Above is a site plan for the "National Examplar" community of town of Mariemont on the outskirts of Cincinnati, Ohio and designed by John Nolen in the 1920's. It is credited with being the first "new urbanism" or "smart growth" community in the U.S. New urbanism is also sometimes referred to as neo-traditional design.

Above is a photograph of the Mariemont town square. It is interesting to note how similar the Mariemont town square, which was designed in the 1920's, is to the more recently town square for the new urbanism community of Celebration built by Disney in Orlando, Florida.

Above is a photograph of the non-denominational community church in Mariemont. It was the first building completed in Mariemont, with its slate stone roof come from a 1200's English abbey barn. As such, one could say that Mariemont Community Church is the oldest church in the U.S. Across from the park in front of the church (which also contains a fountain, but larger than the one in the main town square) is the original town square that was only two blocks away from the street-car line. Just to the left of the church is the Dale Park Elementary School and one block further up is the Mariemont Community Center and the High School. The back of the Mariemont Community Church slopes down to Route 50, which is a gently curving divided highway through Mariemont. On the other side of Route 50 from the Mariemont Community Church is a boat house and small lagoon where one could originally take out a rowboat or go ice skating in the winter. Just beyond the boat house is Dogwood Park which contains the large bell carillon in southern Ohio.

Above is a photograph of some of the affordable English-style garden apartments built in Mariemont to provide a wide range of housing types and cost. Each has a lawn in front and a backyard that fronts on an alley. Across the alley is a garage designed like an English-style carriage house for each apartment. In the center of the square of garages is a playground.

Above is a photograph of a typical residential street in Mariemont - designed to encourage walking and bicycling and to slow automobile traffic. Note the large shade streets planted between the sidewalks and the street. Also, unlike most modern suburbs where hedges and picketed fences in the front yard are typically prohibited, the homes in Mariemont all have uniquely landscaped front yards. Finally, unlike most modern suburban homes where the garage juts out in front and is the dominating feature of the home facing the street, in Mariemont the homes were designed with their garages either parallel or set back further than the home so as to not stand out.