Novi's Main Street: Neotraditional Neighborhood Planning and Design

Abstract

Recently, there has been interest in many suburban communities around the United States to revive traditional styles of commercial and residential land development. These neotraditional developments are characterized by a land-use intensive style of zoning in which densely spaced residential neighborhoods are integrated with commercial areas. One of the primary objectives of these districts is to form self-sufficient neighborhood communities. Although such land use is common in many large urban areas and rural cities, this type of combined land use is rarely seen in suburban communities. One effort to revive this traditional urban style of land development within a suburban community is the Main Street project in the city of Novi, Mich. This paper highlights some of the factors that impacted the planning and design process of the project and how these factors and decisions influenced the final appearance and function of Novi’s neotraditional downtown district. The lessons learned from the Main Street project can serve as a model for engineers and planners who may be contemplating the implementation of similar projects in their own communities.