Alternatives for Coastal Development: One Site, Three Scenarios
Additional Information on Conventional Design
Current conventional development patterns began with extensive expansion into suburban areas in the late 1940s. In 1948, suburban expansion was spurred by the creation of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), which provided mortgage insurance to families who wanted to renovate or build homes. Soon after, the Veterans Administration home loan program was created, offering low-interest and long-term mortgages with low down payments to returning GIs after World War II. In 1956 the Interstate Highway Act was created, requiring 37,000 miles of roadways to be constructed around 182 cities. Although initially created for defensive purposes and transportation of troops, the system of roads from cities to the hinterlands allowed for previously open space to be developed. These three movements have encouraged suburban expansion throughout the nation.
Common characteristics of conventional subdivisions today include large houses, each with its own front, back, and side yards. Conventional subdivisions typically lack common civic and natural spaces and may lack sidewalks as well. Lots are often clear-cut, save for a few large trees that won't interfere with construction equipment. Historically, conventional designs have given less consideration to preserving unregulated natural resources on the site than to maximizing the number of lots and units.
It is often the street network that typifies a conventional development scenario. A curvilinear system of streets allows for cul-de-sacs often valued for low traffic speed and volume. Cul-de-sacs are often used by children as play areas and are generally considered safe neighborhoods for families with children. The down side of cul-de-sacs, however, is that they feed into a few local roads that in turn feed into one or two larger arterial roads. A road network of this type can lead to gridlock when an accident closes the main arterial, as compared to a grid network that allows flexibility in choosing a route around an accident. Cul-de-sacs also have increased impervious surface area.
The large lots of the typical conventional design may have fenced-in yards, which provide privacy as well as social and physical barriers between neighbors. For example, if a person wants to borrow sugar from a neighbor that lives behind his or her house, he or she may have to walk out of the driveway, down the local street without sidewalks, down another local street, and up the neighbor's driveway to the front door. While a sense of community can exist in any neighborhood if the residents desire it, the conventional scenario does not focus on design details intended specifically to facilitate neighbor and community interactions.
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Current conventional development patterns began with extensive expansion into suburban areas in the late 1940s. In 1948, suburban expansion was spurred by the creation of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), which provided mortgage insurance to families who wanted to renovate or build homes. Soon after, the Veterans Administration home loan program was created, offering low-interest and long-term mortgages with low down payments to returning GIs after World War II. In 1956 the Interstate Highway Act was created, requiring 37,000 miles of roadways to be constructed around 182 cities. Although initially created for defensive purposes and transportation of troops, the system of roads from cities to the hinterlands allowed for previously open space to be developed. These three movements have encouraged suburban expansion throughout the nation. 
It is often the street network that typifies a conventional development scenario. A curvilinear system of streets allows for cul-de-sacs often valued for low traffic speed and volume. Cul-de-sacs are often used by children as play areas and are generally considered safe neighborhoods for families with children. The down side of cul-de-sacs, however, is that they feed into a few local roads that in turn feed into one or two larger arterial roads. A road network of this type can lead to gridlock when an accident closes the main arterial, as compared to a grid network that allows flexibility in choosing a route around an accident. Cul-de-sacs also have increased impervious surface area.