Key to Infill Success? Proximity to 'Fun Zones'

What great idea is driving residential housing today? Fun.

"People want to live in the fun zone," says Barry Berkus, a principal with B3 Architects in Santa Barbara, Calif. Fun zone, he explains, is a more emotional moniker than the more technical urban, mixed-use development. It helps convey the emotional pull felt by legions of home buyers who buck up for pricey lofts, live/work units and luxury flats above or adjacent to shops, restaurants and other places of hubbub.

The idea isn't confined to major metropolitan areas, points out architect Doug Buster of Bloodgood Sharp Buster in Des Moines, Iowa. "It is happening in third-, fourth- and fifth-tier cities," he says, citing Des Moines and Peoria, Ill., as examples.