Cities of the Future Have Arrived!

Housing developments have come a long way from the cookie cutter suburban tracts and communities like Levittown, N.Y., where commercial centers are completely separated from residential areas and where hundreds and thousands of modest and nearly identical homes line the monotonous streets. Beginning in the early 1980s, many community master planners adopted the principles of New Urbanism, a movement which aims to create compact, walkable and mixed-use villages, towns and cities for a diverse cross-section of residents that ideally include everyone from singles and families, young and old, rich and poor. New Urbanist communities typically include easily accessible town centers, pedestrian friendly neighborhoods with narrow, tree-lined streets and the intermixture of housing types from small apartments to substantial single-family dwellings. New Urbanists are committed to creating communities that embrace a unified architectural vernacular that fits with and enhances the geographic location and they place a premium on public spaces, parks, playgrounds, community centers and schools that promote the interaction of residents with each other and the physical surroundings. Photo Credit: Getty Images