LAND SUBDIVISION 28^ 



of traffic relations but also of the use of the land for residential, commer- 

 cial, or manufacturing purposes. The intermingling of widely different 

 types of use is likely to be inefficient from the point of view of any one 

 type or from the point of view of all together. The spread of manu- 

 facturing or commercial activities into residential districts, or the spread 

 of a lower class of residential development into an area occupied by a 

 higher class, destroys a great deal of present value and is likely to find 

 the ground unsuited by its design to its new use. Moreover, the un- 

 certainty as to what use may be made of a piece of ground puts a pre- 

 mium on those uses only which will not be injured by any subsequent 

 development, and therefore naturally discourages those uses in which 

 amenity and beauty bear a considerable part. The recognition of this 

 great difficulty and of the inability of private capital and private enter- 

 prise to cope with it has brought about our modern districting laws, of 

 which the recent ordinances of New York City offer the most complete 

 example in the United States.* Where such regulations exist, they are 

 first to be consulted by the land developer ; where they do not, he must 

 make the best prophecy he can himself as to the future use of the land 

 and proceed accordingly. The developer must then consider what is 

 to be the social and financial status of his future purchasers, roughly, 

 that is, the price they are willing to pay for a building lot. If the land 

 subdivision scheme is large, it may be different in different parts in this 

 regard, but in any one small neighborhood widely different residential 

 types will not mix and the cheaper will drive out the more expensive. 

 Having made these decisions, and taking into account the original cost 

 of the land per square foot, it will be possible for the land developer to 

 determine roughly the selling price per square foot and the range of 

 lot sizes which would be most desirable in the subdivision. With this 

 in mind the road locations are to be studied and so chosen that with the 

 least amount of road and the greatest traffic convenience, the land 

 may be all divided into lots of the chosen range of size. Evidently the 

 size of a lot as well as the topographic and traffic considerations will 

 motive the determination of the distance from one road to the next. 

 Within certain limits the shape of the lot may be varied to give the 



* See the Final (Comprehensive) Report June 2, 1916, published 1917, of the 

 New York Commission on Building Districts and Restrictions. 



