Pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods where people live, work, and play all in one place are the goals of new urbanism, which wants to do away with highway-clogging, long-commute-creating sprawl and create livable, walkable communities. Here’s how cities across the U.S. are trying to recreate suburbia into urban eco-paradises:

>> Tysons Corner, Va., hopes to go from a city with “more parking spaces than jobs or residents” to a “green, walkable city,” reports Time magazine. And a local task force is trying to reshape this town where many work but few live into a pedestrian-friendly city with a handy mass transit system.

>> Fort Worth, Texas hopes to add 400+ miles of bike-only lanes in the next six years according to Bike Friendly Oak Cliff, as well as “higher-density development along existing and future commuter rail stations and potential streetcar lines,” according to Streetsblog LA. Read the posts to find out why it’s not too hot to bike in Texas!

>> New York City is hardly a suburb — but New Yorkers sometimes visit the ‘burbs — and freak out. Big Apple resident Jen DeRose of Re-Nest says of her stop into a big box store: “We were totally overwhelmed at how big shopping carts have gotten, the overhead bright lights, the size of the aisles, having that much available space at once.” Then she ended up buying a whole bunch of stuff she didn’t really need because it was cheap and could be easily thrown into a car — a big contrast to her car-free, cart-free existence at home. Can you relate?

Photo of Tysons Corner by glass window