Municipalities are hiring architects to ensure that new development is architecturally interesting and does not look resemble sprawling cookie-cutter subdivisions
"...cookie-cutter bungalows lined up in a row in sprawling subdivisions with no architectural interest whatsoever. That is just the kind of community most municipalities hope to avoid -- hence the practice of hiring an outside architect to oversee new housing developments...They want the community to fit in with its surroundings, so if it is an infill the style must be consistent with the other houses in the vicinity. For greenfields locations, architects generally aim to ensure the community ends up with a distinct 'personality.'"
Thanks to Abhijeet Chavan
FULL STORY: Managing the 'cookie cutters'
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Municipality of Princeton (NJ)