Daniel Island, SC: Open and walkable.
The five top trends in today’s master planned communities are concepts that were actually created more than 50 years ago. These trends, born out of the post WWII era, are now mainstream once again due to today’s environmental and socioeconomic issues.
Look for these five design concepts when you investigate a community this year: 1. Pedestrian orientation, 2. Environmental conscience, 3. Recreational programming, 4. Integrated mixed uses and 5. Multi-modal transportation.
1. Pedestrian orientation within a community is achieved not only through ample sidewalks, paths and trails, but also, through design, making the automobile network secondary to that of the walking, running or biking. Planned pedestrian surfaces should encourage interconnectivity with surrounding properties, creating an overall network. (Daniel Island, SC is a good example of this approach.)
The surfaces should be maintained and lighted to promote safe day and nighttime use. Some of the best pedestrian areas are those that occur within an environmentally focused communities’ dedicated natural preservation or other open spaces.
2. Conservation and open space provisions are part of good environmentally sensitive planning and design. Global carbon footprints are of alarming proportions and there is a consortium among nations to change the way we live, work and play. (See Ford’s Colony, VA, or go to GreenGolfCommunities.net).
Public awareness is visible in planned communities through more informed and in some cases, mandated practices such as sustainable site selection and design, and Green materials and construction methods. Environmentally positioned communities create not only a greater value but also serve as the habitat required for the preservation of this planet and future generations.
3. Recreation programming has been around since the first planners were commissioned to design communities centered around activities such as wellness, golf, equestrian and water sports, to name a few. Desires for recreation types have not changed that much and, if anything, they have only gotten more abundant.
It is not uncommon to experience wellness and passive recreation, rounds of golf from several courses, water parks, equestrian activities and court sports on a lake or coastal setting, all within the same planned community. (See HealthandWellnessCommunities.net.)
One such community, the 5,200 acre Sea Pines Plantation on Hilton Head Island, boasts nearly 3,000 residences, 4 golf courses, active court sports, 14 miles of pedestrian trails, equestrian center, and a deep-water yacht basing, all thoughtfully planned in one master community. Sea Pines was conceived over 30 years ago by Charles Frasier and his legacy continues to be fulfilled with the most desired recreation programming.
4. Integrating a variety of uses within a residential community actually dates back to the early European traditional concepts. Today, the mixed-use model is popular not only for the busy pedestrian synergy it creates in main streets and town centers, but also for the environmental stewardship presented through reducing automobile dependency.
Mixed use is most commonly thought of as some combination of ground floor and possibly second floor retail or office space with some number of residential floors above.
Other non-residential uses that may be integrated into planned communities are schools and public service facilities such as post offices, police, fire and local government. This diverse collection of uses, when planned correctly, resembles smaller versions of early, planned towns and cities. (See Wakefield Plantation, NC.)
5. Alternative transportation, multi-modal centers and transit-oriented developments are all in response to increased greenhouse gases and the energy crisis. Existing municipalities are ramping up their existing public transportation modes and planning a response for future requirements. New planned communities should include nearby alternative transportation providers to ensure to meet their coverage and connectivity needs.
The Earth functions in a series of cyclic systems, and so it is with master planned communities that design philosophies have circled back around to those traditional principles that America was founded upon. The understanding of neighborhood living that guided the American Dream in many of the classic communities decades ago are actually not much different than the five most popular community design trends of today.
By Michael Gene Peters
Town Planner, Wood & Partners Inc.
Comments