User:Dcr18

A Comparative Assessment of New Urbanist Neighborhoods: Durham, NC & Greenville, SC, Phillip Gao, Duke University Economics, created 10 December 2008, accessed 15 September 2013 (Restore and improve urban infrastructure)

New Urbanism is a concept in urban design that creates self-sufficient, walkable neighborhoods by combining high density residential infrastructure with a commercial, business, and social hub. New Urban neighborhoods use less grid-space for resources such as water and electricity and less gasoline per resident than the traditional suburban sprawl that surrounds downtown areas in cities that evolved after the invention of the automobile.

Living in the endless suburban sprawl that is the D/FW Metroplex, I've been fascinated by different aspects of sustainable development; I know that Dallas in its current form is not sustainable. The neighborhood that peaked my interest in New Urbanism is the Legacy in Plano [1]. It's in an incredibly pricey area of Dallas (Plano has been named the wealthiest and safest city in America two of the last five years by Forbes, largely due to the Legacy bringing in the corporate headquarters of many major companies, including Frito-Lay and jcpenney), and this article by Duke undergrad Phillip Gao answered one of the questions I'd wondered for a while: Do New Urban neighborhoods have a price premium in comparison to traditional suburban neighborhoods, or was the wealth surrounding Legacy just a product of the location?

First off, this article made me incredibly excited because it was written by a Duke undergrad. I just Googled "New Urbanism" and it was one the first page. That makes me so excited for the future.