An Evaluation of Neotraditional Design's Social Prescription: Postmodern Placebo or Remedy for Suburban Malaise?

Abstract

Among the various American postmodern urban design schemes which offer pedestrian propinquity as design synthesis and remedy for suburban malaise, traditional neighbor hood design (TND) bears the influence of Leon Krier's architectural determinism. This paper claims that social consequences axiomatic to TND principles are problematic given previous experiences with planned communities and neighborhood research. In light of this literature and observations made at Seaside, Florida—the prototypic example of the TND movement—this paper concludes that developments which attempt to adapt TND elements to the realities of modern lifesryles and a metropolitan context will further test TND assumptions and result in compromises necessary for the evolution of the paradigm.