New Urbanists and Old Cities

New Urbanism may be a bit overplayed, but its principles are still
good ones. Nevertheless, as Philadelphia Inquirer architecture critic
Inga Saffron rightly points out, it often gets played out in suburban
settings or in newer cities, when in fact where it is most needed and
best implemented is in older, infrastructure-rich cities like
Philadelphia: http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/20071109_Changing_Skyline___He_puts_the_urban_back_in_New_Urbanism.html.

Here's my favorite quote:

"It's long been known that New Urbanist developments look and perform
best when they can latch onto existing infrastructure, like street
grids and transit networks. Yet New Urbanists have been oddly
reluctant to venture into places where those amenities exist in
abundance: the decaying quarters of American cities."

Amen to that.