Faking It
In response to a recent Wall Street Journal article criticizing New Urbanism, Governing.com asks, “What’s so bad about faux downtowns?” You know, these are the trendy developments that incorporate grids, a mix of retail, condo, and apartments, and occasional Disney-esque sense of urbanism. 
Governing gets it right: “By creating pedestrian environments, these places offer suburbanites a place to mingle and get to know their neighbors. And by mixing uses and creating greater densities, they open the door to transit service…” Even more on point is the dean of the University of Michigan
June 14th, 2006
Robo
Thursday, June 15, 2006
But it’s just so … sterile. I suppose I can see the value in it. Just keep your new urbanism away from my grubby, crime infested, decaying, soul crushing, seedy old urbanism. Seriously, where do you get your cheap hookers and crack at Southern Village (or SoVi [which looks a lot like soviet come to think of it] as it may be known — every new urban center needs a hip nickname created from the first few letters of its full name)?