4 ms·

This is why I've promised myself that my kids will/must have a yard.

bluefirebrand 3y ago
This is so important for kids, honestly. It's one of the reasons I am constantly arguing against people who want everyone to live in high density housing only.
- NumberWangMan 3y ago
  Is that what high density advocates want? I'm very pro-density, but that can easily take the form of a square low-rise apartment block surrounding a shared enclosed courtyard that lots of children can play in together, without any risk of them wandering off into traffic, and lots of adult eyes overlooking them. In some ways, that would be more family-friendly than typical suburban single-family developments.
  - bluefirebrand 3y ago
    The problem with shared spaces is always other people. This sounds nice if all the adults are actually parenting their kids, or are willing to surrender some oversight of their kids behavior to the other adults in the housing. When you have a bunch of abusive alcoholic parents living there who let their kids run rampant and bully the other kids, what then? Do you discipline their kids somehow? How do you get those parents in order? It doesn't take much for that living situation to go from sounding like a big happy community to a nightmare. And let's be honest, society is extremely hostile towards adults going anywhere near other people'a children nowadays, so how do you even intervene if your child has problems with another kid but their parents are neglectful and don't give a shit.
    - NumberWangMan 3y ago
      Well, in that situation, are you likely to be someone who can afford to otherwise live in a single-family home with a yard? If so, you can move there. If not, your other option is probably just to be in an apartment without any sort of yard for your kids at all, which just seems worse. These sorts of apartments with shared spaces are common around the world. I'm sure they have some problems, but I wouldn't rule them out on the grounds that people might be horrible. And there are probably lots of people who would jump at the possibility of renting one of those places, assuming we build enough of them to make them cheap. And there are lots of other options besides those. You can have denser, but family-oriented development like townhouses, with narrow streets that slow traffic. Lots of parks and places your kids can walk to. Front porches so that people are likely to be out and watching for trouble (which as I understand is known to be an effective way to reduce crime in an area).

This is so important for kids, honestly. It's one of the reasons I am constantly arguing against people who want everyone to live in high density housing only.

NumberWangMan 3y ago
Is that what high density advocates want? I'm very pro-density, but that can easily take the form of a square low-rise apartment block surrounding a shared enclosed courtyard that lots of children can play in together, without any risk of them wandering off into traffic, and lots of adult eyes overlooking them. In some ways, that would be more family-friendly than typical suburban single-family developments.
- bluefirebrand 3y ago
  The problem with shared spaces is always other people. This sounds nice if all the adults are actually parenting their kids, or are willing to surrender some oversight of their kids behavior to the other adults in the housing. When you have a bunch of abusive alcoholic parents living there who let their kids run rampant and bully the other kids, what then? Do you discipline their kids somehow? How do you get those parents in order? It doesn't take much for that living situation to go from sounding like a big happy community to a nightmare. And let's be honest, society is extremely hostile towards adults going anywhere near other people'a children nowadays, so how do you even intervene if your child has problems with another kid but their parents are neglectful and don't give a shit.
  - NumberWangMan 3y ago
    Well, in that situation, are you likely to be someone who can afford to otherwise live in a single-family home with a yard? If so, you can move there. If not, your other option is probably just to be in an apartment without any sort of yard for your kids at all, which just seems worse. These sorts of apartments with shared spaces are common around the world. I'm sure they have some problems, but I wouldn't rule them out on the grounds that people might be horrible. And there are probably lots of people who would jump at the possibility of renting one of those places, assuming we build enough of them to make them cheap. And there are lots of other options besides those. You can have denser, but family-oriented development like townhouses, with narrow streets that slow traffic. Lots of parks and places your kids can walk to. Front porches so that people are likely to be out and watching for trouble (which as I understand is known to be an effective way to reduce crime in an area).