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Duany is a leading proponent of the new urbanism, which argues for communities built according to strict codes and for a return to “matter-of-fact architecture” as exemplified by the traditional village design.

Duany, who has designed such communities as Seaside, Florida, which provided the setting for the film The Truman Show, was in England for the unveiling of a masterplan for Hertfordshire, his most ambitious U.K. scheme yet. While there, he also unveiled a 64-point screed outlining mistakes made by British architects and urban planners during the past 50 years.  

Duany accused architects of being "infantile" in pursuing ego-driven visions and said they were "heedless of technical and social dysfunction and widespread lack of popularity" of their designs. He said that starchitects such as Richard Rogers, Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, and Peter Eisenman were "increasingly irrelevant" and called on them to step aside for a new generation of amateurs to lead development in the 21st century.

"It is inexplicable why architects and planners continue to pursue radical innovation as if it were 1945 every morning," he said. “Only architecture, confusing itself with fashion as a platform for cultural expression, continues to be avant-garde, heedless of its cost overruns, social and technical dysfunction and widespread lack of popularity.”

The attack was met with a fierce response from leading modern architects. Sunand Prasad, president of the Royal Institute of British Architects, said that Duany was “living in another world” and argued that the architects of today were now building the “highest-performance” structures ever.

He further explained that many of Duany's complaints seemed to stem from the growth of car-based society and the effects of highways on urban design.

“It was wrong to aim for a society dominated by cars,” Prasad said. “But most architects and planners have moved on, so [Duany] is really railing against a problem that doesn't exist anymore.”