Residential cluster development

A Residential Cluster Development, or open space development, is the grouping of residential properties on a development site in order to use the extra land as open space, recreation or agriculture. It is increasingly becoming popular in subdivision development because it allows the developer to spend much less on land and obtain much the same price per unit as for detached houses. The shared garden areas can be a source of conflict however. Claimed advantages include more green/public space, closer community, and an optimal storm water management. Cluster development often encounters planning objections.

According to William H. Whyte, the author of “Cluster Development” there are two types of cluster development. Townhouse development and super development. Examples of townhouse development include Morrell Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Hartshone in Richmond, and Dudley Square in Shreveport. Examples of Super Development include Reston, Virginia, Crofton, Maryland, and Americana Fairfax in Virginia.

In many ways cluster development has been practiced since the earliest communities — from the medieval village to the New England town. However, it wasn’t formalized as a modern concept until the onset of suburban sprawl and ubiquity of detached house developments. The idea of a Cluster development was created as the alternative to the ‘conventional subdivision’. The first conscious application of a Cluster development was in Radburn, New Jersey in 1928. Though it was based on English planning and Ebenezer Howard’s Garden Cities movement, it used principles of cluster development. Following Radburn, many other towns in New Jersey applied those principles to their planning notably the ‘village green’ in Hillsborough, NJ and Brunswick Hill in South Brunswick. In the rest of the country the use of cluster development grew in principally in Maryland and Virginia; notably in Reston and American Fairfax County.

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