Debate over land development continues to be an issue of dissension between developers and designer. Of particular contention is the issue of neighborhood design. A sector of the design profession has developed a paradigm primarily based on neighborhood design/development of the early twentieth century. This paradigm is known as New Urbanism. While some feel strongly that New Urbanism is the answer to questions related to neighborhood design, others feel that Conventional Suburban Development is what people want. This study aims to determine what the consumer wants in suburban neighborhood design through the means of survey research. The survey employed was based on a previous study conducted by the Conservation Fund in conjunction with Robert Charles Lesser Company (RCLCO) of the Atlanta housing market. The survey asks respondents to choose between attributes associated with New Urban design and those associated with Conventional Suburban Development. This study is focused on the Borough and Township of Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Neighborhoods from the Borough and Township were surveyed. The Borough neighborhood is a proxy for a New Urban neighborhood. The Township neighborhoods are Conventional Suburban Neighborhoods. The results between the two groups of respondents are compared to give further insight to consumers' preferences. Results indicate that residents of neighborhoods with New Urban attributes prefer this neighborhood style to Conventional Suburban Development. Residents of Conventional Suburban Neighborhoods are divided on their preference for neighborhood design. The findings show that approximately 25% of the Doylestown housing market desires something other than the predominant Conventional Suburban Development style. / Master of Landscape Architecture

One perceived deficiency in the tax system is its unfairness (inequity). One area in which unfairness has been alleged is the favoritism shown toward homeowners. The focus of this study was on the effects of homeowner preferences on the Federal tax system. The overall impact of homeowner preferences can be said to produce three major results—loss of revenue, reduction in horizontal equity, and reduction in vertical equity.