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Fields and parks > lawns. Admittedly, there's a desire for me to be able to have sizable lawn to continue to foster and adopt abused and/or neglected dogs (fos

Fields and parks > lawns. Admittedly, there's a desire for me to be able to have sizable lawn to continue to foster and adopt abused and/or neglected dogs (fostered 5 and counting, one adopted he's a 50kg cuddly play thing... Seriously. Get a big dog and surprise yourself). But, even I don't need a large lawn for that. I need something large enough that it isn't required to clean daily to prevent my furbabies rolling around in their own filth. The urban sprawl, two tier property system in Australia is terrible for this. Houses have huge lawns or none. And the areas neglected more so than most for lack of shared greenspace have huge homes and huge lawns with less and less dedicated public spaces. Atypical of wealthy suburbs actually (I'm looking at you, Tarragindi) there's little public recreational area because when the suburbs were designed in the 60's, home owners put fences up and declared it mine. Edit: too many words or too little.

Broken_Hippo 10y ago
A great deal of places in the states have little-to-no shared (or public) greenspace within walking distance. It isn't just wealthy suburbs, but nearly entire cities. Small towns might have one such space. Larger cities (30-50k) had a few more, most were just small patches with playground equipment. Some towns I lived in actually had public green areas with playgrounds... that had no sidewalks or safe places to walk that led to them. The houses in the areas all had nice-sized yards, but I still found this curious.
- patrickburke 10y ago
  I think whats missing is greenspace with a commercial element. If you attach a beergarden or cafe to a greenspace people will spend much more time there
  - Broken_Hippo 10y ago
    That is an excellent idea. SOmething better than a concession stand at least. Some places wouldn't go for the beergarden, but a coffee & sandwich & store combo would probably work out nicely, especially if the local folks actually went there. Probably perfect in the area between the greenspace and the road.
    - patrickburke 10y ago
      Beergardens were common until WWII, at which point they were associated with Germanism. Most parks I see get very little use, one empty baseball field after another, it wouldn't take much to liven them up.
      - Broken_Hippo 10y ago
        Agreed - most do get little use. Most the ones I see with different uses have different sorts of things for different ages and sorts of people. You are correct, it doesn't need to take much to liven them up. Most of the costs are upfront. Heh. If only I were closer in location and had time and money... It'd be a fun project in areas.

Broken_Hippo 10y ago

A great deal of places in the states have little-to-no shared (or public) greenspace within walking distance. It isn't just wealthy suburbs, but nearly entire cities. Small towns might have one such space. Larger cities (30-50k) had a few more, most were just small patches with playground equipment. Some towns I lived in actually had public green areas with playgrounds... that had no sidewalks or safe places to walk that led to them. The houses in the areas all had nice-sized yards, but I still found this curious.

patrickburke 10y ago
I think whats missing is greenspace with a commercial element. If you attach a beergarden or cafe to a greenspace people will spend much more time there
- Broken_Hippo 10y ago
  That is an excellent idea. SOmething better than a concession stand at least. Some places wouldn't go for the beergarden, but a coffee & sandwich & store combo would probably work out nicely, especially if the local folks actually went there. Probably perfect in the area between the greenspace and the road.
  - patrickburke 10y ago
    Beergardens were common until WWII, at which point they were associated with Germanism. Most parks I see get very little use, one empty baseball field after another, it wouldn't take much to liven them up.
    - Broken_Hippo 10y ago
      Agreed - most do get little use. Most the ones I see with different uses have different sorts of things for different ages and sorts of people. You are correct, it doesn't need to take much to liven them up. Most of the costs are upfront. Heh. If only I were closer in location and had time and money... It'd be a fun project in areas.