Is sustainable development sustainable? The earth-friendly, energy efficient planned community at Loreto Bay broke ground in 2002 and ran out of money by 2009. DPZ urban planners Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, co-authors of Suburban Nation, had designed an eco-friendly Mexican village for retiring baby boomers. Then the economy collapsed. The golf course closed. The hotel closed. Property values fell. The 800 homeowners of the projected 6,000 units were left basking in the Baja sun.
The Mexican office for tourism and promotion, FONATUR, provided some stability as Loreto homeowners banded together. Fonatur, however, has been criticized for promoting the overdevelopment of environmentally sensitive areas purely for economic reasons—a difficult trade-off for a povery-stricken nation. Fortunately, in 2010 the Mexican developer Homex assumed the continuation of Loreto Bay.
Critics of this trend toward new urbanism and smart growth say that these communities are overly planned—that the emphasis on earth-friendly architecture and energy conservation limits a homeowner's freedom. The Loreto Bay settlers have even more criticisms.
Read More about Planned Communities:
- Celebration, Florida
- Natural Home and Garden's Top Ten Green Planned Communities (2010)
- Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company DPZ Project Page
Loreto Bay Bloggers:
- Our Home at Loreto Bay
- Living Loreto
Photo of "Founders' Neighborhood" in the Villages of Loreto Bay clusters along the beach near Loreto in Baja California Sur, Mexico © Jackie Craven
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