A few weeks ago, I wrote about the death of the single-family standalone starter home.
The response I received was both positive and disheartening; I think mostly because readers, and myself alike, intuitively knew the problem to be true. The access point to home ownership for young families, and the retreat for seniors of modest means hoping to downsize in their own community, is no longer affordably available in WNC.
We all acknowledge the problem, but few are offering comprehensive practical solutions. I will offer one now, but it is not building more of what we built in 1955.
“Pocket neighborhoods” by way of the Planned Unit Developments are my greatest hope for an elegant solution to meet this critical need. I am confident, using the pocket neighborhood model, we can build more, build better, maintain character, and satisfy the economists all in the same breath.
Architect Ross Chapin, author of Pocket Neighborhoods, has spent a career promoting organizing housing around people not parking. The more I study the concept, the more convinced I become that it represents the most promising housing model available to meet the starter home and Aging in Place need.
This is why….
Drive through almost any new multifamily development and you’ll see quadplexes facing asphalt feet from the front door. The design leaves little room for the chance encounters, shared experiences, and everyday interactions that give a place character and life.
We have created housing, but not necessarily community; at least not in the sense I think most of us aspire to build. Pocket Neighborhoods will provide an integrated, intentional, quality housing infrastructure that facilitates community.
The Pocket Neighborhood positions eight to twelve cottages (800-1100 sq ft) facing a shared green space. Children can play safely in the center lawn while seniors sit on covered front porches and watch the activity unfold. Neighbors naturally encounter one another while walking to their homes; parking exists, but it is hidden behind the homes or along the perimeter where it belongs.
The focal point is not asphalt; it is green space and community
Pocket neighborhoods through Planned Unit Developments are a sensible, practical, and natural way of organizing housing that facilitates connection to the outdoors and to one another. They also happen to make a lot of sense economically.
By using a Planned Unit Development, homes can be clustered more efficiently on a site, reducing the amount of land consumed by roads, utilities, and other infrastructure. Shorter streets, smaller lots, and shared green spaces lower development costs while allowing more homes to be built on the same acreage. The result is a model that creates attainable homeownership opportunities not by sacrificing quality, but by reducing waste and making smarter use of land.
These neighborhoods can be efficiently designed, timely constructed, and moderately priced. They will connect us across generations, maintain our small-town feel, and carry optimistic growth beyond the current housing crisis. These are homes and communities that are built to last; this is our infrastructure and the foundation we lay for our children and their children to inherit and grow.
I am sure we will find our way through this housing crisis. I hope we can use this crisis as an opportunity to rethink how we grow and build…communities, not just housing.
