Village Homes: A Case Study In Community Design

Urban Farm DB summary

Village Homes in California, United States, designed and developed by Michael and Judy Corbett in the 1970s, is a widely cited example of sustainable community design and landscape architecture, consisting of 242 single- and multi-family residences on sixty acres. Homes are planned as energy-conserving buildings arranged around common open space with play areas and shared gardens, and a sizable portion of the development is devoted to community open space, including orchards and vineyards, managed largely as edible landscape by residents themselves. Initially viewed by local planners and bankers as high-risk, the development is today one of the most desirable and economically successful in California. Following the Landscape Architecture Foundation's case-study format, the paper offers a critical review of the project's successes and limitations.