Does the house on one edge of this area need to be able to talk all the way over to the house the furthest away, or only a short distance away?
Hand held or base radios? Antennas inside out outside?
1.5 miles in an urban environment is going to be really tough with MURS, and the el cheapo bubble pack FRS radios would only get you about 1/4 mile if your lucky.
With an urban area, you really want to use UHF, but you will need to use radios with REAL antennas, not ones "built into the radios", and you will want the full 4 watts of transmit power that would come with a real UHF radio.
To do anything more than MURS or FRS, you will need some kind of license, unless you rent something from a local radio shop.
Otherwise, why does it need to be 2-way radios?
Whats wrong with the cell phone network, or landline telephone?
If you could settle with base type radios, CB would be an OK option. Then you could install a desenct antenna on the roof of each house, and cover way more than the 1.5 miles needed, all without a license, but then you have to listen to all the yahoos who use CB for the wrong reasons,
Steven