A New Landmark in Nevada?

Not unlike the still brewing concept floating for San Francisco's Treasure Island - Landmark Communities hopes to create a "Sustainability Enclave" in the Nevada desert. It's one of those unlikely, w holistic, master planned communities that is being marketed specifically for its completeness. Both are trying in essence to capture the same market of residents - those people looking for something new and totally flawless. According to the Nevada developers,

"Residents of Traditions will have a great opportunity for interaction with their neighbors and should develop a real sense of community," said Donna Kristaponis, Lyon County Manager. "This, in turn, builds a great lifestyle. Similar new communities across the country are in extremely high demand."

Could he be right about the demand? Will we see more and more of these pre-planned community centers popping up. Is this a case of developers seeing new markets for commercial and residential construction - or are they creating artificial blips of activity sporadically across the landscape? The real question is this: are these things for real? Will they survive? The notion of building up an entierly new "place" or "center" is pretty dramatic. Only time will tell us in the end. My hunch is that these places need to be carefully planned frameworks that allow outside forces to mold their future forms. These communities cannot sacrifice flexibility for short-term convenience. In doing so they'll need to work carefully with the municipal-level decision makers. Then again, that is just my hunch.