The old rammed earth buildings in the middle east and in the Himalayas are mostly found in clusters while the modern rammed earth buildings in developed countries tend to be detached. I wanted to know your views on which one would you go for? Keeping in mind the sustainability issue, land use and planning concept.
There are many issue that influence the organization of houses beside available building materials. They include the natural environment and socio-cultural aspects. There should be no generalization as people tend to use same building material and techniques in very creative ways. A study of the natural environment, socio-cultural aspects and previous organization traditions is required in order to select the acceptable arrangement for the people who will live in these dwellings. Their participation is more important that experts opinion that might be appropriate for other contexts. People's participation in planning and construction is the key success for the construction of theses communities.
Economical aspects of clusters buildings are obvious: less materials, better land use, etc. I would say that for weathering/ deterioration resistance it might be beneficial building cluster earth buildings and there are numbers of examples of modern cluster buildings or apartments.
http://www.earth-auroville.com/modern_rammed_earth_en.php
My personal favourite example is Isle d'Abeau in France
What an interesting research question!
A cluster is generally a preferable option in terms of sustainability in most climates, with the only exception of tropical climates. Shibam is a very interesting example on hot arid climates. I made several studied about the use of rammed earth and/or adobe walls as non-structural elements in the envelope and dividing walls in urban clusters conventional apartment buildings, appropriate to developed countries in temperate climates. You can read a summary of this study in the following papers:
http://hdl.handle.net/1822/8025
http://hdl.handle.net/1822/5556
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