New Suburbanism

My Contribution:

Smart growth:

Suburban sprawl is associated with negative effects because it often takes over farm land, disrupts ecosystems, has low-density housing, and car-dependent communities. Suburban sprawl continues to grow as over 70% of Americans choose to live in such communities.1 Planners are currently seeking to make the suburbs more sustainable and New Suburbanism offers a solution. This planning approach seeks to redesign suburban communities by making them more-dense, equitable, and environmentally sustainable while still keeping housing and design preferences of the consumer in mind.2

History:

The design strategy for New Suburbanism differs from the traditional postwar suburban development. In contrast to post-war suburbanism where the homebuyer had few options in regards to customization, new suburban communities feature customization through packages and add-ons as well as larger homes in denser communities. Postwar suburban developments have since filled in with homes and businesses began emerging there, outside of the city-center. This created new communities, not just suburban housing.3

Comparison to New Urbanism:

New Urbanism is style of planning a new neighborhood that focuses on redesigning flaws of suburbanism and creating community, whereas New Suburbanism is improving of an existing neighborhood.3

Sources:

1. Fannie-Mae-Foundation. Downtown housing as an urban redevelopment tool: hope or hype (panel discussion). Housing Policy Debate, 10 (1997), pp. 477–505. Retrieved: 3 May 2017.

2. Atkninson-Palombo, Carol. New housing construction in Phoenix: Evidence of “new suburbanism”? Cities: Vol 27, pp. 77-86. 2010. Retreived: 3 May 2017.  (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264275109001073)

3. Lewis, Paul and Marc Tsurumaki, David J. Lewis. New Suburbanism, Oz: Vol 25. 2003. Retreived: 3 May 2017.

 (http://newprairiepress.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1384&context=oz)