April 29, 2008

The new suburbia

The Register looks at the question and deconstructs the region's housing construction patterns. One finding: new homebuyers (and regulators) are demanding more open space. Ironically, this is probably going to lead to denser development in the "inner cities" of places like Santa Ana and Anaheim.

One example:

When the city of Mission Viejo was developed in the 1960s, just 8 percent of the total acreage was devoted to open space – a total of 832 acres for 33,000 homes. In the latest development, called The Ranch Plan, three-fourths of the total acreage is being devoted to open space, or 17,000 acres for 14,000 homes.

Posted by dweintraub on April 29, 2008 06:23 AM