Smart Growth & Conventional Suburban Development (2010) by Jonathan Ford, P.E., describes two case study projects comparing infrastructure costs for conventional suburban developments and traditional neighborhood developments. Several development alternatives were prepared for the two case study sites, and total infrastructure costs were calculated.
The study found that infrastructure costs for the traditional neighborhood development scenarios were consistently less than conventional suburban development. Reductions in infrastructure costs due to traditional neighborhood development patterns ranged from 32 to 47 percent, with the extent of cost savings based principally on density
This paper was produced as part of Smart Growth: The Business Opportunity for Developers and Production Builders, a series of papers that present a "business case for smart growth" to help builders and developers considering whether to pursue smart growth projects.
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