Serenbe is a neighborhood within the city limits of

Chattahoochee Hills, Georgia Chattahoochee Hills (formerly Chattahoochee Hill Country) is a city in southern Fulton County, Georgia, United States. It is the incorporated part of a region called "Chattahoochee Hill Country", an area encompassing approximately southwest of ...

, United States. Serenbe is an example of

New Urbanism New Urbanism is an urban design movement that promotes environmentally friendly habits by creating Walkability, walkable neighbourhoods containing a wide range of housing and job types. It arose in the United States in the early 1980s, and has ...

. Steve Nygren, who had previously opened a Bed & Breakfast in the area, developed Serenbe. The name "Serenbe" was his wife Marie's idea, and refers to the location's serenity. The name is manifested from the phrases "serenity" and "to be". Serenbe's residences consist of single-family houses and row houses. All have front porches but no backyards; they face a common greenspace and trails.Anne Berryman, "The sound of a bulldozer leads to a new vision", ''New York Times'', October 16, 2005
/ref> Proximity to shops and services encourages walking. Architectural styles include

Arts and Crafts The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the Decorative arts, decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and ...

-style cottages, loft-style townhouses and sleek modern "boxes".Kevin Sack, "Outside Atlanta, a Utopia Rises", ''New York Times'', February 23, 2009
/ref> The village comprises three hamlets. The Selborne hamlet is devoted to the visual and culinary arts and currently contains Serenbe's retail shops. The Grange hamlet has an agricultural theme, and the Mado hamlet focuses on health and healing. In the 1990s, Steve and Marie Nygren visited an organic farm, and this is when they developed a vision to create an entirely sustainable community that was just outside of Atlanta. Part of their goal was to protect the wetlands and natural landscape of the

Chattahoochee Hills Chattahoochee Hills (formerly Chattahoochee Hill Country) is a city in southern Fulton County, Georgia, United States. It is the incorporated part of a region called "Chattahoochee Hill Country", an area encompassing approximately southwest of ...

area. The first residential home was sold in 2005, and there are now over 800 residents living at Serenbe. Serenbe is an example of an urban village, and 70% of its land is protected from development. Nygren was inspired by principles of

and applied that to his town design, with

walkability In urban planning, walkability is the accessibility of amenities within a reasonable walking distance. It is based on the idea that urban spaces should be more than just transport corridors designed for maximum vehicle throughput. Instead, it s ...

and shared green spaces and a variety of houses and buildings. The layout of Serenbe is designed to make efficient use of space, and it has 20% more housing per square mile than other suburbs. Serenbe has received criticism for being a bubble outside of Atlanta, with high-end goods and homes that on average cost more than a million dollars.

References

External links

Official website
{{authority control Neighborhoods in Georgia (U.S. state) New Urbanism communities

References

Further reading

External links