Placemaking as a sustainable planning strategy: Serenbe Community

Abstract

Placemaking offers a wholistic approach to the application of sustainable planning and design measures that cross the varying scales of residential development. A place can be described in terms of certain archetypal planning principles and specific sets of ectypal patterns that when taken together form the basis for this sustainable planning strategy. Using this set of place-making patterns, sustainability is explored in terms of the inherent geometry of a place, the spatial structure and characteristics for form, the opportunities affording the creation and support of community, the positive health affects of active living and social activities, and the grounding nature of a site contributing to the quality and spirit of place. The results are a coherent settlement form, diversity through densification and transect design, integration of necessary functions and essential mixes of use, generous preservation of land, and provision for organic agriculture. The ectypal patterns and their archetypal effects are analyzed for a small experimental community located southwest of Atlanta, Georgia. This paper addresses both an explanation of the evolving community and presentation of the in-progress research. Serenbe Community is a model residential development, which is a 900-acre constellation of interconnected hamlets designed around traditional values and environmental sustainability. This paper describes twenty place-making patterns and the ways in which they have informed the design, the realization, and the sustainability of this unique community.