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If you are anything like me, making environmentally conscious decisions comes more naturally when those decisions aren’t a hassle. Cities where public transportation, pedestrian walking space, bike paths, healthy food, recycling, parks, community gardens, etc. are scarce sometimes discourage people from making sustainable lifestyle choices simply because they are too inconvenient. That’s why it could be best to reside in a city designed specifically to support sustainable living. A fledgling movement called the “new urbanism” encourages just that.

New Urbanism Defined
The Congress for the New Urbanism describes new urbanism as a campaign among city and regional planners to design neighborhoods and open spaces that reduce urban sprawl, minimize traffic congestion and increase affordable public housing. The goal is sustainable communities with walkable, mixed-use neighborhood development and healthier, happier living conditions. Additionally, new urbanism promotes green building technologies, the redevelopment of brownfield land (abandoned, polluted sites), historic preservation, safe neighborhoods and public spaces.

Sustainable Living Attributes
Sound great? Think you might want to move to such a place? When choosing a new city or region in which to live, look for infrastructure and planning that promote the above positive outcomes. Areas designed with sustainable living in mind usually share the following attributes:

• Compact and walkable neighborhoods that promote social interaction among all classes and types of people.
• Housing designed in such a way that transit stops are numerous and within walking distance to encourage people to use public transportation.
• Parks, conservation lands and green spaces scattered throughout different types of neighborhoods and districts, encouraging citizens to involve themselves in their communities and care for such spaces.
• Schools located within walking or cycling distance of kids.
• Stores, shops, government buildings, etc. distributed throughout the community, not isolated in a single part of the city.
• Architecture and landscaping influenced by the unique history and ecology of the particular area.
• Fresh, locally produced foods readily available (i.e., fruit and vegetable stands and farmers markets), not displaced by stores and chains offering food that has been shipped long distances.

Non-Sustainable Characteristics
Areas that do not support sustainable living often include the following characteristics:

• Heavy segregation by class and/or race
• A significant amount of urban sprawl
• Poor public transportation systems
• Poor air quality
• Design that ignores or displaces local ecology and green space

The Most Sustainable Cities
Interested in finding a community that embodies the values of new urbanism? Here are a few places within the US that have been designed to encourage sustainable modes of living, specifically the pedestrian-friendliness and compactness of the city:

1.    Seaside, Florida
2.    Stapleton (Boulder), Colorado
3.    Seabrook, Washington
4.    Burlington, Vermont
5.    Chattanooga, Tennessee
6.    Raleigh, North Carolina
7.    Austin, Texas
8.    Seattle, Washington
9.    San Francisco, California
10.   Boston, Massachusetts

These areas have been structured to encourage residents to get outside and walk to their jobs, schools, shops, etc., or in the alternative, to use mass transit. Thus, the people there enjoy reduced air pollution, safer neighborhoods and increased exposure to eclectic, diverse cultures. These cities also offer a holistic and sustainable connection to the natural environment.

If you don’t live in such a place, you are shortchanging yourself and the environment. Why not move to one, or better yet, stay where you are and do what you can to see that your town makes city planning decisions that follow the precepts of new urbanism. This can be as simple as pressuring your government officials in this regard. Or as personally fulfilling as taking the individual initiative to improve your community by reclaiming a green space, starting a farmers market, founding a co-op, creating a community garden, etc.

Enlightened development based on the principles of new urbanism make it easier for people to live up to their environmental ideals. For most of us, that means we will consistently make the best decisions for our families and communities, our health and the well-being of the planet. And most of us would agree, I’m sure, that’s what a happy life is all about.

Additional resources:

Design of Urban Sustainable Public Spaces
New Urbanism: Designing Eco-Friendly and People-Friendly Communities
Trees: Shaping Our Communities, Defining Our Future
Save a Tree, Hug a Highrise?
How Urban Is Urban Enough?
Steady State: A Sustainable Economy for the Southwest
In Much of the World, Pedestrians Rule the Naked Streets

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