Double Standards, Single Goal: Private Communities and Design Innovation

Some 47 million Americans—one in six—live in communities run by collective private ownership of residential property. The spread of home-owner associations, condominium associations and cooperatives is transforming planning practices and development design. A nation-wide survey of municipalities and developers demonstrates the existence of two sets of standards and design parameters: those that pertain to the public domain and those applied to private communities. Public officials often regard the latter, with their privately owned streets and open spaces, as a tool for promoting flexible planning, frequently resulting in innovative and efficient land use and original layouts, characteristics absent from conventional subdivisions. Developers see private communities as a medium for a simplified approval process and the introduction of design innovation. They are using private development to push the density and efficiency envelopes while protecting environmental resources and increasing marketability and financial returns. Public officials agree that because local government has no legal or maintenance responsibilities for private development, and is thereby cleared from liability concerns, such communities often use land more efficiently, through clustering and narrow-street systems. We must recognize that the current practice of allowing different sets of standards for private developments acknowledges the inadequacy of standards applied to public ones, and validates the impression that typical regulations are not determined by actual performance, marketability or good design.