History of New Urbanism

In the 1980s, a growing number of architects and planners became unhappy with the way urban centers were decaying and the simultaneous increase of communities that were fragmented, car-oriented and spread out. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, this discontent gave rise to the New Urbanist movement.

New Urbanism gained national recognition with the development of communities like the resort village of Seaside, Florida in 1981. Seaside received national media coverage with a feature article in Atlantic Monthly in 1988, and when it was featured in the 1998 blockbuster, "The Truman Show". The development of Seaside and other New Urbanist communities (Kentlands, MD, and Celebration, FL) helped put the New Urbanist movement in the national spotlight.

Today, many housing, transportation and planning officials, as well as legislators, have adopted the principles of New Urbanism. For example, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)'s Hope VI program uses New Urbanist principles in an effort to transform the nation's blighted and decaying public housing projects into healthy, sustainable and functioning communities.

Many elected officials like Congressman Earl Blumenauer (Oregon) have become aware of New Urbanism and have incorporated the principles of livable communities into their political agendas. Such leaders are spreading and popularizing New Urbanism on the national level.

Although the movement is still in its infancy, New Urbanism is growing and gaining popularity with several hundred successful and note worthy town-building projects underway.

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