This has been going on a for a long time now. I remember working as an installer for a high end AV company in the early 2000's. We installed pricey home theaters and distributed audio for the rich suburban folks.
I remember several "planned communities" where they had small strip malls on the outside of the community, and then it was all high end craftsman and cape cod style houses on the interior. They had removed as many streets into the main center of the community as possible. In order to get to two of the houses we were working on, we had to park several hundred yards away and walk in to the houses.
Sure, it was awesome for the kids as they could go about their business without fear of high speed traffic, but it was a royal pain to heft in all the wiring boxes, tools and other stuff we needed to do our job. I also noticed, all the houses were reduced to two car garages. When I started talking to one of the owners, he gave me a litany of things they had to agree to before being able to build their homes. The strict building codes forbid three level houses, more than a two car garage, and each lot had to leave a strict percentage of "green" space - aka grass on each lot, and you were required to have a porch (you know, to encourage "community" and bonding with your neighbors) which also had a bunch of requirements you had to meet. There were other ones, but those were the ones which always stood out to me.
In short, they were trying to create some kind of a movie like community in every sense.
I remember several "planned communities" where they had small strip malls on the outside of the community, and then it was all high end craftsman and cape cod style houses on the interior. They had removed as many streets into the main center of the community as possible. In order to get to two of the houses we were working on, we had to park several hundred yards away and walk in to the houses.
Sure, it was awesome for the kids as they could go about their business without fear of high speed traffic, but it was a royal pain to heft in all the wiring boxes, tools and other stuff we needed to do our job. I also noticed, all the houses were reduced to two car garages. When I started talking to one of the owners, he gave me a litany of things they had to agree to before being able to build their homes. The strict building codes forbid three level houses, more than a two car garage, and each lot had to leave a strict percentage of "green" space - aka grass on each lot, and you were required to have a porch (you know, to encourage "community" and bonding with your neighbors) which also had a bunch of requirements you had to meet. There were other ones, but those were the ones which always stood out to me.
In short, they were trying to create some kind of a movie like community in every sense.