Comparing new urban and conventional development in Tucson

Civano, designed in September 1996 in Tucson, Arizona, was the first large US community to combine new urban planning and design protocols with — for its time — aggressive energy efficiency and sustainability goals. Civano represents an early understanding that New Urbanism and green development are mutually beneficial.

Civano had a long gestation, dating back to the mid-1970s, starting with the idea of creating a “solar village” to capitalize on Tucson’s abundant sun. I was the director of planning and design at Civano from 1997 through 2002, and managed the project for the last two of those years. Stefanos Polyzoides and his firm Moule & Poylzoides was the principle planner and urbanist for the project. Together we are researching and writing a book on Civano. One of our key findings is that the new urban overlay helped meet the community’s sustainability goals — and did so while creating a compelling physical place that performed well economically and socially.

This mix of New Urbanism and sustainable design could convince a broad segment of the housing market to change its definition of a “good place to live.” We examine three measures of value: home prices, impact on the environment, and the creation of

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