How Does New Urbanism Promote Social Equity?

New Urbanism has also promoted social equity as a way to foster social diversity through urban design. NU planning aims to promote equal and free access to public goods in which every resident has the same benefit regardless of their demographic characteristics. Thus, social equity can be achieved by using physical design strategies that locate all range of people in proximity to goods and services (Talen 2002). In fact, New Urbanism believes that towns should provide a range of public and private uses to benefit economically and socially people of different incomes. The equal distribution of services will help to reduce concentrations and segregation of people, providing employment opportunities and a rapid access to transportation and goods to all the residents (Grant and Perrott, 2009).
¬Thus, diversity of locations provides a better distribution of resources, improving the access for the whole community. In addition, NU planning focuses on maximizing access and mobility through equal transit, pedestrian and bicycle systems in order to promote equal accessibility for everyone. As Talen (2002) argues, investment in public spaces benefits residents regardless of their background. For instance, in a well distributed neighborhood, groups, such as the elderly and the young, would have an equal access to public services without the need of automobile trips (Ebrahim, 2015). Likewise, the master plan for Vista Field (2017) proposes a road planning (see Figure 2) that is specially directed to ensure that public realm along corridors remains public for everyone, allowing quick accessibility to all services and avoiding a street classification based on vehicle