This is really obvious in the town where I live. Older houses are smaller with larger yards, even considering proportions. I have no personal use for a yard or

This is really obvious in the town where I live. Older houses are smaller with larger yards, even considering proportions. I have no personal use for a yard or a giant house. I would rather live in a small house with many acres of space for natural growth for the area (prairie, trees, sagebrush, etc)( I really dislike the "lawn" look. :-)). My plan is to have a apartment/condo for a time, then - if I have enough career freedom - move to a more rural region where acreage is cheap. Part of my thought is that we need to design homes to be habitable and extensible. This is very different from the slap-it-up construction suburbs have tended to use. I'd like to be able to modify my own space, add new buildings, etc, as needed. Christopher Alexander talks about this style of building in his writings some.