Published at Public Discourse, Raymond Hain addresses the idea of “new urbanism” in his article Building Virtue.
“The heart of “new urbanism,” is the claim that human beings are better off if they can perform their daily activities without the necessity and complexity of artificial transportation.”
“My first argument is the following: We need others in order to identify what is good for us.”
“…my second argument for thinking that the natural law requires walkable human communities: true virtuous action demands that we treat others justly, charitably, and with kindness. But it’s not sufficient for me, when I perform a virtuous action, to know that what I do is just in this particular context.”
“… my third argument is this: When our lives are fragmented in the way suburbia makes possible, it is much easier for us to act badly, and it is much harder to learn from the bad actions we do perform.”
“Bess reminds us that suburbia represents a turning away from public life towards private life. Front porches have become back decks, and public squares have disappeared. Suppose we were to rebuild those public squares, and all of us spent our evenings on our front porches. We might discover, to our dismay, that we had almost nothing to talk about.”
