7 ms·

That first one, the single family homes with a shared courtyard? We need more stuff like this! Backyards in Brooklyn used to be treated more communally (before

That first one, the single family homes with a shared courtyard? We need more stuff like this! Backyards in Brooklyn used to be treated more communally (before my time) which created a large shared space safe from cars where children could play. Now I just stare out my window and watch people basically never go in to their yards. What a horrible waste.

h2odragon 7y ago
Go out in your yard, then, to watch the people who aren't there. Be the change you want to see, etc. Or possibly learn why they don't go out, "never noticed that odor til i sat here for an hour... now i'll never not notice it"
- ng12 7y ago
  A lot of times the yard is rented as part of the ground-flour unit ($$$) so only ~1/4th of the people in the building have access.
  - danudey 7y ago
    I lived in a three-storey walk-up that was built at a shift in grade, so two of the floors were ground-level. The top floor (us) had a small balcony in the front, and that was it. The middle floor had a medium-sized ground floor patio out the front of the building adjacent to the parking area, and a small balcony in the back. the lower floor had a gigantic fenced ground-floor yard that was easily bigger than the entire top floor we lived in. They were the only people in the building who had any green space.
    - close04 7y ago
      They probably also payed for it I imagine. Something like this rarely comes for free.
- klyrs 7y ago
  Speak for yourself. We've got a small yard. The kid loves it -- when I get stuffy about screen time, he gets bored and unless the weather is awful, he'll go out and play. There's other kids on the block, and they'd be friends (well, or enemies, but there's valuable life lessons there either way) by now if there were shared spaces.
bradstewart 7y ago
I love it. There's a small neighborhood in New Orleans built/planned in that style [0]. I have very fond memories of playing ball and just wandering through that area as a kid. Completely forgot about it until now. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakeshore/Lake_Vista,_New_Orleans https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakeshore/Lake_Vista,_New_Orle...
- selimthegrim 7y ago
  One of the early voting centers for Orleans Parish is there
dhimes 7y ago
I have a hunch it's the bit about the parking that is illegal. To be honest, the whole post rubbed me wrong- like an industry shill or something trying to start some grass-roots anti-building-regulation discord.
- chrisco255 7y ago
  Uhh, have you heard about the housing affordability problem in many states? The zoning regulations have created cookie cutter cul-de-sac neighborhoods that have contributed to unnatural sprawl. It's very difficult to even innovate in housing and commercial design due to these restrictions.
  - big_chungus 7y ago
    In Houston, the same thing has happened without zoning. Have you perhaps considered that there is a massive market for "cookie cutter" suburban housing? HOAs have also largely taken the place of zoning, on a hyper-localized level. Furthermore, lots of other stupid rules apply, aside from zoning, that limit the ability to build new housing.
    - shkkmo 7y ago
      That market was deliberately stoked by FHA and mortgage lending restrictions. The thread itself points out that these issues are not soley the result of zoning. > While single family zoning was reserved for homeowners (read: White), multi-family housing was seen as being for renters, (people of color). > State, federal, and local governments all conspired to limit homebuying and lending to whites for decades.
      - big_chungus 7y ago
        You're not providing any causal link. You are effectively positing that a whites-only neighborhood will spontaneously organize into suburbia, but an integrated one will not? Would you please provide some evidence or background reading to support that?
marrone12 7y ago
I live in one currently in Los Angeles and it's amazing. One of the best living situations I've had in a long time. I get to have a semi-private yard without the huge additional cost.

h2odragon 7y ago

Go out in your yard, then, to watch the people who aren't there. Be the change you want to see, etc. Or possibly learn why they don't go out, "never noticed that odor til i sat here for an hour... now i'll never not notice it"

ng12 7y ago
A lot of times the yard is rented as part of the ground-flour unit ($$$) so only ~1/4th of the people in the building have access.
- danudey 7y ago
  I lived in a three-storey walk-up that was built at a shift in grade, so two of the floors were ground-level. The top floor (us) had a small balcony in the front, and that was it. The middle floor had a medium-sized ground floor patio out the front of the building adjacent to the parking area, and a small balcony in the back. the lower floor had a gigantic fenced ground-floor yard that was easily bigger than the entire top floor we lived in. They were the only people in the building who had any green space.
  - close04 7y ago
    They probably also payed for it I imagine. Something like this rarely comes for free.
klyrs 7y ago
Speak for yourself. We've got a small yard. The kid loves it -- when I get stuffy about screen time, he gets bored and unless the weather is awful, he'll go out and play. There's other kids on the block, and they'd be friends (well, or enemies, but there's valuable life lessons there either way) by now if there were shared spaces.

bradstewart 7y ago

I love it. There's a small neighborhood in New Orleans built/planned in that style [0]. I have very fond memories of playing ball and just wandering through that area as a kid. Completely forgot about it until now. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakeshore/Lake_Vista,_New_Orleans https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakeshore/Lake_Vista,_New_Orle...

selimthegrim 7y ago
One of the early voting centers for Orleans Parish is there

dhimes 7y ago

I have a hunch it's the bit about the parking that is illegal. To be honest, the whole post rubbed me wrong- like an industry shill or something trying to start some grass-roots anti-building-regulation discord.

chrisco255 7y ago
Uhh, have you heard about the housing affordability problem in many states? The zoning regulations have created cookie cutter cul-de-sac neighborhoods that have contributed to unnatural sprawl. It's very difficult to even innovate in housing and commercial design due to these restrictions.
- big_chungus 7y ago
  In Houston, the same thing has happened without zoning. Have you perhaps considered that there is a massive market for "cookie cutter" suburban housing? HOAs have also largely taken the place of zoning, on a hyper-localized level. Furthermore, lots of other stupid rules apply, aside from zoning, that limit the ability to build new housing.
  - shkkmo 7y ago
    That market was deliberately stoked by FHA and mortgage lending restrictions. The thread itself points out that these issues are not soley the result of zoning. > While single family zoning was reserved for homeowners (read: White), multi-family housing was seen as being for renters, (people of color). > State, federal, and local governments all conspired to limit homebuying and lending to whites for decades.
    - big_chungus 7y ago
      You're not providing any causal link. You are effectively positing that a whites-only neighborhood will spontaneously organize into suburbia, but an integrated one will not? Would you please provide some evidence or background reading to support that?

marrone12 7y ago

I live in one currently in Los Angeles and it's amazing. One of the best living situations I've had in a long time. I get to have a semi-private yard without the huge additional cost.