Poundbury, Prince Charles’ neotraditional village in Dorchester, England,

Poundbury, Prince Charles’ neotraditional village in Dorchester, England, appears to be having an impact on the housing industry there, according to Boston Globe architecture critic Robert Campbell, who visited the project. “Housing developers are now seeking out people who know how to produce urban villages of the Poundbury kind,” according to Brian Hanson, a Poundbury architectural advisor quoted by Campbell. “I think the overall effect could be enormous.” Poundbury has been selling very well, the result of its high building standards, well-designed and human-scale streets, private backyards (though small, generous by British standards), and competitive prices. The project stands up well against the best US New Urbanism. Campbell takes the British architecture establishment to task for its negative reaction to Poundbury, when the public has had a positive response. “That’s because the critics have trouble seeing past the retro architecture, which anyone is free to like or dislike, to the sane and thoughtful principles that underlie it.”