136 CONFERENCE ON NATURAL BEAUTY 



It does permit pooling of land for the greater benefit of all concerned. 



The cluster technique actually reduces housing construction costs 

 by shortening the network of streets and utilities. If over-all density 

 is increased, it also reduces the raw land cost per dwelling unit. 

 Exemplified by Fremont, Calif., local governments are having suc- 

 cess with a small percentage increase in over-all density as a bonus 

 in local planning regulations. This encourages land developers to 

 use the cluster technique as a rule instead of an exception. By such 

 rewards the current development practice of homes without open 

 space could be replaced by a general practice of homes plus parks at 

 the same or a lower price. 



President Johnson in his message to Congress earlier this year said, 

 "in the remainder of this century . . . urban population will double, 

 city land will double . . ." 



At the present rate of use this means that 10 million additional 

 acres of land will be urbanized by the year 2000. Thus, if planned- 

 unit development resulted in the dedication of open space equivalent 

 to only 5 percent of the total new residential areas, a half million 

 acres of recreational open space would be added to our Nation's 

 inventory. 



The maintenance of the open space in a planned-unit development 

 is assumed by a homes association in which membership of all lot 

 owners is automatic. The association finances its care, determines 

 its use, and undertakes the responsibility for its maintenance. Pri- 

 vate maintenance of the common open space with private funds 

 assumes significance in the light of Mrs. Jacobs' reminder in the panel 

 discussion that maintenance of many existing public parks is poor 

 because insufficient money is available to maintain the parks we now 

 have. 



We need to have our parks and places of recreation where the 

 people are so they can be used as part of day-to-day living. A park 

 in a remote location which is relatively inaccessible has little meaning 

 in the day-to-day life of the urban dweller. Convenient access is 

 inherent in the planned-unit development in that the open spaces are 

 interrelated with the homes and intimately associated with the daily 

 life of the neighborhood. These association-owned parks are in- 

 tended to supplement the major parks, playfields and open space 

 reservations needed by the larger community and supported by public 

 funds. 



The long and remarkably successful experience of automatic- 



