
Cities Start to Question an American Ideal: A House with a Yard on Every Lot - erentz
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/06/18/upshot/cities-across-america-question-single-family-zoning.html
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jmpman
Israel had some nice developments where every house shared a common park. The
only way into the park was through one of the houses. All the kids played
safely in the park, while overseen by dozens of mothers doing the dishes.

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dr_dshiv
This happens informally in German housing blocks, where street facing
apartments completely surround individual garden plots. When neighbors are
friendly, the fencing comes down and the kids play freely in a larger space.

In Amsterdam, there are regular parks that provide shared "yards" for
surrounding apartments. I love being able to have my kids play in a "shared
backyard" with other kids. Instead of having small individual yards, people
can pool resources to have better communal spaces.

It really works, it is really basic and it is really absent in the USA.

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wil421
This is basically what neighborhoods do in the US except the houses aren’t
attached to each other. My backyard backs up to like 6 other houses and kids
and constantly playing in my creek. Mothers sit on my street and watch
everyone. Kids riding bikes in my street/driveway etc.

I don’t really get how any of that is absent. Twice as many people live in the
Suburbs va Urban cities in the US. My city doesn’t have any water or natural
boundaries preventing outward expansion. The only thing we are lacking is the
wonderful German rail system.

I’m raising a family now and I much prefer the suburbs and working in a couple
tech centers outside the urban center.

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tropdrop
I was first raised in Europe, in an apartment block just like the one
described above (loved it), then in a western state...

You are lucky to have a creek, and perhaps other factors that make your
community socially healthy? In general, my impression of suburbs in Northern
California is favorable. They're much smaller than the one I was familiar with
(Rocky Mountain West state). Property here is expensive, so neighbors don't
get the chance to isolate themselves behind quarter-acre lands and identical
vinyl fences. But where I landed in the US, miles and miles of suburbs lay
uninterrupted except for an Applebees or a Walmart. All had vinyl-fenced
yards, no one sat outside. No one _walked_ outside - my relatives visiting and
walking would be stared at suspiciously through cracks in the blinds. The
crime is low, but paranoia so high that I wasn't surprised when I heard the
story of an elderly Indian man struck to the ground and paralyzed when walking
through a suburb [1].

For individuals like yourself, this quote applies, I think: “If you want to
have the suburban American lifestyle, that will still be on offer,” Mr. Furth
said. “What we’re really trying to change is that that has become so universal
that there’s not much space left for anything else.”

[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-
mix/wp/2015/02/1...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-
mix/wp/2015/02/11/alabama-cops-leave-a-grandfather-partially-paralyzed-after-
frisk-goes-awry/?utm_term=.229392125113)

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wil421
Choose where you want to live there are plenty of cities with half way
competent zoning. If everyone wants to live in SF, London, or Berlin then the
city needs to expand up or out.

There has been a lot of recent redevelopment in the small suburban city
downtowns around me. They are making everything walkable, bike lanes, and
allowing people to walk with alcohol after 5. My area is trying to incorporate
as a city so they can fund these projects and improve services.

I prefer areas with a mix of neighborhoods, condos, and apartments. Personally
I gave up condo and apartment living because I hate it but I would never be
against building them. My hobbies don’t mesh well with tight spaces.

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danans
I live in a single-family detached condo, one of several on a very small lot.
Each unit has a very small (400 sqft) attached yard, and each unit is about 10
feet from it's neighbor. It's a type of urban infill development. A long time
ago the whole lot was occupied by a gas station. It does a great job of
providing us the "single family" feel while also achieving higher density.

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winkeyless
It’s about the right of the current residents versus the right of the
potential residents. The latter include their children, millennials and even
younger generations.

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thrw374747
Detached homes are important - they provide noise isolation.

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NN88
the closest thing to a realistic dream I truly have is more dense housing

