If you ask Janet Heilman what she likes best about Cinco Ranch, the development in Katy, Tex., where she bought a house 12 years ago, she'll tell you it's the consistency of the community. And that there are good schools within walking distance.

Community is also very important to Michele Davis, who lives with her husband, Joe, and two children in FishHawk Ranch in Tampa, Fla.

"It just had a feeling of kind of a small community," she said. "It is really convenient. We've got really nice grocery stores, dry cleaners, coffee places and pizza places. It's not unusual for my husband and me to walk up to get dinner. There are concerts in the summer."

The big challenge in community design is creating something that will remain popular over time, planners say. It means following trends that emerge and mature, and translating them into a design that works as the population evolves.

Home buyers are leading more active lifestyles, and this is a trend that communities cannot afford to ignore, said Robert McLeod, chief executive of Newland Communities in San Diego.

"Hiking and biking trails are even bigger now. People also want active parks for ball games and outdoor play, and a lot of places to meet and greet," McLeod said. "When we design a lot of our interior trail systems, we include destinations. So you can walk down the trail a quarter of the way and then there's something there like an art object or a field of grass, where you can throw a Frisbee or play with your dog."

The idea of having a community center, a central building that acts as the nexus for all activities in the community, has changed, as well. McLeod said people want smaller places to gather.

"They want places for their teenagers to hang out and places for garden clubs and bridge clubs to hang out," he said. "In some of our communities, we've put in small movie theaters that seat maybe 30 people. Those have been really successful. Parents will bring their children for Saturday cartoons or the newest Disney movie. Guys like to get together to watch sports, and women have gotten together to have 'chick flick night.' "

When thinking about community design trends for a huge, long-term development, you have to focus on long-term strategic planning, explained Robert Folzenlogen, director of planning and design for AllianceTexas, a 17,000-acre master-planned, mixed-use development built by Hillwood Properties in Texas.

Folzenlogen said he thinks about the future trends of the market, the future political landscape, future infrastructure and land issues, and how the company needs to prepare for the continuing development of AllianceTexas.

"We see more people caring about the environment and wanting to do something right for the environment," he said. "The big component for the people we're trying to attract is the quality of materials, from the buildings to the surroundings. Our future tenants also want to be part of a community and have the ability to walk to recreational, retail and employment areas."

"We see a lot of active adults who are continuing to work. A lot more are working from home and longer in life," said Sam Colgan, president of Pulte Homes' Phoenix West Valley Division. "The integration of technology has become very important to them. They want a chance to balance that with the recreational side of an early retirement."

Good community design can also give residents the opportunity to reinvent themselves.

"We have a lot of people who we sell homes to who say: 'I'm not a joiner or a club person. I like the golf course.' And we check in with the same people many years later, and they have a whole new group of friends. Their family status changes, but the social environment allows them to continue on to the next stage of life," Colgan said.