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The Rouse Company accumulated over 14,000 acres (57 km˛), 10% of Howard County, Maryland (located between Baltimore and Washington DC), from 140 separate owners. This acquisition was funded by
Connecticut General Life Insurance, at an average price of $1,500 per acre ($0.37/m˛). In October 1963, the acquisition was revealed to the residents of the County, putting to rest rumors about the mysterious purchases (which included the theory that the site was for a laboratory to study diseases and another that the site was intended to become a giantcompost heap).
At this unveiling James Rouse described Columbia as a planned new city which would avoid the leap-frog and spot development threatening the county. The new city would be complete with jobs, schools, shopping, and medical services, and a range of housing choices. The property taxes from commercial development would cover the additional services with which housing would burden the county. The Columbia planning process included not only planners, but also a convening of a panel of nationally recognized experts in the social sciences, known as the Work Group. Meeting for two days, twice a month, for half a year, the Work Group suggested innovations that the planners should try in education, recreation, religion, and health care, as well as ways of improving social interactions. Open classrooms, the interfaith centers, and the then novel idea of a Health Maintenance Organization with a group practice of doctors (the Columbia Medical Plan) sprang from these meetings.
The physical plan, with neighborhood and village centers, also were decided upon at these meetings. Columbia's “New Town District” zoning ordinance gives the developer great flexibility about what to put where, without getting approval from the county for each specific project.
To achieve the goals set forth by the Work Group, Columbia's master plan called for a series of ten self-contained villages, around which day-to-day life would revolve.
The village concept is aimed to provide Columbia a small-town feel (like Easton, Maryland, where James Rouse grew up). Each village is comprised of several neighborhoods. The village center may contain middle and high schools; all have a shopping center, recreational facilities, a community center, a system of bike/walking paths, and homes. Four of the villages have interfaith centers, common worship facilities which are owned and jointly operated by a variety of religious congregations working together.
Most of Columbia's neighborhoods contain single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and apartments (though some are more exclusive than others). The original plan, following the neighborhood concept of Clarence Perry would have had all the children of a neighborhood attend the same school, melding neighborhoods into a community and ensuring that all of Columbia's children get the same high-quality education.
The last village, River Hill, is currently being developed and growing fast. With the completion of River Hill, Columbia's residential development will be finished.