Suburbs in Disguise? Examining the Geographies of the New Urbanism

Critics of the New Urbanism assert that it contributes to sprawl and produces exclusive enclaves. However, these assertions have not been carefully evaluated. We address this critique by examining neighborhood-scale New Urbanist projects in the United States. Our research suggests these critiques oversimplify the New Urbanism in practice, yet they have some basis in reality. Most New Urbanist projects represent infill development and therefore contribute to increased regional density. At the same time, some metropolitan regions have a high proportion of greenfield development. Our case study of New Urbanist projects in the Minneapolis-St. Paul region also suggests that the exclusivity critique applies to some, but not all projects. Some projects in our sample have built environments that support a social mix well, others do it poorly, and others fall between these extremes. We therefore argue for seeing a continuum of New Urbanism in practice.