Observation
The neighborhood is half-way built and is gated. On the side where it is built, all homes look nice and freshly painted. All have the same design except painted in different colors. Every town home has a one-car garage and also a small front yard that has a very low fence. All of the homes are two-stories. The neighborhood contains a small pool which is located in the front. Also, next to the pool is a playground for little kids. I been inside of couple of homes there and I have noticed that all of them have stairs right next to the front door leading to the second floor. Another observation is that a lot of cars are parked parallel with the street.
Speculation
I think the development is built there because it is a quite big area with great quality schools around it, stores and parks. This is probably the reason why the developer built the neighborhood there and not somewhere else. If you have schools, stores and public parks near the development, it would attract people to move there because is close to to.
Analysis
The neighborhood is there because in that area, you have all services and resources need for living. Basically, they built it there because the land was affordable. However, based on my interview, I learned that schools, stores and parks in that area also contributed to building the neighborhood in that spot.
Evaluation
Based on both my speculation and analysis, the neighborhood is located there so the residents can go to school and shop within minutes away. Everything is there and the developer probably thought that those factors would contribute to people moving there. In conclusion, it is a good location for a neighborhood because it is in middle of everything and I believe that where neighborhoods should be.
My neighborhood vs. Heritage Commons
My neighborhood is way different from Heritage Commons. To start off, my neighborhood is really small compared to Heritage Commons, and my neighborhood is pretty old, while, the other one is new. Also, my neighborhood consists of mostly Serbian people, however, the other one doesn't have a single Serbian family. My neighborhood doesn't have a lake or a playground like Heritage Commons does.
Nice job on your observations. However, what did you notice as far as the spacing and architecture of the buildings? What about the street patterns and the their width? What about traffic, both car and pedestrian? What about the buildings? Were any buildings “mixed-use?” In other words, did you see any buildings that served as both residences and businesses? What about the homes? Where were the cars? Were there driveways? Did you notice the parks? Did the community have amenities such as community pools and gyms? What about the schools?
ReplyDeleteDon't forget that you're trying to understand the concept of urbanization. Heritage Commons is a great example of what urban planners have been trying to do, which is to stop the suburbs. For more info, check out the following link:
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/features/00/earthpulse/sprawl/index_flash.html