I’m in a Gentrification & Urban Redevelopment Facebook group and an individual posted a list of sources that are critical of New Urbanism. They are good, and most of them accessible. In an effort to avoid getting burned at the stake, I also added some articles and blog-bits that consider the strengths of New Urbanism.

Awhile back there was chatter in the group surrounding the “pros and cons” of gentrification and I am reminded that words matter. I do my best to eliminate words like “pro/con,” “positive/negative,” “good/bad” when weighing concepts like this (not because I don’t have my own opinions, but because I want the kids to make one first). And, if we are really trying to use the CED skills, the 1.E skill: “Explain the strengths, weaknesses, and limitations of different geographic models and theories in a specified context,” we now have a reason to use different language.

Use or refuse.

Weaknesses and Limitations of New Urbanism

• Does New Urbanism Have a Racial Problem?
• Opinion: Is urbanism a fantasy of racialized capitalism?
• New Globalism, New Urbanism: Gentrification as Global Urban Strategy
• The New Urbanism and the Communitarian Trap
• Rethinking Redevelopment:​ Neoliberalism, New Urbanism, and Sustainable Urban Design in Cleveland, Ohio
• Crossing Over: Sustainability, New Urbanism, and Gentrification in Austin, Texas
• Urban planning as a tool of white supremacy – the other lesson from Minneapolis
• Urbanism Hasn’t Worked for Everyone
• New urbanism and race: An analysis of neighborhood racial change in suburban Atlanta
• Why New Urbanism isn’t for Everyone via NYT

Strengths of New Urbanism

• Congress for the New Urbanism: Health benefits of New Urbanism
• The New Urbanism Challenges Conventional Planning
• How New Urbanism Research could Build Better Cities
• Embracing New Urbanism–Representing Developers in a Changing Development Climate, A Real Estates Attorney’s Perspective
• Smart Growth, New Urbanism and Diversity: Progressive Planning Movements in America and Their Impact on Poor and Minority Ethnic Populations
• New Urbanism trend integrates sustainability and livable communities
• Congress Considering Money to Unbuild Freeways and Rebuild Communities

Additions? Comments? Ideas? Critiques? All OK, just be nice.

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