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With hindsight, the twentieth century was the era of urbanization: in 1900, only 14% of humanity lived in cities; by the century's close, it was 47%. In the United States, emerging trends in planning and design are dealing with a new agenda for urban living – an alternative, more ethical type of urbanism – an alternative that speaks of "smart-growth" and "urban-villages" and, of course, the ubiquitous "sustainability."

Good urban design is the ideal mechanism to deliver new urbanism and smart growth. In other words, tackling a new urbanist development is a great introduction to producing good urban design.  New urbanist development should consider

• design quality
• compactness
• sense of place
• environmental capacity 
• walkability

For this class, the students are to masterplan a 30.6 acre site at Aspen Ridge within downtown Fayetteville as a new urbanist "urban village." The students will analyze a whole range of data-sets – the site’s microclimate; the architectural vernacular and quality around the site; and the general trends the housing market in Fayetteville for instance.  From this the students will be able to create a schedule of opportunities and constraints for the site; identify who will be likely to use the site; and for what purpose (users and program).

Faculty critics for this studio are Kurt Culbertson, the 2008 John G. Williams Distinguished Professor and assistant professor Carl Smith.