Christopher J. Ryan

Buried in yesterday’s Boston Globe online in the City Desk for Cambridge was a little gem of an article that talked about a cat fight between new urbanists, a movement espousing more compact, walkable urban form, and a newcomer called landscape urbanism, who claim to be more ecologically sophisticated and environmentally conscious and suggest that new urbanists have it all wrong…

The Slow Money Alliance, an organization that seeks to build networks and develop new financial products and services to invest in small food enterprises and local food systems, connecting investors to their local economies, and building the “nurture capital” industry, held its national gathering at beautiful Shelburne Farms, Vermont on Thursday and Friday of last week.

In traditional communities, blocks were short and navigable, retail and services in compatible and attractive corner stores within easy walking distance, and other destinations like schools and libraries easily walkable as well. Critics suggest that this model is outdated and no longer desired. Yet research suggests that most people when offered the option will choose the new urbanist model.