Traditional Neighborhood Developments
- Multi-faceted community: Multiple residential, commercial and public areas within the TND support each other and contribute to long-term vitality of the neighborhood.
- Choices in housing types, sizes and prices are offered to appeal to a diverse group of residents with a wide range of incomes.
- Design facilitates community interaction and socializing.
- Walking is highly promoted as a transportation choice with wide, tree-lined sidewalks.
- Narrower, connected streets slow traffic.
- Public space is planned and designed for gathering places and diverse recreational activities.
- Houses with porches, located close to the street, promote social interaction with visitors and passersby.
- Supports regional environmental goals of reduced land consumption and improved regional air and water quality.
- Designed to enhance and complement neighboring communities.
- Pedestrian-friendly design, multiple facets of business and home life, availability of amenities and green spaces all promote walking and other healthy activities.
- Harmonious architecture and landscaped areas help to build and retain homeowner value, and create a neighborhood with unique character and charm.
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Conventional Suburban Developments
- Single Use: Neighborhoods made up of residents only, sacrificing the convenience of nearby amenities and businesses that could provide daily necessities.
- Lack of Diversity: Only single-family detached housing of similar size and price is offered to a group of residents with similar incomes.
- Design emphasizes privacy and seclusion.
- Requires dependency on the automobile.
- Wide, disconnected streets with cul-de-sacs, frequently without sidewalks and trees discourages walking.
- Public space is unplanned and when available, is frequently the residual leftovers of a development.
- Porchless houses situated far back from the street discourages social interaction with visitors and passersby.
- Contributes to regional environmental degradation by increased land consumption and diminished air and water quality.
- Designed to be separate and independent from neighboring communities.
- Automobile-dependent design and single use contribute to obesity and related health impacts.
- Without guidelines and design principles, character and charm of the neighborhood are left to chance.
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