‘Just A Walk From Home To Shopping’: Cincinnati Suburbs Embrace New Urbanism

"New Urbanism" isn't just for urban areas. In fact, it's not really "new" at all; and in many cases, it's not really "urban" in the classic sense.

Instead, it's all about going back to traditional town and village living, before the disastrous ideas of the past few decades that designed ONLY for the car. New Urbanism isn't about getting rid of cars; it's about having a balance, so it's attractive to either walk OR drive (or take public transit when available).

In one Cincinnati suburb, "scores of people [are] lining up to live in a planned new community called The Village at the Streets, across a creek from [a] shopping-entertainment complex," the Cincinnati Enquirer reports.

The community, with groundbreaking targeted for this summer, will combine townhomes and condominiums with a coffee shop and other retail and commercial properties in a plan that includes walking bridges, sidewalks and paths. Its Italianate style of architecture, and village square, awnings and gaslight lamps, suggests a European town.

And it will offer a respite from jumping into the car for traffic-weary suburbanites.

"Everything is there. I literally can throw a stone from where I work to there. I can walk to a restaurant, or a movie, or to shop," Francesca Trego, who plans to purchase a townhouse there, told the Enquirer.

"The Village at the Streets is one of the latest trends in Greater Cincinnati suburban development, 'mixed use' that combines residential areas with places to shop, eat, and even work within walking distance in a neighborhood setting," the article notes. A number of other such projects are planned in the region.