Peter Calthorpe's Vision for California: Save the Cities, Save the World

New Urbanism has traditionally positioned itself as an antidote to the soullessness of urban sprawl, with an emphasis on "soul" -- the ineffable benefits in living in places built to human scale rather than breaking out hard metrics as to why dense mixed-use communities are both qualitatively and quantitatively better than the auto-driven suburb of single-family homes. But the 18th annual Congress for the New Urbanism is shaping up to be the year New Urbanists demand a seat at the table for...