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By DAN LOWREY
and JOHN TOLER
Rappahannock News Staff Writers
(First in a series on neotraditional developments.)
Devoted members of the cult of neotraditionalism say it marks the end of suburbia.
The movement has provided inspiration for several neotraditional-style developments in and around Fauquier County, including the 1,600-home planned residential development “Waterfield” in New Baltimore.
Instead of the confusing layouts of cul-de-sacs and parking lots, there are grid streets and sidewalks. It is a welcome trend back to the past, converts say, bringing smalltown charm to the masses.
The basic building block in neotraditionalism is the pedestrian-friendly neighborhood. Workplaces, stores and public transportation are built within a few minutes of residential housing. The homes are a mix of row houses, apartments, town homes, big and' small houses and flats above garages and stores.
For more than 15 years, Miami-based architect Andres Duany and his wife Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk have led a movement some call New Urbanism and others call Neotraditionalism. The couple views the suburban subdivision as a failed experiment, a prescription for ugliness, banality, isolation and sprawl.
Over time, people have begun to listen. And their work has received rave reviews from national and international leaders, they say.
Neotraditionalists see the suburb as a barren landscape of disconnected wide roads, boring architecture, chain restaurants and huge parking lots.
Seeing growth as inevitable, neotraditionalists suggest that residents embrace density in order to cut infrastructure costs while making mass transit convenient.
To many Northern Virginia planners, such developments present a new animal to tame.
Take Fauquier, where designers hope “Waterfield” will become a community where commercial/retail uses coexist and support the residential sector, allowing myriad opportunities for human interaction.
With almost 1,600 homes and 50,000 square feet of
93.6%