Central Features of New Urbanism
Why we love our town
I wrote about how we discovered our new urbanist town here but wanted to expand on what exactly new urbanism is. It is a more recent town design movement stemming from philosopher Lewis Mumford and writer Jane Jacobs’ The Death and Life of Great American Cities. Reading Suburban Nation, written by the team that designed our town, was the best introduction for us.
Much of new urbanism is a response to the problem of cars and how they are dangerous, atomistic, and isolating. The suburbs have become ugly communities centered around convenience with personal castles. Each person who drives home crosses their moat and closes the drawbridge (their garage) to retreat into their castle without having to deal with anyone. Maybe suburban sprawl was inevitable with the proliferation of cars post-World War II, but it came with significant costs to everyday life.
There is so much I love about our new urbanist town designed by Andres Duany’s team started in 2004. Pictures are the best way to describe the core features of New Urbanism.
If you look at a normal suburban home recently built, you’ll notice it is created for the inside people and not for the community. The garage in front is the loudest feature of the home. Tall ceilings with big windows in modern homes make people feel like they can stay outside without actually having to go outside. And notice the setback, which is how far away these homes are built from the street. If you were walking on the sidewalk and your neighbor were actually sitting on their front porch, you would have to try very hard to say hi. Far setbacks are also terrible for safety because drivers feel like they can go very fast, not noticing they are actually in a neighborhood. If houses are built right on the street, the driver will feel cramped and slow down and notice that there is a living space and people right next to them.
Compare that with a typical urban or new urbanist home, this one being one of my favorite designs in our town. This home communicates so much beauty to those walking passed it, not just beauty for those inside. The front porches are made to talk to those walking by, and the cars won’t race passed because they’ll realize they’re basically driving in your front room (your porch!). There’s also street parking on both sides to ensure people slow down and make clear that your car is a nuisance. This town is made for people. I also love how in many new urbanist communities, there is a sense of conformity to the architectural style of the town where the individual does not stand out. But there is also beauty where each home is not the same. I love this home above because of the brick in between and the wooden doors. I love traditional architecture for so many reasons but especially because it’s not all about your individual personality. And it lasts and doesn’t get torn down.
Of course, there are other new urbanist towns with modern architecture which fits the natural landscape and personalities of people there. New urbanism doesn’t only mean traditional architecture, but there is an emphasis on a town fitting together and not just being full of identical homes and identical strip malls.
Another important feature of new urbanism is “mixed-use” buildings and areas. A building should be used 24 hours, so the downstairs can be an office space or store, and the upstairs can be an apartment. If there are sprawling shopping areas or office buildings, they are empty for a good 12 hours a day, which attracts crime and is a waste of space. They also look ugly because no one lives there and cares about them like they do their home. We care so much about where we live, and we clean up our space and beautify it. We don’t care about a strip mall or office building in the same way.
We all walk to get our mail in the center of town (or golf cart more realistically), ensuring that you have to see other people and be a part of the town. We don’t have and stoplights or crosswalks and never will. We all have garages in the back and have beautiful alleyways. Front porches are a must, which sadly don’t get used nearly enough because of the invention of air-conditioning and heating. People used to spend all summer on front porches because they were cool, but now we just go inside. When it’s nice out though, Joel and I can sit on the porch while our kids play in the street with neighbors, and we all talk or go to each others’ porches.
New Urbanism is also all about having different levels of home values right next to each other. There can be some apartments or college students, a row home of a starting family, a ranch with a retired couple, next to a 5-bedroom home of a big family all in the same area. Think how much this mixing of ages and stages benefits each other. It helps fight against our tendency to mix with people just at our socio-economic class when we can live right next to people of all economic levels and stages. I love that our town is affordable to all levels, though you have to be willing to give up square footage and some yard space. We are happy to pay more for a smaller lot than we might find elsewhere though, especially because I don’t like to clean, mow, and maintain that much square footage, and we find that the whole town is kind of like our yard we share with others. We’d much rather use the town pool than clean and maintain our own for example.
Of course, ours does feel a little “fake” because it’s not the real urbanism of old cities. There are downsides to these beautiful old cities though, mostly how expensive they are, poorly run, and sometimes overpopulated. We love that our town won’t actually get too big, and that we can be involved in how it’s run. There’s even a video about our town here if you want a whole tour.
One of the most life-changing parts of our town is being able to walk with kids and let them roam a bit more than I might allow in downtown St. Louis or no-sidewalk-suburbs. Every parent knows how strapping three kids four and under in the car is not pleasant, and it’s incredible to just head out the door with them and go to the playground, market, or mailroom.
We’ve also been encouraged by how many Christians we know throughout the town and from all kinds of backgrounds and churches. I often walk with several neighbors throughout the week, can pray with them, and it’s incredibly easy to catch up. I also love running into people, and sometimes these few-minute conversations with them on the street can be so uplifting. One time I was walking with Thomas to try to help him blow off some major disobedience (and sugar overload), and I ran into Christian friends that just said some very helpful parenting words of wisdom. Often, I run into my friend on her walks, hand her my baby, and we can catch up for five wonderful minutes.
We were praying before we moved here that we could find the Christians in our town, and I can’t believe how much God answered that. Joel found F3, a men’s workout group that meets in town and throughout the country, and we know so many families through that now. We also have tried to get to know the churches in the town and be somewhat part of them, even if we are members elsewhere. We keep praying and hoping for more like-minded Christian families to move to our town and have grand hopes of it becoming a “Benedict Option” town. More on that another time.