Kentlands, Gaithersburg, Maryland

Kentlands, Gaithersburg, Maryland

Located in the city of Gaithersburg, Maryland in the United States, Kentlands was one of the first attempts to develop a community using Traditional Neighborhood Design planning techniques (also known as neo-traditional new town planning) that are now generally referred to under the rubric of the New Urbanism. The New Urbanism is the concept of building from scratch a walkable, mixed-use city neighborhood or new town in order to provide an attractive alternative to the spread out, automobile-centric, subdivisions common to post-World War II American suburbia. Kentlands is built around a farmstead previously owned by Otis Beall Kent.

The development, begun in 1988, contains buildings from the original Kentlands farm, many varieties of residences, a "downtown" commercial district, open space including protected natural areas and pocket parks, and civic uses including schools, a church, and an arts center.