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particular edge location, or if water and sewer
services are already available nearby, then the
other two options come into play depending on
circumstances:
(b) The new development can take the form of a
higher density mixed-use ‘urban village’ that can
create a new center for an evolving community; or
(c) It can be designed as a low density, low impact
residential development that minimizes its effect
on the environment and conserves as many of the
site’s environmental features as possible.
This discussion should make it obvious that Smart
Growth isn’t anti-suburb, as is often claimed by its
detractors in Myth no. 3. Smart Growth is not all
about cities and density at the expense of the
suburbs. On the contrary, one of the aims of Smart
Growth is to make 
better
suburbs as part of a strategy
to improve and extend the choices of urban and
suburban lifestyles for homebuyers. Even the devel-
opment industry in America is beginning to realize
that the product they have been building for the
last forty years has serious flaws. A 1998 report pub-
lished by the Urban Land Institute, the developers’
think tank and professional association, stated that
conventional housing subdivisions, with their social
isolation, segregated land use, car dependence and
long commutes, did not meet consumers’ needs to
feel part of a real community (Warrick and Alexander,
1998). The following year the much-studied annual
publication 
Emerging Trends in Real Estate 1999
noted that standard suburbia may not be sustainable,
with many low-density suburban communities suf-
fering a loss of value due to poor design and increased
traffic (O’Neill, 1999). Here is the paradox. Lots of
Americans want to live in the suburbs, but they’re fed
up with problems created by standard suburban
design. Smart Growth offers ways out of this dilemma
with more advanced and integrated suburban design
concepts.
From this brief discussion on suburban options it
is easy to see that Smart Growth is not anti-car (Myth
no. 4). Wanting to provide transportation choices to
improve people’s lifestyle is just the opposite. Smart
Growth seeks to improve driving conditions by
reducing the number of car trips people take every
day. Road improvements and new roads have a big
role to play as part of any integrated transportation
strategy, but the need for public investment in new
highways can be limited to everybody’s advantage by
reducing the amount people drive. Designing mixed-
use communities to improve the balance between
jobs and housing, and concentrating growth in
established areas (especially if they are served by buses
or trains) are two smart ways to lessen the need and
the length of car trips, and to offer more choices of
travel modes. By changing America’s near total
dependency on the car to a situation where we have
more choice of how to get around our communities,
we can help to reduce congestion, air pollution and
save public money on new highways.
As noted in Chapter Two, the concept of more
walkable communities has recently been supported
by health professionals in the USA. Major research
programs are underway to combat the big increases
in the incidence of adult and child obesity, adult-
onset diabetes and other ailments that are afflicting
Americans who don’t walk anywhere in their daily
CHAPTER THREE
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TRADITIONAL URBANISM
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lives. A very small percentage of children walk to
school, largely because it is impossible. New schools
are generally located at the edge of communities and
accessible only by car. The parents of these obese kids
also don’t walk. There are few places to walk to in the
spread-out suburbs, and few sidewalks to walk on.
The public health concept ‘active living by design,’
promoted by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
in America, supports exactly the kinds of neighbor-
hoods designed with Smart Growth and New
Urbanist principles. This health initiative promotes a
change of lifestyle for children and adults to one
where walking becomes part of the normal daily activ-
ity. This attitude toward physical health for the gen-
eral population is also extended to the elderly, and
walkable neighborhoods can provide opportunities
for the continued independence of older citizens
when they can no longer drive.
The myth that Smart Growth doesn’t work in the
market place (Myth no. 5) is another common
misconception that can be dispelled as easily as the
other inaccuracies. One of the clearest signs of its
increasing success and acceptance by the market is the
increasing number of books and reports on the sub-
ject published in America by the Urban Land
Institute, as noted earlier in the text. One of the ULI’s
missions is to lead the development industry and
educate its members about new trends. ULI reports
note that real estate values are expected to rise fastest
in places that incorporate the attributes of successful
cities, including a concentration of amenities, a mix
of uses, and walkable neighborhoods (O’Neill, 1999:
p. 11). People increasingly want to live in such places,
whether they are city centers, or close-in neighbor-
hoods, or in well-planned suburban fringe locations.
Americans increasingly desire communities that
balance new housing with places to work and shop,
and preserve open space for natural beauty and
environmental purposes.
The longing to live in such places is reflected in
higher house prices, which is good and bad news; good
that it reflects a clear market profitability, but bad as it
limits affordability of housing, making the goal of a
balanced, diverse and socially equitable community
harder to achieve. Underlying the growing market
success of Smart Growth development is a shift in
demographics. Empty nesters, smaller families, mar-
ried couples without children and single people are
demographic groups that are growing, and looking
for housing that reflects their priorities, including
low-maintenance living and urban amenities. The
US Census anticipates that 80% of all new house-
holds that will be formed by 2020 will comprise
single people or couples with no children; already the
traditional nuclear family accounts for less than one
quarter of all American households. These demo-
graphic pressures will force the market to diversify,
and Smart Growth developments will become
increasingly profitable as they satisfy this inexorable
demand. This same profitability extends to the com-
mercial sector. Reports in