Planned Unit Development

A planned unit development (PUD), is a type of building development and also a regulatory process. As a building development, it is a designed grouping of both varied and compatible land uses, such as housing, recreation, commercial centers, and industrial parks, all within one contained development or subdivision.

The origins of PUDs in the new American communities can be traced to British movements during the 1950s. The developments in Britain's new communities dealt with the locations of industrial elements and how they were publicly dictated before building ever began in order to uphold an economic base. However, in America, privately controlled communities often had to attract industry after the residential sectors had been built and occupied.

The oldest forms of the planned unit development in America appeared shortly after World War II in the Levittowns and Park Forest developments as whole communities within the limits and orbits of large metropolitan centers. The first zoning evidence of PUD was created by Prince George's County, Maryland in 1949. It "permit[ed] the development of a large tract of land as a complete neighborhood unit, having a range of dwelling types, the necessary local shopping facilities and off-street parking areas, parks, playgrounds, school sites, and other community facilities" (Burchell 43). Alexandria, Virginia, in 1952, as an amendment to its city code, provided for a "Community Unit Plan" with the intent to provide for planned community facilities and open space development with new residential building. One of the first modern uses of the actual term "planned unit development" appears in San Francisco's code of ordinances in 1962.

PUD as a regulatory process is a means of land regulation which promotes large scale, unified land development by means of mid-range, realistic programs in chase of physically curable, social and economic deficiencies in land and cityscapes. Where appropriate, this development control promotes:

Frequently, PUDs take on a variety of forms ranging from small clusters of houses combined with open spaces to new and developing towns with thousands of residents and various land uses. However, the definition of a PUD does not take into consideration these types of developments unless they fit into a category of size ranging from 100 to 200 acres (40 to 81 ha). In a PUD the property owner owns the land the dwelling sits on.

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