Village Homes: A Community by Design

by Mark Francis, 2003, Island Press. Paperback, 90 pages, $25.

Another book about Village Homes? I have to admit to being skeptical when I picked up this new title, the first in a series of place-based case studies from the Landscape Architecture Foundation. But

Village Homes: A Community by Design is a real gem, and it does contribute significantly to the already extensive body of literature about this landmark community in Davis, California.

As a former resident and longtime observer of the community, author Mark Francis is sympathetic to Village Homes and its goals, but he doesn’t shrink from criticism. Unlike

Designing Sustainable Communities: Learning from Village Homes by Michael Corbett, which leaves one wondering why anyone would build any other way, Francis’ book celebrates the accomplishments while also asking hard questions. Perhaps the most important of those questions is: “Given its tremendous recognition, why hasn’t Village Homes been replicated?” While Francis provides no easy answers, he does raise many issues that help explain why replicating Village Homes is less simple than one might imagine.

Many of these issues are relatively subtle, such as the distinction between common space (privately owned by the community) and public space. Making it clear that fruit trees in Village Homes’ common space can be harvested by any resident but not by others is one challenge that has emerged in this arena. Another problem, for some residents, is the shortage of parking.

Francis also delves into the differences between the design of Village Homes and approaches advocated by New Urbanism. While he stops short of criticizing New Urbanism directly, he does suggest that these differences are significant. He cites a University of Oregon study that found that, in terms of overall environmental impact, the Village Homes approach is a radical improvement over conventional neighborhoods, while the benefits of New Urbanism are more limited to the potential for reduced transportation-related impacts.

Village Homes has an attractive design, with some beautiful color photographs and other images that are more utilitarian. My only complaint is that Francis doesn’t dig very deeply into claims about reduced energy use by homes in the community, but instead cites fairly vague data from other sources. Nevertheless, this is a great resource, and we look forward to future titles in the series.

– NM