Responding to the modern development of unchecked placeless suburban sprawl, and the disinvestment of inner city centers, a group of architects, led by couple Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk and Andres Duany, launched a movement with the intention of a radical paradigm shift in the way we conceive urbanism and urban planning. Termed New Urbanism, accompanied by the Charter for New Urbanism released in 1999, this movement advocated for the restoration of existing urban centers and towns within coherent metropolitan regions, the reconfiguration of sprawling suburbs into communities of real neighborhoods and diverse districts, the conservation of natural environments and the preservation of our built legacy. Although sounding well-intentioned, the goal of New Urbanism is a retreat and renewal of planned communities of the early 1900’s. We argue that by retreating to this form of “traditional” community design, new urbanists brought back romanticized notions of the earliest American colonies and by doing so reinforced settler colonial narratives of land acquisition and white placemaking.

Show Notes Available at

https://www.sahraah.com/race-podcast