assisted by fitting remote-controlled garage doors! Despite local imperatives for
growth containment (previously addressed) edge city in most metropolitan and
large town situations is a spotty prolongation of quasi-suburbia set down in quasi-
arcadia. In this manner edge-city green space was initially subdivided along rural-
class roads into urban-rural plots. Typically these were the sites of large un-rural
houses, the only plants and animals in view being for gratifications other than
their eventual consumption as food or incorporation into textiles. Setting out to
suburbanize in this incremental manner resulted in low
densities for situations where it was hoped, at the
outset, densities would increase.
The expansion of orthodox suburbia onto city-
adjacent agricultural greenfields beckons as an oppor-
tunity in the eyes of landowners, urban developers and
local government officials and politicians.^49 To them,
historically, all freehold rural land, whether in active or
passive rural use, and regardless of soil quality, was
available for commodification and profit unless this
was legally constrained. The question now raised is:
what are the guidelines for ordained edge-of-city sub-
urbanization, mindful of cost, conservancy factors and
the achievement of social wellbeing for the future
occupants?What is frequently sought is the doubling of previous
standard suburban densities, by scaling down the
average size of plots and the overall width of most
kinds of residential street andthrough on-site design.
Also included is the incorporation of some selective
rear plot arrangements, the installation of user friendly
greenway pedestrian access networks, a doubling-up
of households (granny flats), and a scaling-up of
housing vertically – part of a sustainable-in-spirit
housing strategy.^50 Lot-line layouts on 350 m^2 lots
(approx. 3,800 sq. ft) can provide all the benefits and
space of fully detached single-family housing on larger
500 m^2 lots (approx 5,400 sq. ft); and on slightly smaller
300 m^2 lots (3,200 sq. ft) semi-detached housing can be
sited to meet all conventional urban-living needs.
Weak-link housing, compromising lined-up single and
double-storeyed units in residential rows, need only
occupy 250 m^2 plots (2,700 sq. ft); and town houses
require no more than 200 m^2 (2,100 sq. ft), which
includes the provision of integral garage space and a
privacy yard. The illustration given as figure 5.8
Density and design quadrupledshows conventional228 Practice
Aggie Village, Davis, California. Detail
redrawn from Calthorpe and Fulton
2001, showing single-family houses
with ‘granny cottages’ to the rear,
which are linked to a pedestrian
pathway.
Lot-line (built-to-boundary)