Parking is relegated to the rear of buildings, usually accessed by alleys. Certain prominent sites at the termination of street vistas or in the neighborhood center are reserved for civic buildings. These provide sites for community meetings, education, religion or cultural activities. The neighborhood is organized to be self-governing. A formal association debates and decides matters of maintenance, security and physical change.
Taxation is the responsibility of the larger community.
New urbanist prototypes Kentlands in Gaithersburg, Maryland, above, and Haile Village Center in Gainesville, Florida, combine modern homes and businesses with compact, walkable streets and public spaces. Seaside, Florida, the first new urbanist town, began development in 1981 on 80 acres of Panhandle coastline. Seaside appeared on the cover of the Atlantic Monthly in 1988 when only a few streets were completed, and it since became internationally famous for its architecture, and the quality of its streets and public spaces. Seaside proved that developments that function like traditional towns could be built in the postmodern era. The town is now a tourist mecca.