A Tale of Two Towns Tells a Lot about this Thing called New Urbanism

Contesting Property Development in Coastal New Zealand: A Case Study of Ocean Beach, Hawke's Bay

“…, 2002). It also closely mirrors the principles of new urbanism (Ellis, 2002), making this style of development — which is characteristically accompanied by grand promises of harmonious human–environment interactions (Marshall, 2003) — potentially very attractive.…”

“…These claims, while characteristic of the rhetoric associated with new urbanism (Ellis, 2002; Marshall, 2003), are widely debated. Thus, a number of interviewees remarked that a sense of community already existed at the beach: ‘the community that uses it weekend by weekend’ (Amelia), ‘all the people that enjoy it and have got together to try to oppose [development]’ (Lee) and ‘the Maori people, and the weekenders, and those people that lease the baches’ (Terrence).…”

New Urbanism/Smart Growth in the Scottish Highlands: Mobile Policies and Post-politics in Local Development Planning

“…Yet one particularly salient criticism concerns the extent to which many New Urbanist projects were built on ‘greenfield’ fringes, with densities only marginally higher than conventional suburbs and a disproportionate share of upper-income classes (Harvey, 1997; Kohn, 2004): tendencies which prompted Scully (1994) to aver that ‘New Suburbanism’ might be a more accurate name (Burns et al ., 2002). To be sure, during the 1980s and early 1990s, 80 per cent of projects were suburban on greenfield land; but by the early 2000s, this had reduced to 50; many projects either retrofitting existing suburbs or ‘infill’ on urban sites (Ellis, 2002; Marshall, 2003). Moreover, New Urbanist principles are increasingly deployed to ‘reclaim places once thought lost’ (CNU, 2012): a high-profile example being the US Federal Hope VI programme which aims to transform deteriorating public housing into livable mixed-income neighbourhoods (HUD, 1997; Hanlon, 2010).…”

“…Research on existing New Urbanist towns validates these concerns. Marshall (2003) identifies how the inability of planners to coax major retailers into Celebration town proper has left a majority of residents driving along the sprawling highway US192 towards the big-box mall for groceries, furniture and ‘almost anything essential’. This leads Marshall (2003, p. 233) to conclude that “Celebration is fully dependent on US192 … The irony here [being] that Celebration pretends to be the antithesis of US192”.…”

“…Marshall (2003) identifies how the inability of planners to coax major retailers into Celebration town proper has left a majority of residents driving along the sprawling highway US192 towards the big-box mall for groceries, furniture and ‘almost anything essential’. This leads Marshall (2003, p. 233) to conclude that “Celebration is fully dependent on US192 … The irony here [being] that Celebration pretends to be the antithesis of US192”. Tioga, nine miles from downtown Gainsville in Florida, boasts of how its “front porches are as friendly as the neighbors that live within” 9 (Kohn, 2004, p. 130).…”