Wednesday, April 27, 2011

New Urbanism's latest recruit is the military

By William L. Hamilton

One of the newer suburban developments in Fairfax County, Va., is the Villages at Belvoir.
Belvoir is Ft. Belvoir, a military post. And the "villages," 15 New Urbanist towns, are on-post housing for soldiers and their families.
The first, Herryford Village, was occupied last year: 171 townhouses and single-family homes designed in a local Georgian Colonial style. It has a Main Street with shops and a clock tower, playgrounds and village greens with open-air pavilions and centralized mailboxes where residents can socialize informally. There is not a tin hut or cinderblock house in sight.
Since the Department of Defense began privatizing its housing in 1996 (more than 128,000 units to date), replacing and upgrading an antiquated stock through partnerships with the private sector, the armed services have started running in some surprising architectural circles.


read more articles about New Urbanism:

How do we create places where people want to work, live and play?

Three Urbanisms: New, Everyday and Post

How Urban Design Affect Personal Activity and Travel Choice - An Analysis of Travel Data from Sample Communities in Adelaide

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