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, • Workshop mm time to time articles have ap- peared in Civil Engineering News that describe the decades -old tech- nique commonly referred to as "clustering." Unfortunately, that concept suf- fers a very poor reputation in many commu- nities because it has been used mostly for the convenience of developers who have taken advantage of the lot size flexibility it offers -in order to locate more homes on difficult properties with environmental constraints. As typically practiced, cluster design of- . ten createstwo difficulties for subdivision ap- plicants. First, increasing overall density tends to trigger neighborhood complaints automati- cally, regardless of the quality of the site de- sign. Second, neighbors and local officials have become disenchanted with cluster de- velopment proposals where all or most of the open space consists -of. unusable wetlands, steep slopes, stormwater detention facilities, land under high - tension lines, and other Fri- endly undesirable areas. As a practicing site designer, author, and frequentiectu er on the topic of conservation Figure 2 (below).ldentiying primary conservation areas. design, I would like to introduce readers of . this magazine to what I feel is a much im- proved version of clustering, one that I call conservation subdivision design. The rel- evance for civil engineers is that the tech - nique can help them look at site design through a slightly different kind of lens, one. . that could improve community receptivity to— flexible layouts, enhance marketing and sales of the final housing product, and enlarge cli- ents' overall profit margins. Figure 1 (above).Yieid plan showing 32 lots. EVEN NON - GOLFERS LIE GOLF COURSE LOTS A growing body of evidence suggests that as borne buyers become more discriminat- ing, they are demonstrating a clear prefer- ence for homes in creatively designed devel- opments that offer more than just house lots and streets_One indication of the home buy- ing public's increasing interest in site ameni- ties and neighborhood open space is the ris- ing popularity of golf course communities. Interestingly, though, national statistics show that an estimated 40 percent of golf commu- nity residents do not play golf. Non - golfers choose golf communities because they pre- fer to live in park -like settings with views that are more uplifting and pleasing than the . sight of their neighbors' garage doors across the street or the gas grill and patio set in the abutting backyard. • Outside Tampa, the developers of Hunter's Oreen report that although many buyers want to see. fairways from their living rooms, an- other large group specifically desires a view of wetland areas, where trees are draped in Spanish moss and herons are frequent visi- tors. And in the Philadelphia suburbs, one recent survey of residents in new golf course communities found that up to 80 percent of new home buyers play little or no golf. What can .civil engineers and residential developers learn from this? A much less ex- pensive way of satisfying many people's de- sire to live near open space is to build con- servation subdivisions that offer greenways in place of fairways and community greens instead of putting greets. Rather than shift- ing around several million cubic yards of so and recontouring the landscape into a price 18 -hole golf course complete with irrigation systems and special turf, developers can use the natural features that already distinguish their properties to create conservation subdi- visions at little or no additional cost. This is not to suggest that new golf course