Survey shows consumers prefer the New Urbanism

Elements of walkable neighborhoods are marketing pluses, with the exception of higher density. Consumers pick new urbanist (NU) community design characteristics over conventional suburban development (CSD) in most categories, according to American Lives of Oakland, California. The study is a recent follow up to American Lives’ oft-cited 1995 report on the New Urbanism. Consumers strongly prefer the town centers, community gathering places, look and feel, and pedestrian-oriented aspects of NU developments, American Lives found (see table). When asked about street patterns, home buyers were split between traditional neighborhood and suburban models. The only characteristic that gave suburban developments a definite consumer edge is its low density. Some new urbanists may quibble with a few of American Lives characterizations – e.g. it was stated in the survey that prices can be higher in stores in NU places. On the whole, however, the survey is evenhanded in its treatment of NU and CSD. Nonvisual survey The fact that the survey was in a questionnaire form, however, may have made it difficult for participants to visualize what the community characteristics actually look like. One potential reason for the negative reaction to higher density, for example, could be that respondents are not familiar with attractive examples of compact development. American Lives concludes from these results that “pure new urban design appeals to only a small group of buyers (10 percent) who like the whole package. The majority of respondents like certain aspects, but reject others.” This is true, but not significant. American Lives did not quantify how many respondents liked all aspects of CSD – a number which is apparently even lower than the percentage that like every aspect of NU, based on the survey results. In reality, home buyers must weigh options when purchasing, and most have conflicting desires. With the exception of a very small segment, they generally cannot “have it all.” The survey did not measure each characteristic’s relative importance. Assuming that various characteristics surveyed are equally desirable, NU looks stronger than CSD. The study, called Community Preferences, What the Buyers Really Want in Design, Features, and Amenities, involved sending out 2,000 surveys to recent home buyers in Florida, Arizona, California, Texas, and Colorado. The response rate was 22 percent. u