The Maryland planned community founded in 1967 and designed by James Rouse as a model of mixed-use development is Columbia.
Columbia was developed by the Rouse Company in Howard County, between Baltimore and Washington, D.C. James Rouse promoted it as a planned community intended to improve on conventional suburban growth. The plan included villages, neighborhood centers, employment areas, schools, parks, lakes, and shopping districts.
A central principle was to create a community with housing, jobs, recreation, and services rather than a residential subdivision dependent entirely on nearby cities. Columbia’s villages were designed to have their own local centers, while the larger town center provided regional retail and civic functions.
Columbia is often discussed alongside Reston, Virginia, another influential postwar planned community. Both incorporated ideas associated with mixed-use planning and green space, but they were separate developments with different designers and histories. Columbia’s development began in 1967 and continued in stages.