Steve Mouzon

Yesterday, at a gathering of venerated New Urbanists, I fielded questions about whether apartment living is compatible with the American ethos and cultural attachment to land. Is there such a thing as urban APARTMENTS that are compatible with family life and home ownership, as I maintain? I argued that there is no natural basis for American sprawl, and that the American stigma against apartments is earned by our abysmal apartment tradition, and especially by corridor buildings of last 20 years. Sprawl is the outcome of anti-density zoning, building code, fed funded roadways, which combine to make it easier to sprawl than to build densely, which is the natural way of development. Most Americans have no concept of an apartment that would be an aspirational home ownership opportunity for an upper/middle class household. But historically we have abundant examples of urban societies where broad swathes of society lived in and owned apartments. Including rare American examples, especially in New York City. I argued that demand for walkable urban neighborhoods shows Americans’ desire for urban living and their readiness for family-friendly apartment living in urban neighborhoods too Arc of history is long but it bends towards Americans getting courtyard urbanism