How new mixed-use communities embrace urbanism and placemaking, ditch golf courses and malls While it may sound like some former industrial neighborhood transformed by the influx of coffee bars and brunch spots, The Cannery isn?t a rising urban hot spot. Labeled a ?farm-to-table? development in the small city of Davis, California, the 100-acre planned community on the site of a former Hunt-Wesson tomato packing plant offers a different spin on traditional suburban-style living.
Boasting a mix of homes in tracts labeled Sage, Tilton, and Persimmon?costing from $450,000 for a townhome to $1 million for a single-family residence?the development features a 10-mile network of bike paths, solar-powered lighting, a spa, a communal barn for events and community gatherings, as well as a 7.4-acre urban farm run by the Center for Land-Based Learning that teaches planting and harvesting to the roughly 135 families who currently call this home.
The New Home Company
Residents harvesting from the 7.4-acre farm at The Cannery, a planned development in Davis, California.

The featured amenities here suggest the Cannery caters to the foodie set, an impression that Kevin Carson, Northern California president for The New Home Company, the site?s developer, says is only part of the community?s appeal. When his company was designing the site, which opened in August 2015, focus group testing helped them realize that the most effective message would be focusing on...