Developer Freehold Communities is planning a suburban farming community in California's Sonora Desert.
A Palm Springs golf course will soon give way to a sustainable community centered on 70 acres of olive groves and communal gardens. The 300-acre town of Miralon will be one of the largest of about 150 "farm-to-fork" neighborhoods throughout the U.S., reports Marilyn Kalfus in Mercury News. She speaks to Urban Land Institute senior fellow Ed McMahon and UCLA Anderson professor Paul Habibi for insight into the growing trend.
So-called "agrihoods" represent a "confluence of economic profits, environmental good and social benefit," Habibi says. Designed by international firm Robert Hidey Architects, the mostly single-family homes will follow the Palm Springs modernist tradition, with the addition of solar panels as standard features.
Like other agrihoods, Miralon will offer communal programming for adults and families; developers also hope the planned community's social and environmental mission will appeal to millennials.
FULL STORY: Goodbye golf course, hello olive groves! New Palm Springs enclave to become an ‘agri-hood’
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