Problem
People will not feel comfortable in their houses unless a group of houses forms a cluster, with the public land between them jointly owned by all the householders.
Solution
Arrange houses to form very rough, but identifiable clusters of 8 to 12 households around some common land and paths. Arrange the clusters so that anyone can walk through them, without feeling like a trespasser.
Related Patterns
… the fundamental unit of organization within the neighborhood - Identifiable Neighborhood (14) - is the cluster of a dozen houses. By varying the density and composition of different clusters, this pattern may also help to generate the Density Rings (29), Household Mix (35), and Degrees of Publicness (36).
Use this pattern as it is for low densities, up to about 15 houses per acre; at higher densities, modify the cluster with the additional structure given by Row Houses (38) or Housing Hill (39). Always provide common land between the houses - Common Land (67) and a shared common workshop Home Workshop (157). Arrange paths clearly - Circulation Realms (98) - and lay these paths out in such a way that they create busier paths and backwaters, even within the cluster - Degrees of Publicness (36); keep parking in Small Parking Lots (103),and make the houses in the cluster suit the households which will live there - The Family (75), House for a Small Family (76), House for a Couple (77), House for One Person (78), Your Own Home (79).
Alexander, Christopher. A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction. Oxford University Press, 1977, p. 197.