Tract housing

Tract housing is a style of housing development in which multiple identical, or nearly-identical, homes are built adjacent to one another. Tract housing may encompass dozens of square miles of areas. Tract housing developments are typically found in American suburbs, modeled on the "Levittown" concept.

Related Topics:
Suburbs - "Levittown"

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As a tract housing development only makes use of a few designs, labor costs are reduced because the home builders need not be skilled craftsmen. The builders need only learn the skills and movements of constructing a single home design, which can be applied to the other tract homes in the development. In addition, the materials used in the home may be ordered in bulk, reducing materials costs, because all of the homes will be constructed during one time period, and almost entirely from the same materials. These practices reduce the final price of the homes, and allow greater profits for the developers.

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The concept of tract housing is occasionally mocked in American popular culture, as the basis of a sterile and disspiriting suburbia.

Related Topics:
Popular culture - Suburbia

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