IN TOWN LIKE AT HOME Single family housing neighbourhoods should be seen to be as much about the accumulation of appropriated outdoor spaces as the juxtaposition of isolated houses. The problem, until now, has been private housing estates, the juxtaposition of houses like so many little isolated cubes at the center of their plots. [ + ]
IN TOWN LIKE AT HOME
Single family housing neighbourhoods should be seen to be as much about the accumulation of appropriated outdoor spaces as the juxtaposition of isolated houses. The problem, until now, has been private housing estates, the juxtaposition of houses like so many little isolated cubes at the center of their plots. If the infatuation with houses is considered not from a doctrinaire perspective tinged in mild social disdain, but from the perspective of the actual experience which has led to this infatuation, progress is possible. On the one hand, plots can be made more compact. On the other, houses can be arranged to create an acceptable density – a horizontal density. Between a reasonable sized garden and a large patio, it is possible to provide for all the uses which persist in Mediterranean home life. Houses can be built to be adjacent, garages and service points might fill otherwise unusable spaces… In this way, land usage can be reduced to around 250 m2 per plot. Fences bordering the road will be designed so that, in the evening, it is possible to get out the pliants and have a chat with the neighbours while watching the children play in the summer heat, or join in discussions around a game of boules; the low walls around parcels can be used as benches. The neighbourhood street will become a public space, not officially, but simple, spontaneous and alive, not simply a throughway. Safety concerns will be addressed by building a genuine sense of community which will create a virtuous urban circle. No, houses are not the enemy of towns, and it is possible to feel at home in town spaces.
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