By Kira Donegan

You may have heard the term “sustainable urbanism” thrown around, perhaps even impossible to escape. As cities grapple with climate change, there has been increasing concern for how long the concrete jungles will last. Green urban design concepts have existed for decades. Sustainable urbanism combines three: New Urbanism, Smart Growth and Green Urbanism.

New Urbanism

New Urbanism took off in the United States in the early 1980s. A response to urban sprawl and the rise of suburbs, it has four key concepts: walkability, community, de-emphasizing cars, and mixed-use buildings. The Disney World of cities. The first New Urbanist town was Seaside, Florida. Founded in 1981, the resort town is known for its public spaces and clean streets. 

A popular criticism is that like in Seaside, New Urbanism attracts rich white communities over a diverse crowd. Others argue the high density in these cities has a weird layout compared to more natural settlements, and offers less privacy for residents.

Smart Growth

Smart Growth took a different approach. The goal was to change the conversation from urban sprawl to a more positive sustainable growth, linking environmental, daily life, and economic concerns. Like New Urbanism, it promotes walkability, increased density and a mix of uses. Critics argue the approach has ignored the important social and cultural nuances of cities, that the density causes more congestion, and green space is limited.

The exact origin of Smart Growth is hard to pinpoint, but the movement started in the mid-1990s. Smart Growth gained traction with the creation of the Smart Growth Network in 1996, and the American Planning Association’s document “Growing Smarter” a year later. Growing research on urban sprawl spurred the movement more. 

Green Urbanism

Green Urbanism also originated in the 1990s. Its three pillars of energy and materials, water and biodiversity, and urban planning and transport give it an interdisciplinary feeling. Combining ecological and social aspects, it requires engineers, architects, psychologists, and urban designers. 

The concept has taken off in Europe, with projects like Lucien Kroll’s Ecolonia (a housing project that contains 101 environmentally friendly, single-family units) in the Netherlands.