Fans of the new urbanism should be aware of Lenox Village in Nashville. I recently completed a case study on Lenox Village for the Urban Land Institute’s online Development Case Studies, and it is one of very few new urbanism projects that both achieves a successful mix of uses while also providing a mix of housing prices, including that which is moderately-priced.

The developer, Dave McGowan of Regent Homes, clearly did his homework, and has successfully built and sold a mix of attached and detached homes, including condominiums, to various specific target markets. He takes special pride in the fact that teachers and fire fighters have bought at Lenox Village. Whereas countless new urbanism projects achieve wonderful design but cater exclusively to the upper end of pricing, Lenox Village is an affordable diamond in the rough.

A couple things were critical to the success of Lenox Village. City government was flexible and allowed a Looney Ricks Kiss-created Design Overlay to determine community form, including setbacks and street widths. Thorough research and analysis identified target markets, ensuring the product has buyers. And overall it has a good feel that is already lived-in and not too fake or forced. Lenox Village even has a neighborhood pub.

Find out more at ULI’s Development Case Studies website (it does require an annual subscription, but the nominal fee is worth it).

Easily the year’s most inspiring read for urbanists is “The Great Neighborhood Book - A Do-it-Yourself Guide to Placemaking,” by Jay Walljasper. A fellow Minneapolitan, Mr. Walljasper has been active for years finding ways to improve his neighborhood. This book, a Project for Public Spaces (www.pps.org) publication, provides a broad and effective array of ideas to improve cities.

The Great Neighborhood Book is divided in to chapters such as Pride in Your Place and Greening the Neighborhood, but is effectively a series of one- and two-page case studies. It includes everything from a simple potluck with neighbors to turning entire neighborhoods around. Included are references and resources linked to each case study, allowing the reader to investigate more thoroughly an idea they like.

My favorite idea is one by the Rebar Group, a San Francisco-based organization that raises awareness about the need for urban green space through slightly vigilante but entirely legal means. They plug a parking meter for an afternoon and bring sod, trees and lawn chairs, camping out to raise awareness of the need for more parks. Called PARK(ing) Day, the idea has been replicated in many cities, and our very own North Loop neighborhood in Minneapolis is planning to participate next month.

The Great Neighborhood Book is available at the PPS website. It is only $19.95, and I encourage you to order it today.

Our family took a weeklong vacation to Boston recently, and here are just a few of the highlights of that wonderful city.

Flower planters in Beacon Hill. Wandering through the narrow streets of Beacon Hill, I noticed that rowhomes often have flower planters hanging on their ground floor window sills, which happen to be at eye level for most people. This is a welcome splash of color in an already beautiful urban setting.

Flowers Brighten the City

Beacon Hill Street Scene

The Myrtle Street Play Area. Also in Beacon Hill, Ellis and I were headed back to our hotel from a laundromat, and we found this lovely little playground no more than 60 by 100 feet in size, wedged between brownstones. Complete with swings, a play gym, benches for parents to sip their lattes and plenty of secondhand toys, this city park is a welcome addition to a dense urban neighborhood. We easily spent an hour there. It must make city living with children infinitely more tolderable for nearby residents.

Ellis at the Myrtle Street Play Area

I was struck by the usefulness of historic buildings. The Old South Meeting House was just down the street from our hotel, and had a fruit and vegetable stand at its base and a used bookstore in its basement. The nearby Old State House has a “T” (the Boston transit system) station entrance carved in to the ground level in the back of the building. I find this wonderful, not only that so much of Boston’s colonial and revolutionary history is preserved, but that you can use it for a modern day urban function. It makes it harder for a building to be demolished when everyone uses it, which should serve as a lesson to preservationists.

Fruit Stand at the Old South Meeting House

The Frog Pond in Boston Common. It was 95 degrees when we arrived, and toting a one-year old on your back is hard work at any time. So it was wonderful to discover the Frog Pond, a pool nearly an acre in size with a constant depth of about 8 inches and big shade trees at its perimeter. What better activity than for Ellis to splash around while Jen and I take turns cooling off in the shade.

Frog Pond

Charlestown. The neighborhood immediately north of the Charles River and site of an early battle in the Revolutionary War, it is worth visiting simply for the view after climbing 294 steps to the top of the Bunker Hill Monument. The Charlestown neighborhood is a model for new urbanism, with its narrow streets, little parks, mix of uses and even color palette so often imitated in new development around the country. This is the real deal - there is even mixed-income housing!

Charlestown - New Urbanism’s Great Uncle

Faneuil Hall and the Quincy Market. With a one year old, sit down restaurants are tiresome. We often got takeaway from a Quincy Market vendor and sat on a bench to watch the world go by. Compared to the vacuous city hall grounds nearby, where you expect to see tumbleweed tumble by, the Quincy Market environs are a model for urban gathering places. Plenty of stores, restaurants, food vendors, outdoor performers, statues (some of them real people acting like statues), nearby attractions, shade trees and benches provide a place for locals and tourists alike to gather and hang out.

Quincy Market

The Big Dig. Grossly over budget. Pieces of ceiling collapsing. A construction headache for the city. Yet by removing an elevated freeway from their downtown and repalcing it with a tunnel, Bostonians have made a clear-eyed investment in the future of their city. The landscaping and planting of the “reclaimed” land is occurring, and it is lovely. In fact, it is hard to imagine a freeway was ever there. The stroll from Quincy Market to the waterfront or the North End, or from downtown to the Fan Pier area is no longer marred by an ugly freeway. The long term benefits are immense, and in this urbanist’s opinion, worth every penny.

There Was a Freeway Here!?

With all the recent momentum to move “back to the city,” it is well known that those moving back to the urban core are not traditional nuclear families. In fact, they are anything but. Check any gentrifying urban area and you find everyone from young singles and couples to aging baby boomers, but very few children. This presents a conundrum when young singles and couples who want to remain in the city are faced with child rearing and the question “should I stay or should I go?”

CEOs for Cities, a Chicago-based non-profit that brings together urban leaders to seek creative solutions to city issues, recently published a report that looks at ways for cities to attract and retain families. The report, called “Kids in Cities,” studies the drawbacks and obstacles parents face when raising kids in urban environments, and provides solutions for both parents and community leaders.

The study focuses on the value of children to cities, the pioneering urban parents who decide to live there, and three main concepts - safety, space and schools. Using those three concepts, solutions are fleshed out and will be tested starting fall 2007.

It is an exciting time. Solutions such as scavenger hunts and car-free zones are among the many ideas that will be tested over the next 18 months. It may be as simple as a scavenger hunt or kiosks with information geared towards children, or a school liason to negotiate school choices for parents, but the overarching goal is to make cities more transparent and welcoming to children, and get the “swing vote,” that is discontented suburban parents and tentative urban parents to commit to urban living.

The Kids in Cities report is for members only, but more information about the work of CEOs for Cities can be found at www.ceosforcities.org. Stay tuned for updates on the Kids in Cities effort at Joe Urban dot com.