No Outbound Commuters
In a complete community with its own local economy, people work, live and play locally. Everything they need is within a 10-minute walk. This means that the usual rush hour of commuters heading to work on the roads, creating traffic jams, and disturbing the host community, does not happen. It means the school children do not ride buses or have parents drive them. It means the roads are not clogged with VillageTown residents driving to shopping malls or big-box stores. This absence of outbound drivers makes it easier for the host jurisdiction to approve a VillageTown.
The VillageTown design should be sufficient to prevent commuter traffic. In VillageTowns, if someone chooses to be a commuter, they are free to do so, but most are unlikely to choose such a miserable use of time and also because most sites will not be close enough for the commute. Because the design places all day-to-day destinations within walking distance, focuses on a strong local economy, and preferably selects a site outside the commuter belt, it should be unlikely to attract many commuters. There is just too much good stuff happening within to want to leave it every day. During the organizing stage of a VillageTown, the organizing company will give preference to people who are able to bring their work with them. It will discourage commuters because commuting adds additional demands on the surrounding infrastructure, and it defeats the point of a 24/7 community.
What would it be like not to have to commute? Let's find out in Eastern Missouri.
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