fishman described the concept of “mass suburbia” taking hold in America in the years after World War II. A synonym is “sprawl.” New urbanists have described the physical characteristics of sprawl...Read more

  • Prices mounting in the Green Mountains

    When protecting nature goes too far.
    Hear “Vermont” and a certain vision passes through one’s head: Green Mountains with bucolic small towns. It comes as no surprise that Vermonters know this and love their scenery. To protect it, they’ve passed some of the heftiest environmental protection and development-regulation laws in the...Read more

  • Robert Stern, a leader in traditional architecture and urbanism

    Stern challenged a modernist establishment in the 1970s and 1980s, building a solid portfolio of work that would firmly establish the idea of ‘modern traditionalism.’
    Robert A.M. Stern, who was highly influential in the movement to restore urbanism to America, died Thanksgiving Day at the age of 86. Stern was one of only 20 winners of the Athena Medal, given by CNU to those who have “cast a lasting and enduring influence on the practice and thought of New...Read more

  • The hidden suburban logic behind America’s products

    How suburban life quietly redefined everything we buy, use, and throw away.
    I recently moved apartments within the same urban neighborhood. We had to hire someone to junk our 6-year-old couch, as large items that cannot be dismantled need special disposal. It was not broken, the frame was fine but the cushions were worn and not designed to be replaced. I searched for a...Read more