Whether you are an Arizona transplant or a lifelong resident of the Grand Canyon State, you may not be familiar with the term "urban village." To me, the word "village" conjures up mental images of a small, close-knit community living in huts with thatched roofs, perhaps on a tropical island. Valley residents can attest that there's nothing like that going on around here, what with our high-rise buildings, cookie-cutter suburban homes, and light rail system.So what the heck is an urban village, then? If you guessed that it's an invention of city planners to distinguish various parts of the valley, then give yourself a pat on the back.
As the Valley grows larger and larger, city planners are coming up with more ways to divide the city into more manageable sections. Motorists who cruise the roads and highways have no distinction between Phoenix and Scottsdale or Mesa and Tempe, save for those little green signs by the roadside. The importance of these boundaries is not to be overlooked, however.
Phoenix itself is just over 500 square miles and keeping the city running smoothly takes the effort of many thousands of people. For simplicity's sake, the city of Phoenix was divided into 9 special sections known as "urban villages" by the City Planning Commission in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Today, there are 15 urban villages that make up the greater Phoenix area.
