The New Urbanism

For many liberals of my generation, the New Urbanism is in. Some of us grew up in Southern and Western towns that were basically strip-malls and SUVs all the way, and longed for a more interesting kind of community. Others lived overseas, and witnessed societies where people have no problem knowing their neighbors or shopping in their own neighborhood. Most of us realize by now that there's a better kind of city out there. Bloggers like Matt Yglesias, writers like Richard Florida, and economists like David Albouy (my boss) have been getting in on the action, promoting smarter growth, denser communities, more public transportation, less zoning.

So it's very exciting to read stories like this one:

Sacramento -- yoked to the car and mired in one of the lousiest housing markets in the country -- offers an intriguing laboratory for that idea. Four years ago, just as oil was gaining momentum in its torrid climb to $140 a barrel and beyond, the six-county region adopted a plan for growth through 2050 that roped off some areas from development while concentrating growth more densely in others, emphasizing keeping jobs near homes.

The local governments in the area aren't compelled to follow the so-called Blueprint, but the plan -- backed by a strange-bedfellows coalition of ordinary citizens, politicians, developers and environmentalists -- shows signs of working, nonetheless.

"To me, the simplest way to test whether local governments are mainstreaming Blueprint growth principles is to look at...what is getting built," says [urban planner Mike] McKeever. "The evidence there is pretty clear."

Between 2004 and 2007, the number of projects with apartments, condominiums and town houses for sale in the region increased by 533%, while the number of subdivisions with homes on lots bigger than 5,500 square feet fell by 21%, according to housing-research firm Hanley Wood Market Intelligence.

There's much more in the article than I can sum up in a quote, so go read it.

I don't want to get too optimistic just yet. But with gas costs soaring (and crime in suburbs rising), there seems to be a real opportunity here for big changes in American cities. The transformation from small-town America to our current suburban sprawl was an epic saga; the transformation to some kind of higher-density, smarter living arrangement may be just as amazing.