Dwelling in Expanded Biotic Communities: Steps Toward Reconstructive Postmodern Communities - Design with the Desert: Conservation and Sustainable Development - page 337

infrastructure.” 19 So the developers are taking advantage of creating, at least in the
planning stages, of the latest technology for water use in the desert. As residents become
aware of such basic systems it can help ground them in a sense of place.
While there are forward thinking water use plans, there is no indication yet on other
systems such as energy production. The area would be suitable for solar, wind, and even
geothermal power productions. So the final question to ask is where will the energy come
from? If the plan is to provide most of the energy from production sites elsewhere, then the
community will lose an opportunity to use local, sustainable power production possibili-
ties, linking residents further with the local area.
Coyote Springs represents an opportunity to show that a truly postmodern, sustain-
able community can be created. Whether economic conditions and thoughtful community
design and planning will enable the community to build or whether the developers will
continue to incorporate new, environmentally friendly design features in all aspects of
community remains to be seen.
18.6 Conclusion
It is possible, and has already been done to a small and limited degree in Las Vegas, to
build communities with these postmodern features. Neighborhoods can be built that are
not walled enclaves. Homes can be designed for the desert climate with desert landscap-
ing that requires little or no water for maintenance. Parks and common areas can be built
that are part of previously existing natural features, such as canyons and waterways.
Stores and offices can be built that foster foot and bicycle traffic, instead of demanding
greater automobile use. That such features are already present in areas around Las Vegas
indicate that it is possible to develop the kind of community with the postmodern features
I described.
Furthermore, community is not automatically created when the entire community and
all of the structures already in place are prefabricated, as it is envisioned in places such
as Coyote Springs. The character of a community would best be served by a slow emer-
gence of these values in a participatory process as the specific needs of the community
develop. This form of evolution will allow for an organic and flexible structure within the
community that responds to the current and future aspirations of and by the residents
themselves.
While the goal is to create features that foster community feeling and respect for
diverse community members, the planned turnover in home ownership has spawned
developments with extensive covenants in the terms of ownership of each home to pre-
serve home and resale values. This is often done in ways that stipulate what may or may
not be done to the design of the home, resulting in a bland repetition of landscape and
home ornamentation. The legal penalties are enforced, insuring that residents do not
attempt to live in a way that might be “different” or disturbing to neighbors, even if this
involves retooling homes for solar energy and gray water use. The reliance on neighbor-
hood associations to enforce such covenants underscores the fact that such groups have
no common, shared vision of a good life that would render groundless such fears of
diminished property values. The pressure to be free, unencumbered individuals able to
move on whenever has led to undemocratic pressure to conform to a lifestyle that offends
no one and satisfies no one as well.