Southern Village is a 312 acres (1.3 km²) New Urbanism

New urbanism

New Urbanism is an urban design movement, which promotes walkable neighborhoods that contain a range of housing and job types. It arose in the United States in the early 1980s, and has gradually continued to reform many aspects of real estate development, urban planning, and municipal land-use...

 neighborhood located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Chapel Hill is a town in Orange County, North Carolina, United States and the home of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and UNC Health Care...

. Established in 1994, Southern Village includes 550 single-family homes, 375 townhomes and condominium

Condominium

A condominium, or condo, is the form of housing tenure and other real property where a specified part of a piece of real estate is individually owned while use of and access to common facilities in the piece such as hallways, heating system, elevators, exterior areas is executed under legal rights...

s, 250 apartment

Apartment

An apartment or flat is a self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building...

s, and 350000 square feet (32,516.1 m²) of retail, office, and civic space. Southern Village was the top selling neighborhood in the Triangle

The Triangle (North Carolina)

The Research Triangle, also known as Raleigh-Durham and commonly referred to as simply "The Triangle", is a region in the Piedmont of North Carolina in the United States, anchored by North Carolina State University, Duke University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and cities of...

 market from 1999 to 2001. Nationally recognized as an example of smart growth

Smart growth

Smart growth is an urban planning and transportation theory that concentrates growth in compact walkable urban centers to avoid sprawl and advocates compact, transit-oriented, walkable, bicycle-friendly land use, including neighborhood schools, complete streets, and mixed-use development with a...

, Southern Village has been featured in numerous publications including TIME

Time

Time is a part of the measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify rates of change such as the motions of objects....

, Better Homes & Gardens

Better Homes and Gardens (magazine)

Better Homes and Gardens is the fourth best selling magazine in the United States. The editor in Chief is Gayle Butler. Better Homes and Gardens focuses on interests regarding homes, cooking, gardening, crafts, healthy living, decorating, and entertaining. The magazine is published 12 times per...

, and Builder magazines.

Business District

Southern Village is home to a Google

Google

Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...

 office, and housed the headquarters for the John Edwards

John Edwards

Johnny Reid "John" Edwards is an American politician, who served as a U.S. Senator from North Carolina. He was the Democratic nominee for Vice President in 2004, and was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004 and 2008.He defeated incumbent Republican Lauch Faircloth in...

 for President Campaign of 2007. Also offered are a movie theater, a bank, numerous restaurants, several small shops, a book store, a grocery store and several doctor's offices.

Education

The neighborhood is home to Mary Scroggs Elementary School, which is part of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools

Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools

Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools is a school district which educates over ten thousand students in the southeastern part of Orange County, North Carolina. Being near three major universities as well as the Research Triangle Park, it serves one of the best educated populations in the United States...

.

Recreation

The community is served by the southern, and only completed end, of the Fan Branch Trail, commonly called by local residents, the greenway

Greenway (landscape)

A greenway is a long, narrow piece of land, often used for recreation and pedestrian and bicycle user traffic, and sometimes for streetcar, light rail or retail uses.- Terminology :...

. This trail forms part of a bike trail system planned for the Chapel Hill area. The Southern Community Park, which abuts the Village offers soccer fields and a dog-walking park, a playground and cookout area, and a roller hockey rink, as well as an extension of the Fan Branch Trail.

Culture

The North Carolina Symphony

North Carolina Symphony

The North Carolina Symphony is an American orchestra based in Raleigh, North Carolina, with sixty-nine full time musicians. The orchestra performs in Meymandi Concert Hall and performs occasionally with the Carolina Ballet and the The Opera Company of North Carolina. In 2007, the organization...

 visits once a year to give a free outdoor concert on the Village Green. Pop pieces from films such as Mission Impossible, Star Wars and Superman are often featured, along with such favorites as Turkey in the Straw and the William Tell Overture. Furthermore, there are often festivals in the central area and during the summer (weather permitting) there are outdoor movies.

Transportation

The village is served by Chapel Hill Transit

Chapel Hill Transit

Chapel Hill Transit operates public bus and van transportation services within the contiguous municipalities of Chapel Hill and Carrboro and the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the southeast corner of Orange County in the Research Triangle metropolitan region of North...

, connecting the community Park and Ride

Park and ride

Park and ride facilities are car parks with connections to public transport that allow commuters and other people wishing to travel into city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, rail system , or carpool for the rest of their trip...

 lot with downtown Chapel Hill, and with the nearby University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...

. Service is provide during full service periods, Monday through Friday only, with a special "Safe Ride" late night service Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.