TheNew Urbanism is growing nationwide, but in some places more thanothers, an analysis of the movement’s geographical distribution shows. Fifteenyears after its official founding, New Urbanism remains a planning anddesign movement that’s distributed very unevenly across the country. Togauge where New Urbanism is flourishing and where it is still in anearlier, slower stage of growth, New Urban News analyzed two sources:listings in the 2008 Directory of the New Urbanismand membership in the Congress for the New Urbanism. CNU provided ageographic breakdown of its members, who tend to be the movement’sactivists. In the second annual edition of the Directory,published by New Urban News Publications, we looked at the locations ofprojects and offices of practitioners, developers, and builders. Thereis substantial overlap in the clusters from the Directory and CNU, but differences as well {some tables shown below; please see June 2008 issue for all tables}. Perhapsnot surprisingly, we found that on a per capita basis, the District ofColumbia has by far more people involved in the New Urbanism than anyof the states. As an urban place with more than its share of policywonks, the nation’s capital is proving to be fertile ground for newurbanists. BeyondDC, a state-by-state analysis does produce some surprises {see tables,below}. Florida is known as a cradle of New Urbanism and has the mostprojects and people in the Directory, andthe second most CNU members. {Only Texas has more, largely because the2008 Congress was recently held there and attracted many new members.}On a per capita basis, however, South Carolina, Colorado, and Oregonrank higher. That’s a culturally and geographically diverse group ofstates in the forefront of this trend, and there are many reasons as towhy they are in the lead.Strong population growth inthe last 10 years is one factor common to states with solid ties to NewUrbanism. This probably reflects the fact that it’s easier to getinnovative development in a place where lots of growth is taking place.But that’s not the whole story — there are many states with stronggrowth and little new urbanist activity. South Carolina TheSouth in general has substantial traditional neighbor-hood development{TND}, but South Carolina stands out. In the early 1990s, Newpoint inBeaufort, by developers Vince Graham and Robert Turner, was one of thenation’s first successful TNDs. “It was a seed project,” says Turner.“A lot of developers came to see it and they said ‘this is working.’”Graham and Turner went on to develop other well-known TNDs and infilldevelopments. The architects and builders trained in those earlyprojects have gone on to work in other developments, and, in the caseof designers, to see their work get built throughout the country. ThePalmetto State is rich in historic urbanism, with cities and towns likeCharleston, Beaufort, and nearby Savannah. “These preexisting towns andcities were templates that were easy to sell off of,” Turner explains.“Builders have latched on to the Lowcountry style and are morequalified” than those in many other regions. Colorado NewUrbanism has strong roots in the highly populated region east of theFront Range of Colorado — especially from Denver north to Boulder and afew miles beyond.Like many states with stronggrowth, Colorado has a lot of sprawl, but it is also one of the fewareas with many superb examples of New Urbanism of many types — infill,greenfield, grayfield, transit villages — within a relatively shortdrive. Architect Tim Van Meter of Van Meter Williams Pollack in Denvercredits the 1998 Congress for the New Urbanism in Denver as having atransformative effect on the region. Colorado has less historicurbanism than South
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