There is mixture of housing styles and arrangements, including 'granny flats' and apartments above shops to meet a community's range of housing needs. Ideally, such neighborhoods include retail and service areas within walking distance to provide an alternative to dependence on the automobile. Developing New Urbanist communities requires an overhaul of current planning and zoning rules, which segregate uses and work against such conveniences as corner stores. Design codes prescribe building sizes and architectural styles to give neighborhoods a diverse yet harmonious appearance. This concept calls on many of the same principles of a New Urbanist neighborhood, and integrates them into a regional transit system.
Communities are compact in nature, and have well defined boundaries between town and country.
Neighborhoods are within walking distance, usually a quarter-mile, from a bus or train stop. By providing several transportation options, including walking and bicycling, traffic congestion and pollution can be considerably reduced. Portland, Oregon, recognized as one of the world's most livable regions, boasts the nation's most successful example of a transit oriented development. Based upon growth projections, a community decides how much room it will need to grow over the next 25 years or so. Then, a well defined boundary is drawn on a map allotting that much space.