Sustainable communities are defined by most industry professionals as projects meeting social, environmental, and economic objectives. The easiest way to achieve a sustainable project is by designing a mixed use project. The retail, office, and residential components of a mixed use project may be distributed but interconnected over a site or be vertically integrated. Mixed use zoned land should be evaluated for acquisition before a fragmented residential subdivision site is considered for development. The market will demand it; government will insist on it; and it makes sense.
As an industry, we have for a long time considered the environmental consequences of a project and we have been sensitive to site environmental characteristics. Our industry is "green".
Real estate development is economic driven, not only for the self contained project but for the economic benefits to the municipality. Mixed use projects provide the absorption of land over multiple uses rather than be single market driven i.e. single family residential. The various uses provides a wider allocation of costs which benefits the overall performance of the project.
Social factors have not always been adhered to by builders since price points are established by the market - real or artificial. Mixed use projects, vertical or horizontal integration, provides the best opportunity to market a spectrum of price points for all demographic segments.
Will the above change even more once the government focus is on correcting the cause of our current economic down turn. "The Future of Land Development Part II" will be released next week.
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