CHAPTER | 
New ComMunitTiEs AS Part or A State UrsBAN GrowtH Po.uicy 
INTRODUCTION 
The objectives of this chapter are: (1) to offer definitions of the 
various types of new communities; (2) to outline many of the problems 
involved in planning and building new communities; and (3) to 
examine several critical assumptions about the feasibility and desira- 
bility of developing new communities as part of a State urban growth 
policy. 
Exactly what are new communities? Planners and developers offer 
different definitions. Most seem to agree that a “‘complete’”’ community 
is implied, but some projects, not intended to be complete communities, 
have also been dubbed new communities. To clarify matters, the 
National Association of Home Builders has adopted an umbrella 
term—“Open Space Communities.”” Under this rubric they recognize 
three categories of development: clusters, planned units, and new 
communities. A large-scale residential development, because it in- 
cludes no commercial or industrial property, is classified as a cluster 
development. Projects that combine residential uses with commercial 
facilities, and perhaps some institutional uses, are termed planned 
unit developments. The simple definition then for a hew community 
is that it has a full range of urban community uses: housing, industry, 
and institutions scaled within a reasonable balance of one another.’ 
There are a variety of types of ‘“‘new communities” or “new towns” 
as they are sometimes called.” 
The real estate salesman’s ‘‘new town.’—This is usually a sales 
gimmick, an attempt to capitalize on an increasingly popular term 
in order to help sell housing in a development which sometimes is a 
planned residential community—that is, a development which includes 
at least schools, recreation facilities, and shops for food and other 
everyday needs—but, too frequently, is merely a residential sub- 
division which includes no provision for neighborhood or community 
facilities. 
The isolated “new town” or “new city.”—No area in Massachusetts 
is sufficiently isolated, in terms of distance or traveltime, from other 
population centers for an isolated and quite independent new town 
or city to be possible. 
1 Craig Noren, ‘‘New Towns of the United States’? (Washington, D.C., National Association of Home 
Builders Land Use and Development Department), 1967, mimeo, page 4. An even more specific definition 
is provided by the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations: New communities are large- 
scale developments constructed under single or unified management, following a fairly precise, inclusive 
plan and including different types of housing, commercial and cultural facilities, and amenities sufficient 
to serve the residents of the community. They may provide land for industry or are accessible to industry, 
offer other types of employment opportunities, and may eventually achieve a considerable measure of 
self-sufficiency..With few exceptions, new communities under development today are within commuting 
distance of existing employment centers. 
2 Jeanne Davis, ‘‘A Review of the Problems Involved in Planning and Constructing a New Community,” 
in New Towns; proceedings ofa symposium held in Newark, Del. (sponsored by the Delaware State Plan- 
ning Council), J uly 1, 1969, pp. 12-24. 
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