Developing conservation subdivisions: Ecological constraints, regulatory barriers, and market incentives

The majority of people in the world now live in urban areas. Traditional urban development has threatened terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems through direct habitat destruction, various forms of pollution, and introduction of exotic species. Development practices that minimize ecological damage are becoming more prevalent in the United States. One of these development forms is conservation subdivisions (CSDs). CSDs are residential or mixed use subdivisions typically designed to minimize site disturbance and protect ecologically sensitive areas of a site. In practice, however, they sometimes do not accomplish ecological goals and many barriers exist to their widespread implementation. In this study, we evaluate how CSDs can be encouraged and effectively used to mitigate for traditional development impacts using the state of Georgia as a case study. We identify a number of environmental, institutional and market constraints that limit the effectiveness of CSDs and provide recommendations for how jurisdictions may overcome these constraints using both market-based incentives, such as marketing and income tax reductions, and regulatory initiatives such as expedited permitting and zoning code revisions.