From: Dallas Morning News
By: Jeff Young / July 23, 2009
Whenever I'm at a social function and somebody throws out a term like "new urbanism," there's a pretty decent chance that I don't know what it is, unless it somehow showed up on MythBusters or SportsCenter . But unlike most people, who might use this opportunity to nod and be generally agreeable, I choose to feign an opposing viewpoint just to stir things up.
So, Jeff, what do you think of all the new urbanism projects popping up in Dallas?"
"I'm against it. It's going to kill us all."
"What? Why? Don't you think it's a great way to reduce our dependence on automobiles?"
"Yes, but – you won't believe this – I think somebody brought queso. You guys keep talking about the evils of new burbanism. ... I'll get a read on the queso situation." And then I'll run home and search dallasnews.com and Wikipedia to find out what the heck everybody is talking about.
It turns out that new urbanism is an inspired concept of community structure, where you combine mixed-use development with pedestrian-friendly walkways to condense sprawling suburbs into little microcosm neighborhoods. You mix in some trees, hide all the cars and, ta-da, you have a little Truman Show-type world where people can eat, sleep, work, play and go on dates, all within 17 feet of one another. You get extra points if you live on top of a bakery, next door to a dental office and across the walkway from a yoga studio. (Pssst ... good luck finding a dollar store.)
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