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Vacation rentals are fueling new-home sales at Seabrook, a resort community near Puget Sound.
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Catherine Ross of the Georgia Institute of Technology sees builders potentially leading the charge.
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Looking for a terrific house? BUILDER design editor Jenny Sullivan shares her favorites from the past year.
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Researchers show that residents walk to shopping, but still drive to work.
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2008 Builder's Choice Merit Award Winner
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The home building industry is in for a long, grueling winter, but there are signs of spring on the horizon. At opposite ends of the country, two new urbanist neighborhoods are sprouting up on sites that were more than ready for a little rejuvenation. Thanks to smart planning and a cooperative effort between public and private entities, East Beach (top right), a 100-acre project in Norfolk, Va., that was once a collection of crime-ridden housing, and Villebois (left), formerly home to the state mental hospital in Wilsonville, Ore., are on their way to becoming dynamic traditional neighborhood developments (TNDs).
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Most college students can't wait to get out of the dorms and into off-campus housing. At Wofford College, seniors have a reason to stick around: a New Urbanist–style neighborhood of cottages to call their own, complete with rockers, hammocks, and barbecue grills.
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Looking for a sure-fire way to distinguish yourself from all the other builders in a New Urbanist community? Take a cue from Denver-based Infinity Home Collection and its Sky Terrace project at Stapleton, the ambitious re-purposing of 4,700 acres that were once Denver's airport. At build-out, slated for 2020, Stapleton will be home to more than 30,000 residents.
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LIFE ON A TROPICAL ISLAND offers some unexpected delights in this infill paradise. Proving that New Urbanism need not be synonymous with historic revival architecture, its geometric forms are completely modern.
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WHY IT WORKED: Located in the much-coveted West Bloomfield school district, Harbor Village exudes the easy charm of a small town in otherwise bustling Oakland County, Mich. The only TND in Keego Harbor, the community has broad appeal to first-time buyers, empty-nesters, and families.
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The Village of West Clay, one of the Midwest's most celebrated experiments in New Urbanism, may be proof positive that commercial zones are easier to change than citizen comfort zones.
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Don't let the elegant details fool you. The rich wood Timberlake cabinets and sea glass tile may be easy on the eyes, but the main kitchen is all about business.
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The challenge of housing Las Vegas' new residents has introduced new terms to the area's vocabulary, including "live/work," "new urbanism," and, especially, "mixed-use."
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The architect says he was drawn to the New Urban Challenge because it offered an alternative to the "prevailing trend in our business of big, bigger, biggest."
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Take three very tight lots, three distinct buyer profiles, and strict architectural guidelines, and give them to three world-class architects. What do you get? Three small servings of perfection.The response from the architects to the New Urban Challenge was intensely personal. They designed houses they would want to live in themselves.
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JOKE IF YOU WANT ABOUT NEW JERSEY, BUT WHEN IT COMES to selling high-density waterfront housing, few can match the Landings at Harborside in Perth Amboy. The first phase of 78 homes of the project's 2,100-unit master plan sold out in 10 days, thanks largely to an innovative sales and design center created from a forsaken naval training center on site.
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The 2005 New Urban Challenge show home project, co-sponsored by Home and BUILDER magazines, stood up to 110 mph winds this fall and shows off the latest and greatest in walkable, new urban community design.
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AT FIRST GLANCE, IT'S HARD TO SEE HOW THE Carneros Inn in Napa, Calif., could have any connection to the tenets of new urbanism. The 27-acre, $57 million resort property boasts the first of two dozen for-sale homes, 96 guest cottages, a spa, and a first-class restaurant. Instead of the usual alley-loaded garages, front porches, and other new urbanism signatures, the site is marked by swaths of lavender and hilltop views of the Napa River, neighboring vineyards, and the Mayacamas Mountains. And forget the average amenities of most planned communities. Here, homeowners have full access to everything the resort has to offer, plus in-home catering, wine tastings, and maid service.
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A study published in the Journal of Urban Economics finds that homes in new urbanist neighborhoods cost 15.5 percent more than comparable homes in traditional neighborhoods. The study looked at sales prices of 48,000 single-family homes in Portland, Ore., and such neighborhood characteristics as the number of cul de sacs and proximity to shopping and public transportation.
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Until recently, there weren't a lot of reasons to get off Highway 80 at Hercules, Calif. In fact, many San Franciscans probably aren't familiar with the little town, which is on the Bay side 16 miles north of Oakland. Promenade, built by Western Pacific Housing, is the first residential project in the revitalization plan.