With its town center, classic architecture and riverside location, RiverTown will be a place reminiscent of the historic towns dotting the banks of America’s rivers. It will also be a departure from the typical suburban neighborhoods we’ve come to recognize.
That’s because RiverTown has been designed following the principles of Traditional Neighborhood Design (TND) that prescribe to a philosophy of residents living amidst a blend of public and private spaces. Conventional suburbs separate these areas, making cars a necessity for getting around. TND developments, however, encourage a return to earlier ideals of neighborhood planning by locating retail and recreational areas within steps of a resident’s front door.
Some of the distinctive characteristics of a TND include:
- A variety of housing choices (apartments, townhomes, residential over retail, small lot single family homes, larger lot single family homes)
- A mixture of uses (residential, office, retail, recreational and civic)
- Pedestrian-friendly streets and neighborhoods
- Neighborhood scaled parks and open spaces
- The integration of a town center, usually within easy walking or bike riding distance of the residences
- A sense of community through the application of neighborhood gathering areas
Seen as an alternative to suburban sprawl, the number of TND communities is on the rise across the United States. Florida cities including Orlando, Jacksonville and Gainesville have adopted building code sections including TND provisions. Many other local governments across the United States have also incorporated codes that allow for TNDs.
Possibly the most famous TND development, which also happens to be one of the first modern-day TND developments, is Seaside (located in Florida’s panhandle). This community was immortalized in the Jim Carrey movie, The Truman Show.
References:
http://www.uli.org/
http://www.tndtownpaper.com/
What is Smart Growth by Michael Pawlukiewicz
New Urbanism: Comprehensive Report & Best Practices Guide by Robert Steuteville, Philip Langdon and Special Contributors, Third Edition
Traditional Town Planning: Town of Blending of Design Approaches, Urban Land Magazine, August 1992
Restoring Community through Traditional Neighborhood Design: A Case Study of Diggs Town Public Housing, Housing Policy Debate, Volume 9, Issue 1, 1998
A New Theory of Urbanism, Scientific American, December 2000