Cities Start to Question an American Ideal: A House with a Yard on Every Lot | Hacker News Reader

Cities Start to Question an American Ideal: A House with a Yard on Every Lot

nytimes.com

42 pointserentz14 comments

Israel had some nice developments where every house shared a common park. The only way into the park was through one of the houses. All the kids played safely in the park, while overseen by dozens of mothers doing the dishes.

It's this, also found in New York and many other locations:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eruv

This happens informally in German housing blocks, where street facing apartments completely surround individual garden plots. When neighbors are friendly, the fencing comes down and the kids play freely in a larger space.

In Amsterdam, there are regular parks that provide shared "yards" for surrounding apartments. I love being able to have my kids play in a "shared backyard" with other kids. Instead of having small individual yards, people can pool resources to have better communal spaces.

It really works, it is really basic and it is really absent in the USA.

This is basically what neighborhoods do in the US except the houses aren’t attached to each other. My backyard backs up to like 6 other houses and kids and constantly playing in my creek. Mothers sit on my street and watch everyone. Kids riding bikes in my street/driveway etc.

I don’t really get how any of that is absent. Twice as many people live in the Suburbs va Urban cities in the US. My city doesn’t have any water or natural boundaries preventing outward expansion. The only thing we are lacking is the wonderful German rail system.

I’m raising a family now and I much prefer the suburbs and working in a couple tech centers outside the urban center.

The distinction is that those types of areas in the US are generally unaffordable to many, and are probably far less safe due to increased car traffic.

I was first raised in Europe, in an apartment block just like the one described above (loved it), then in a western state...

You are lucky to have a creek, and perhaps other factors that make your community socially healthy? In general, my impression of suburbs in Northern California is favorable. They're much smaller than the one I was familiar with (Rocky Mountain West state). Property here is expensive, so neighbors don't get the chance to isolate themselves behind quarter-acre lands and identical vinyl fences. But where I landed in the US, miles and miles of suburbs lay uninterrupted except for an Applebees or a Walmart. All had vinyl-fenced yards, no one sat outside. No one walked outside - my relatives visiting and walking would be stared at suspiciously through cracks in the blinds. The crime is low, but paranoia so high that I wasn't surprised when I heard the story of an elderly Indian man struck to the ground and paralyzed when walking through a suburb [1].

For individuals like yourself, this quote applies, I think: “If you want to have the suburban American lifestyle, that will still be on offer,” Mr. Furth said. “What we’re really trying to change is that that has become so universal that there’s not much space left for anything else.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/02/1...

Choose where you want to live there are plenty of cities with half way competent zoning. If everyone wants to live in SF, London, or Berlin then the city needs to expand up or out.

There has been a lot of recent redevelopment in the small suburban city downtowns around me. They are making everything walkable, bike lanes, and allowing people to walk with alcohol after 5. My area is trying to incorporate as a city so they can fund these projects and improve services.

I prefer areas with a mix of neighborhoods, condos, and apartments. Personally I gave up condo and apartment living because I hate it but I would never be against building them. My hobbies don’t mesh well with tight spaces.

In Ottawa I lived in a quadplex, one of several, all surrounding a common park. It was a nice idea but there were just enough inconsiderate people and disinterested parents to make a the park a filthy mess and, later in the day, not so safe to go to since a bunch of young people would hang out on the kids play structures and scare the little kids away. The parents of the teens did not care. Idiots wreck everything.

I'd say that's down to poor maintenance and management from the complex owners, not a fundamental issue with communal spaces themselves. I've had the same issues you've described with a local park, until the council hired a security/maintenance man to clean and fix the park, and move on any teenagers who the park was not designed for. The place went from being in a state of disuse and disrepair, to a great spot for young kids and parents to socialise. All it takes is a few people to ruin something, but likewise it only takes a few people to stop that from happening.

The article in question is about zoning laws.

The article also clearly states that most all parks are zoned as single-family residential.

I'm lost as to what connection to the article is being made here?

I live in a single-family detached condo, one of several on a very small lot. Each unit has a very small (400 sqft) attached yard, and each unit is about 10 feet from it's neighbor. It's a type of urban infill development. A long time ago the whole lot was occupied by a gas station. It does a great job of providing us the "single family" feel while also achieving higher density.

It’s about the right of the current residents versus the right of the potential residents. The latter include their children, millennials and even younger generations.

Detached homes are important - they provide noise isolation.

the closest thing to a realistic dream I truly have is more dense housing

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