Virtual World: The New Suburb?

New urbanism is meant to save open space, reduce car dependence and pollution, and tighten community ties. How? Enter this virtual suburb to see how a new urbanist might make his or her case.

It consumes more than two million acres (400,000 hectares) of U.S. open space each year, keeps people sequestered in cars, and zones small-town ideals into obscurity. It's called sprawl, and by definition it's big. But it's got competition.

Under the banners of "new urbanism" or "smart growth", planners are increasingly building suburbs using the old Main Street model: a web of pedestrian-friendly streets cradling a mass-transit-served town center surrounded by a mix of housing alternatives.