RURAL BY DESIGN

The other design scenario we explored was Rural by Design. Rural by Design is an idea created by Randall Arendt. It calls for the development of land in the form of "conservation subdivisions". Rural by Design (RBD), like TND, is based on the idea that clustering development and preserving open space is a more efficient and aesthetically pleasing development pattern. RBD suggests that only a small portion of the available land be actually developed while the rest remains undeveloped. In following this type of strategy one would identify areas of primary and secondary importance/sensitivity and then direct development away from those areas. The result is a "conservation subdivision" where the development is clustered into pockets while the remainder of the property remains open. A development pattern of this type, like TND, tends to preserve much more open space than traditional development while accommodating the same number of people. RBD is a very flexible, non-prescriptive development pattern. Figure 1 shows a fictitious piece of land of a traditional development pattern. Compare this to Figure 2, which shows the same piece of land developed following a RBD type pattern. You can see from these two pictures the potential of Rural by Design.

FIGURE 1. Traditional Development Pattern

FIGURE 2. Rural by Design