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Originally Posted by sapiens
I don't like subdivisions. Often every house looks the same and every community member looks the alike. When I buy a house, I would like a neighborhood with a diversity of people and a diversity of homes. However, I would not want to live across the street from an apartment building or within walking distance of a target. I would like a community with residents that are planning on staying in place for an extended period of time (often not the case with renters). Big box stores and cineplexes do not appeal to me at all. They're ugly and they bring lots of cars and strangers into the neighborhood. I do like local supermarkets and theaters.
Also, I do shop at target and every once in a while I go to a cineplex, but I wouldn't want either where I live.
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Yeah, I wish we lived closer to neighborhood shops, local supermarkets, and stuff, but unfortunately that's just not something our urban planning committee sees as a priority. There really AREN'T any of those things in Durham, except by Duke U or downtown, and we can't afford to live in the neighborhoods there that aren't slums. That's one reason we want to live in Greensboro. The house we're looking at is 4 blocks from our favorite veg restaurant, a locally-owned coffee shop, and good sushi; and about 6 blocks from downtown Greensboro. We're going to love it.
Just my plug, but petition your community for smart growth, sustainable development, and human scale planning. And sidewalks!!! There are no sidewalks in Durham!
And StanT, out here in NC, "subdivision" generally refers to a bunch of homes from 1-10 floorplans on 1/10-1/3 acre lots arranged in cul de sacs with meaningless, pretentious-sounding names. They're McMansions, often brick-facade with hideous side and back faces, few trees (because they cut down the indigenous forest and planted ornamental pears), and usually too big for their lots. There are a few subdivisions that have "done it right" - varying the lot sizes, offering a wider range of floor plans or custom options, mixing use so you get a central commerce area with surrounding single family homes and townhouses, etc. But I can count them on 2 fingers.
What you are describing almost sounds more like "co-housing" - now THAT I'm for - communal maintenance of centrally owned resources like gardens, lakes, etc.; blending the community into the surrounding nature. I'm actually looking into starting a co-housing project that would be mixed-income, mixed-housing sustainable building. But that comes with its own challenges and is another thread entirely.