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early 1980s. Its goals are to reduce dependence on the car, and to create livable and walkable, neighborhoods with a densely packed array of housing, jobs and commercial sites. New Urbanism also promotes a return to the traditional town planning seen in places such as downtown Charleston, South Carolina and Georgetown in Washington, D.C. These locations are ideal for New Urbanists because in each one there is an easily walkable "Main Street," a downtown park, shopping districts and a gridded street system.
Within the concept of New Urbanism today, there are four key ideas. The first of these is to ensure that a city is walkable. This means that no resident should need a car to get anywhere in the community and they should be no more than a five minute walk from any basic good or service. To achieve this, communities should invest in sidewalks and narrow streets. In addition to actively promoting walking, cities should also de-emphasize the car by placing garages behind homes or in alleys. There should also only be on-street parking, instead of large parking lots. Another core idea of New Urbanism is that buildings should be mixed both in their style, size, price and function. For example, a small townhouse can be placed next to a larger, single family home. Mixed-use buildings such as those containing commercial spaces with apartments over them are also ideal in this setting. Finally, a New Urbanist city should have a strong emphasis on the community. This means maintaining connections between people with high density, parks, open spaces and community gathering centers like a plaza or neighborhood square.
Finally, critics of New Urbanism argue that instead of promoting diversity and community, New Urbanist neighborhoods only attract affluent white residents as they often become very expensive places to live. Regardless of these criticisms though, New Urbanist ideas are becoming a popular form of planning communities and with a growing emphasis on mixed-use buildings, high density settlements and walkable cities, its principles will continue into the future.