The grammar of automobile use in New Urbanist developments includes an expectation that cars not be used for local needs. What is especially significant, though, is that those local needs will be differently defined in a New Urbanist development than they would be in either a standard subdivision or a small town. Unlike the relatively complete commercial centers of small towns, walkable New Urbanist commercial centers (the few that exist so far) meet only limited needs. Celebration's commercial center offers small groceries, boutique clothing, home decorations, books, real estate, legal services, but there is no supermarket, no hardware or home repair, no car maintenance, no pharmacy. The strip just outside the town is more efficient at these services. As the town gets bigger retail Darwinism may produce services more aimed at residents' daily needs, but the efficiencies of the mall and the big box, and soon the Internet, will not go away. The differentiation of shopping and transportation use will become a permanent feature of these towns.
(c) David Kolb, 1 August 2001