A Planned Community

Columbia, Maryland is a planned community that ishundred stores and restaurants, and a large
located in Howard County. The community ismovie theater with 14 screens. The mall is located
made up of ten independent villages. Columbia is ain the village of Town Center.
suburb of Baltimore and Washington, DC. The cityThe shopping centers in each village are situated
was created to enhance the quality of life of itsso that the stores are not easily seen from the
residents. The concept was to create a smallroad.
town feel that was free of income, racial, andRecreation is an important aspect of Columbia.
religious segregation. The city has a population ofThe recreational facilities are maintained and
approximately 97,200 people. It has a total areaoperated by the homeowners association, the
of 71.6 square kilometers (27.7 square miles) withColumbia Association or CA. There are six indoor
71.4 square kilometers (27.6 square miles) of landswimming pools, twenty-three outdoor swimming
and 0.3 square kilometers (0.1 square miles) ofpools, two water slides, an equestrian center, ice
water. Columbia is situated in the Piedmont regionand roller skating rinks, a skateboard park, picnic
of Maryland. The climate is characterized by hotpavilions, a sports park with miniature golf, many
and humid summers and cold and wet winters.indoor and outdoor tennis, batting cages, running
There are stream valleys and rolling hills in the city.tracks, clubhouse and playground, basketball,
The Little Patuxent River and Middle Patuxentvolleyball, squash and racquetball courts, and three
River and three artificial lakes (Lake Elkholm, Lakeathletic clubs including the 24/7 Supreme Sports
Kittamaqundi, and Wilde Lake) are located in theClub. Lifetime Fitness was recently opened. There
city.are many activities around the lakes such as
Each village includes many neighborhoods, abiking, boating, fishing, jogging, sailing, and strolling.
community center, recreational facilities, shoppingThere are also children's play areas.
centers, schools, and walking/bike paths. Some ofMany celebrations and fairs occur throughout the
the villages have interfaith centers. The villagesyear such as the Columbia Festival of the Arts,
are Dorsey's Search, Harper's Choice, Hickoryand the summer lakeside entertainment on Lake
Ridge, Kings Contrivance, Long Reach, OaklandKittamaqundi.
Mills, Owen Brown, River Hill, Town Center, andThere are many famous people from Columbia.
Wilde Lake. The street names are named afterEdward Norton, an actor who has been nominated
famous art and literature works.for many Academy Awards made his
Money Magazine ranked Columbia forth out of theprofessional debut when he was 8 years old at
hundred "Best Places to Live" in the United StatesToby's Dinner Theatre in the village of Town
in 2006. Columbia was ranked number eight inCenter. Edward Norton is also the grandson of
2008.Columbia's founder, James W. Rouse. Michael
The Howard County Public School SystemChabon, D'Monroe, Stephen Hunter, JJ Kincaid, Elise
manages the public schools.Ray, and Sir Frank Whittle are also famous
The Mall of Columbia is the biggest shopping mall inColumbians.
the region. It has five anchor stores, over 200