The extent of land conservation is based on the character of the area the conservation community is located within and does not include flood plain and stream buffers – Intown areas: 50-60% of the land, suburban areas: 60-80% of the land and rural areas: 80-90% of the land. This is accomplished by clustering  homes and workplaces into a farmstead, hamlet or village cluster and protecting the remainder of the green space in perpetuity.

Three basic development models are used to cluster homes and workplaces and preserve the majority of the land for farming and woodlands – the conservation farmstead (several homes and farm structures adjacent to a farm), the conservation hamlet (20 or fewer homes that include a mix of farmstead and other residents) and the conservation village (20 to a 1000 homes or more). The building cluster tool is a very effective tool for the conservation of land and these three development applications can be used in a variety of ways. The farmstead or hamlet can be used to preserve estate lands, the small or medium size village can be used by conservation oriented developers to preserve infill and multi-parcel sites and the large villages can be used by municipalities and conservation entities to offset and preserve large and regional areas of land.

Walkability and pedestrian interaction is incorporated into the planning to encourage people to walk to daily village, farm and nature based destinations and increase local exchanges. The idea of walkability includes sustainable transportation (means of transporation that pedestrians can easily access such as shuttles, buses and lease on demand vehicles). A mix of compatible uses including workplaces at the center of the village integrated with homes insure increased close proximity for walkability.  These buildingss often front pedestrian spaces to further encourage community interaction.