Glenwood Park was designed to offer a compelling alternative to conventional development by emphasizing the public realm, walkability, mixed uses, community, diversity, and quality over quantity. Community founder Charles Brewer took many of the photos on this page as he visited places that would inspire the design of Glenwood Park.
A Walkable Community
Glenwood Park pragmatically accommodates cars, but it is also designed for people. Cars travel slowly thanks to traffic calming street designs and sidewalks emphasizing pedestrian comfort and safety. There are plenty of interesting things to walk to, because of the fine-grained mix of uses. Walks are local, because the neighborhood is relatively compact. And walking is safe, because there are plenty of eyes on the street at all times.
Environmental Considerations
Glenwood Park’s site plan, as well as its construction and management procedures, emphasize resource efficiency, environmental protection and restoration. We incorporated elements of nature in the neighborhood and made them part of people’s daily experience. Our street trees are especially important. We’ve also intentionally created habitat that allows small wildlife to flourish.
A Place for Commerce
The commercial center of Glenwood Park has retail stores, four restaurants and a cafe. Because of its unique character, rare good urbanism, and easy access, Glenwood has become a popular destination for business lunches, afterwork gatherings and visits by travelers on the I20, I75 and I85 freeways.
A Place to Live
The residential elements of Glenwood Park cover the entire spectrum, from small condominiums above shops to detached single-family homes. We aspired to keep the scale of individual buildings rather small, which enhances our ability to have an attractive mix of housing types throughout the neighborhood.
A Place to Work
Glenwood Park features a traditional fine-grained mix of different housing types as well as retail stores, office space, civic buildings, people-friendly streets, parks, and recreational facilities. We welcome offices in the neighborhood, as the daytime occupants and visitors they draw to the neighborhood help maintain a vibrant, active, daytime environment.
A Place to Gather
Glenwood Park incorporates civic gathering places, which include public green spaces, pedestrian-oriented streets, recreational facilities, shops and restaurants. We believe that these civic places reinforce a sense of neighborhood and help provide the glue that holds the people of the community together.
Glenwood Park is designed to allow a great deal of flexibility in how the neighborhood evolves over time. We greatly admire the flexibility of a town plan like Savannah’s, which has gracefully accommodated a changing mix of uses over many decades. Furthermore, we think it is critical for any place that aspires to be truly loveable to allow for the unplanned to blossom.
Inviting restaurant storefront in the evening.
A two-story single family house in Georgetown, South Carolina.
Eyes on the street - windows are an important element in making a great street and great places to live.
A relatively new building in Toronto with offices above and stores below. We loved the small grocery.
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Pictures from urban environments that have inspired us.
Lively shopping street in Athens, Georgia. Great street trees.
An intimate residential street in Charleston, South Carolina.
A classic main street environment, shops below, apartments above.
On this New York City street cafes line wide sidewalks. Parked cars provide a protective barrier from moving cars. |
