Description
The typical post-World War II suburb in the United States is characterized by exclusive zoning, low-density development, banal architecture, and an inefficient street morphology. New Urbanism aims to correct many of the ills associated with American suburbia by employing mixed-use and high density development, interesting architecture, and an efficient, interconnected street network. Among the many problems of typical suburban development that New Urbanism claims to mitigate are an overdependence on automobile use and an erosion of communitarian behavior. Little empirical research has been completed that tests New Urbanism's efficacy in reducing automobile use and promoting pedestrianism, bicycling, and public transportation use, while the theoretical connection that increased pedestrianism leads directly to communitarian behavior is unproven at best. Using interview and survey data, this thesis takes a qualitative approach to assessing how transportation habits and communitarian behavior might be linked in New Urbanism by using residents of Kentlands, Maryland, as an empirical case study. It also pays particular attention to how residents' habits may differ from when they lived elsewhere prior to moving to Kentlands, in order to see if the New Urbanist environment can alter ingrained behaviors. Furthermore, in order to determine if Kentlands provides a special case, a comparative study is included. Surveys identical to those distributed in Kentlands were distributed to residents of Kensington and Tierrasanta, two neighborhoods in San Diego with similar demographic characteristics and amenities to Kentlands but with very different planning types, to see if residents of New Urbanism behave differently than those of other types of planned communities. This thesis finds that Kentlands is effective in achieving New Urbanism's goals, but also that factors external to the built environment of the community may be important in achieving this outcome.
