Green Living Showcase in Boulder

By Mark Phillips, 7-14-06

Like many New Westerners, I'm basically a city guy. I lived in Chicago for thirteen years and a number of different neighborhoods. I remember meeting a fellow city-dweller on the train once who said that anyone after the stereotypical small-town America experience should live in Roscoe Village. Roscoe Village is a small neighborhood on the North/Northwest Side of town. It's a small collection of traditional urban residential blocks anchored by a group of businesses (or at least it was last time I saw it!) that would make any small American town proud: a butcher, a baker, a barber, an Irish pub, a deli, etc. His point was that few suburbs offered those main-street experiences or the relationships that accompanied them. "Gotta move to the city," he said.

Back in the late '80's a few developers capitalized on the desire for small, walkable neighborhoods. One of the first was Seaside in Florida's panhandle. You might remember Seaside from Jim Carrey's dramatic breakout movie, The Truman Show. That style of development-marked by small, uniform lots, rectangular street grids, neo-traditional architecture, alleys, detached garages, white picket fences, et al, was christened "new urbanism" and clones have popped up all over the Eastern Seaboard. Ten years after the Seaside-spawned revolution launched, a Colorado developer tweaked the concept and launched Prospect New Town in Longmont, CO. Dwell Magazine named Prospect the "Coolest Neighborhood in America" back in 2002 by virtue of it's unorthodox architecture (Not a box? It rocks!), color scheme (Would you like that siding in Chartreause or Pistachio?), and street naming conventions (Half-Measures Lane and Tenacity Dr.).

It's been ten years since Prospect launched and two new trends seem to mark the latest iteration of New Urban development: green building and loft-district-inspired neighborhood names. NoBo (North Boulder) has become a showcase for the latest New Urban trends. With the exception of the neighborhood name (do we need another X-Bo? Is a mountain home now in MoBo? Is West Boulder Webo? Do Webo's wobble? Do they fall down?,) I'm a big fan of Boulder's New Urban developments. Contrast the color of Holiday or NoBo with the cardboard cutouts that line 36 between Denver and Boulder, take into account the public spaces, the efficient use of land, the green building principles,the permanently affordable options, and the mix of commercial and residential offerings, and I think you'll be as refreshed by NoBo goings-on as I am.

Tomorrow, a NoBo developer, Porchfront Homes, will join a number of green businesses in NoBo and showcase green design, benefits of green living, and food/entertainment offerings in their neighborhood. There will apparently be several hybrid cars on display and green-living experts will test their wits for a chance at a free cruiser bicycle. Details here. [End of article]