Principles of the Charter of the New Urbanism

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The Region, Metropolis City and Town

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The metropolitan region is a fundamental economic unit of the contemporary world.

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Governmental cooperation, public policy, physical planning, and economic strategies must reflect this new reality.

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Metropolitan regions are finite places with geographic boundaries derived from topography, watersheds, coastlines, farmlands, regional parks, and river basins.

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The metropolis is made of multiple centers that are cities, towns, and villages, each with its own identifiable center and edges.

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The metropolis has a necessary and fragile relationship to its agrarian hinterland and natural landscapes.

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The relationship is environmental, economic, and cultural. Farmland and nature are as important to the metropolis as the garden is to the house.

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Development patterns should not blur or eradicate the edges of the metropolis.

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Infill development within existing areas conserves environmental resources, economic investment, and social fabric, while reclaiming marginal and abandoned areas. Metropolitan regions should develop strategies to encourage such infill development over peripheral expansion.

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Where appropriate, new development contiguous to urban boundaries should be organized as neighborhoods and districts, and be integrated with the existing urban pattern.

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Noncontiguous development should be organized as towns and villages with their own urban edges, and planned for a jobs/housing balance, not as bedroom suburbs.

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The development and redevelopment of towns and cities should respect historical patterns, precedents and boundaries.

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Cities and towns should bring into proximity a broad spectrum of public and private uses to support a regional economy that benefits people of all incomes.

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Affordable housing should be distributed throughout the region to match job opportunities to avoid concentrations of poverty.

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The physical organization of the region should be supported by a framework of transportation alternatives.

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Transit, pedestrian, and bicycle systems should maximize access and mobility throughout the region while reducing dependence on the automobile.

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Revenues and resources can be shared more cooperatively among the municipalities and centers within regions to avoid destructive competition for tax base and to promote rational coordination of transportation, recreation, public services, housing, and community institutions.

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The Neighborhood, District, and Corridor

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The neighborhood, the district, and the corridor are the essential elements of development and redevelopment in the metropolis.

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They form identifiable areas that encourage citizens to take responsibility for their maintenance and evolution.

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Neighborhoods should be compact, pedestrian-friendly, and mixed-use. Districts generally emphasize a special single use, and should follow the principles of neighborhood design when possible. Corridors are regional connectors of neighborhoods and districts; they range from boulevards and rail lines to rivers and parkways.

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Many activities of daily living should occur within walking distance, allowing independence to those who do not drive, especially the elderly and the young.

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Interconnected networks of streets should be designed to encourage walking, reduce the number and length of automobile trips, and conserve energy

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Within neighborhoods, a broad range of housing types and price levels can bring people of diverse ages, races, and incomes into daily interaction, strengthening the personal and civic bonds essential to an authentic community.

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Transit corridors can help organize metropolitan structure and revitalize urban centers, when properly planned and coordinated. In contrast, highway corridors should not displace investment from existing centers.

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Appropriate building densities and land uses should be within walking distance of transit stops, permitting public transit to become a viable alternative to the automobile.

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Concentrations of civic, institutional, and commercial activity should be embedded in neighborhoods and districts, not isolated in remote single-use complexes.

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Schools should be sized and located to enable children to walk or bicycle to them.

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The economic health and harmonious evolution of neighborhoods, districts, and corridors can be improved through graphic urban design codes that serve as predictable guides for change.

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A range of parks should be distributed within neighborhoods, from tot lots and village greens to ballfields and community gardens.

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Conservation areas and open lands should be used to define and connect different neighborhoods and districts.

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