Picture this: a four-story residential building perched atop an artisanal coffee shop and a yoga studio, its micro-apartments stacked like shoeboxes in the name of “sustainability” and “resilience.” Now picture something else entirely: a pristine, master-planned community where every house has a front porch, the streets are lined with picket fences, and everything looks as if it were plucked from a Norman Rockwell painting — except there are few if any houses of worship, the zoning codes are suffocating, and the price tag ensures only the elite can afford to live there.

These are the two faces of New Urbanism, an ideology that, masquerading as “traditionalist,” conservatives have tolerated for far too long. On one end, you have high-density urbanism, where developers — in cahoots with machine politicians — cram as many people as possible into apartment blocks, eliminating cars and personal space under the guise of environmentalism and a sense of community. On the other, you have the faux-traditional, highly regulated enclaves of Seaside and Celebration, Florida, prohibitively expensive and ironically more artificial than the suburban developments they criticize.

Despite their aesthetic differences, both forms of New Urbanism share a common goal: reengineering American life by discouraging homeownership. The “planning and development approach,” as the Congress for New Urbanism puts it, champions “walkability” and “human-scale” design but, in reality, is about control — limiting choices and creating a transient, economically dependent population that tilts politics permanently leftward. Led by figures like Andrés Duany and Charles Marohn and pushed by crony capitalist “scholars” at libertarian think tanks, New Urbanism further advocates for zoning reforms that restrict homebuilding outside city centers and end up inflating the cost of housing.

At the heart of this movement is a fanatical hatred of the automobile. New Urbanists dream of a “car-free” America, where individuals are herded onto public transit or forced to walk and bike their way through life, regardless of their needs or preferences. DPZ CoDesign, founded in 1980 by Duany and his wife Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk and the firm behind much of New Urbanism’s expansion, once gleefully tweeted, “We look forward to a ‘car-optional’ #Miami!” 

Cars, however, epitomize freedom and choice. They allow families to escape crime-ridden urban centers, access better schools, and enjoy homeownership in safe, thriving communities. That’s exactly why New Urbanists and their left-wing allies despise them. They yearn for us all to be confined to dense housing and reliant on mass transit. Yet Americans of all backgrounds overwhelmingly view homeownership as a cornerstone of the American Dream, representing stability, financial security, and the ability to build generational wealth.

Meanwhile, the cities that New Urbanists idolize, such as New York, San Francisco, and Chicago, are collapsing under the weight of crime, homelessness, and deteriorating infrastructure. Instead of addressing these failures, urban planners double down on the same policies that created the problems: more density, fewer cars, and an obsession with “public spaces” that inevitably become magnets for vagrancy and disorder.

Master-planned communities such as Seaside and Celebration, Florida, also sold a false bill of goods. They were initially marketed as idyllic, walkable neighborhoods that would foster affordability and community. Celebration, just south of Walt Disney World Resort, envisioned as a nostalgic return to small-town life, now sees median home prices at nearly $619,000, almost 50 percent higher than the average U.S. home price, while its per-square-foot price hovers around $332. In the small zip code that contains Seaside, arguably the ultimate showcase of New Urbanism, the median home sale price has surged to $1.1 million, with median properties selling around $500 per square foot. These developments have largely shut out middle-class families. Predictably, they have become bubbles where exclusivity triumphs over affordability.

The hypocrisy of New Urbanism’s leading figures is also staggering. James Howard Kunstler, one of the movement’s loudest voices, openly boasted that he chose to homestead in Greenwich, New York, complete with “a large garden, an orchard, and chickens.” Charles Marohn, founder of Strong Towns, resides in a single-family home in Brainerd, Minnesota, a quiet, prairie town. And then there’s Richard Driehaus, the late financier of New Urbanism, who endowed, among other initiatives, the now defunct New Urbanist column at The American Conservative. He owned multiple mansions, including a 40-acre estate in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, which sold for a record-breaking $36 million in 2022. (Two Driehaus Prize-winning architects designed Celebration, Florida.) It’s high-density for thee, but sprawling luxury for me.

Now it’s time to knock down three New Urbanist pieces of propaganda. First, we don’t have a “housing crisis.” We have an artificial crisis created by politicians and developers who restrict supply to inflate costs and further solidify Democrat voting blocs. The answer is cutting red tape and unleashing the free market to build more homes where Americans actually want to live. Report after report confirms that Millennials are fleeing the cities faster than a hipster from a chain restaurant, trading urban grit for suburban bliss.

Second, contrary to what New Urbanists claim, the suburbs aren’t some artificial contrivance foisted upon unsuspecting Americans. They’re the result of people voting with their feet. Suburban life offers homeownership, safety, and stability — values conservatives should champion. Yet Addison Del Mastro, formerly of both The American Conservative and The Bulwark, and his ilk sneer at the idea of single-family homes, dismissing many as “McMansions” and symbols of excess. Hilariously, New Urbanists cheered Houston’s lax zoning laws as the perfect stage for their grand urban vision. But when given the freedom to choose, people didn’t flock downtown but instead stampeded to the suburbs.

It’s frankly absurd that conservatives — who are pro-family — would entertain the idea of cramming kids into tiny apartments with no yards. How exactly are parents supposed to raise multiple children in a 600-square-foot box? Where are kids supposed to play? On a rooftop patio shared with strangers? Instead of capitulating to left-wing planners pushing this dystopian vision, conservatives should be fighting for policies that encourage more single-family homes.

The reality, underscored by Covid lockdowns, is that the information economy has made living in the suburbs more affordable. Remote work also reduces the need for long commutes. Suburbs offer less crime, less noise, and more privacy. A third piece of New Urbanist agitprop: Everyone must endure a “two-hour commute.” Really? Jobs exist in the suburbs. 

It’s worth recalling that the Obama administration’s Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule aimed to reshape suburban demographics under the pretense of promoting so-called equity. This initiative sought to impose high-density housing in suburban areas, effectively eroding local control over zoning laws. The true objective was to fundamentally alter the American political landscape by turning traditionally conservative suburbs purple and eventually blue. During the Trump administration, there was an opportunity to dismantle AFFH and defend the suburbs. Alas, some self-proclaimed “conservatives,” much to the delight of developers poised to profit from these changes, resisted efforts to repeal the rule. Their actions betrayed the very principles they claimed to uphold, all in pursuit of financial gain.

The right has mistakenly accommodated doctrinaire libertarians, neoconservatives, and, yes, New Urbanists. But just as we’ve exposed the deep state and fake news, it’s time to unmask the New Urbanists’ left-wing assault on property rights and personal mobility. The future of America is not a high-density, corporatist nightmare. It’s the spacious, family-friendly suburbs where liberty thrives.

The pandemic put New Urbanism on life support. Now it’s time to flick the switch. As true conservatives, we must stand firm and defend homeownership, a pillar of the American Dream.