New Urbanism (pronounced New Urbanism) is a postmodern urban design paradigm developed in the early 1980s that aspires to promote a united community with vitality, accessibility and efficiency; rectifying the economic and racial discrimination associated with the suburbs. This paradigm proposes a physical design that promotes pedestrian proximity (five to ten minute walks) to shops, jobs and community facilities, public centers, high-density housing and mixed uses.[1] This architectural movement is regulated by the Congress for New Urbanism; which in its founding charter divides it into three areas: the region, the neighborhood and the block.[2]​.

This movement criticizes suburbs for the inevitably high level of individual traffic with the corresponding consumption of resources due to the lack of pedestrian friendliness and the high costs of large infrastructure (roads, electricity, sewage), the urban sprawl of the landscape and the anonymity of neighborhoods with little urban life.

The concept arose in 1979 from the hand of the real estate developer Robert S. Davis") when he commissioned the office of the then new architects and urban designers Andrés Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk with an urban project that included the structure and morphology of traditional North American towns, but without the automobile as an unavoidable element of mobility.

Under this perspective, in 1981 the design of Seaside was drawn up on an area of ​​80 acres (about 32 hectares), a project to rehabilitate a seafront on the coast of Florida, where the objective was set to build a city on a neighborhood scale that will recreate traditional village life and at the same time establish a quality urban environment.

New Urbanism promotes the creation and maintenance of a diverse, scalable and compact environment, with an appropriate context to develop architecture and fully structured communities: workplaces, shops, schools, parks and all the facilities essential for the daily lives of residents, all located within easy walking distance. For this reason, New Urbanism promotes the use of trains and light transportation instead of conventional highways and roads, through strategies that reduce traffic congestion, increase the supply of affordable housing, and stop urban dispersion.

New Pedestrianism is a more idealistic version focused on pedestrians and the environment and was founded by Michael E. Arth in 1999.