Locating New Urbanism Developments in the U.S.: Which Cities Have New Urbanism and Why?

Jie Gao,Yan Song,Dingxin Wu,Jiang Zhou

doi:10.3390/land11010044

Abstract

This article aims to examine the characteristics of cities where New Urbanism (NU) developments are located as of 2019. We first develop a set of hypotheses to explore why some cities are welcoming NU developments more than other cities and how the cities differ in terms of general real estate development determinants, fiscal capacity and regulatory authority, advocacy group support, and cultural diversity. We then employ a Negative Binomial Regression to test the relationship between concentrations of NU developments and a variety of city characteristics by using a data set of 6923 urban cities. The results suggest that NU developments are advocated by cities with a higher level of environmental awareness, better fiscal and regulatory status, and better cultural diversity. The research results highlight the importance of continuously gaining support from environmental groups and the general public for effective expansion of New Urbanist developments within the U.S. These findings also indicate that for noteworthy changes in growth patterns to arise at a large scale across the U.S., there must be changes in values and preferences, and institutional capacity in updating land-use regulations that allow for sustainable growth.

Highlights

Urban Sprawl has been relevant in U.S cities since the 1950s, rapidly spreading to other cities throughout the world
We examined the concentration of New Urbanism (NU) developments across the U.S
We examined the geographic concentration of NU developments as of 2019 in the

Summary

Introduction

Urban Sprawl has been relevant in U.S cities since the 1950s, rapidly spreading to other cities throughout the world. It has a major impact on the environment, public health, and the socio-economic evolution of cities [1]. It has been asserted that suburban design has higher environmental, capital, and energy costs than high-density planning [20], and attenuates our societal connections and increases people isolation [21,22]. Since the early 1980s, many scholars and practitioners have suggested New Urbanism (NU), a planning ideology, as a neighborhood design alternative to urban sprawl as well as a way out of the environmental and societal issues resulting from suburban development

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Methods

Conclusion