| My analysis and evaluation of the conservation community policy model has shown it to be an effective and economically viable urban policy remedy for negative externalities inherent in urban sprawl development. Using surveys, interviews and election data in a case study analysis of Prairie Crossing, a private conservation community in Lake County, Illinois, I establish that the policy model, as defined in this case study, is a for-profit hydridization of the non-profit land trust model.; Incorporating aspects of the New Urbanism movement, Prairie Crossing succeeded in the positive creation of place and community. Resident voting participation in local elections significantly exceeded county norms, and non-voting political participation significantly surpassed the national rates recorded in the ANES data. Community developers substantively created and restored valuable habitats, including the locally extirpated and regionally threatened tall-grass prairie ecosystem. Biotic corridors link the development's wetlands to the local watershed and provide for the exchange of genetic material between populations, mitigating the problem of island biogeography. Conservation homeowner association practices, including exotic invasive and pest species removal, wetland and prairie burning, place-based ecology, organic farming, renewable energy generation, the planting of native organisms, and the reintroduction of endangered fish, have mitigated regional environmental degradation, and have fostered altruistic eco-friendly behaviors within the housing community's residents. Residents self-reported increasing their conservation behavior one-half a point on a four-point conservation rubric. Residents failed to alter transportation-oriented behaviors firmly anchored in American culture, supporting prior research conclusions. Increased environmental awareness at the national and, particularly, the local level substantively contributed to the defeat of a long-time incumbent in the U.S. House of Representatives. Survey data suggests that self-selection of homebuyers did not undermine the policy model. Further resident association practices include education, both internally and externally, and financial and organizational support for outside organizations. The development was successful in competing in the free market with conventional sprawling development. The conservation community policy model offers policy makers an economically competitive alternative to conventional urban sprawl. |
