After finishing school, getting married and settling here in Milwaukee I have learned a lot from this country. When you look at things from a different perspective especially coming from a different country (Puerto Rico, A.K.A. “The oldest existing colony in the world”) you start to notice details. Something that I have been noticing is the way houses in these new developments do not have a defined front. All you see is two huge garage doors and a single door with a doorbell button. Not only that, the house sits as far away from the street as possible. All there is between the street and the house is a concrete curb some grass, a narrow sidewalk, more and more grass and then a huge concrete driveway. I also noticed how quiet these neighborhoods are, you would not think people live in these houses. People work all day and then they come back home, open their remote controlled garage door, drive their car in and they don’t even put a foot outside of the house. The way people come in and out of the house is very antisocial there is no interaction with the neighbors at all.All these observations have inspired me to study the social experience in a residential neighborhood. I would also like to focus on how architectural elements like porches and stoops would help promote street life in these “dead” neighborhoods. I will investigate how other options like changing setbacks, sidewalk widths, and street landscape could also encourage interaction between neighbors and street life.
7 comments:
Carlos
I would also include some study on the people that inhabit these homes. I moved into an older neighborhood of Omaha after experiencing a lot of what you discuss in your blog (in a newer neighborhood). I found that even though this older neighborhood had more of the amenities you discuss (i.e porches, setbacks, etc)the existing neighbors did not seem to interact.
So...I introduced myself to the neighbors on the street. We setup a neighborhood party to get to know each other (everyone wanted to me the architect that bought the dump in the middle of the street and what was he going to do to it). I pull my car into the garage and walk down to get the mail at the street. Many times I am pulled to another porch or driveway for a discussion. We are a close group of people that are now looking out for each other (baked goods are the best). When it snows, my girls and I clear driveways of two of the older neighbors. We have parades on the fourth of July. The house has made some major transformations to the neighbors delight, but our block has experienced more changes because of what you are about to study as well as the social impetus of a group of people starting the discussion. We can't imagine moving and leaving our family.
The Daybreak community in South Jordan, Utah is a great example of applying setbacks, porches, etc. They required that everyone had a porch, the garage is not at the street, the homes come standard with a flag pole. There are a lot of interesting details that they included to try and create an environment with a lot of interaction. There are walking trails. The color choices include a much more vivid assortment as well as pricing options for all types of families. I think it might be a create case study for you to look at. It has been under construction for a few years now so they should be seeing some interesting results. www.daybreakutah.com
Carlos, I think we are researching somewhat the same thing: how do we get the community to interact with each other. Does it take physical features of a house or does it take what Scott did, go over and introduce yourself. I am definitely curious on your outcome for this research paper.
Carlos, the photo you opened this post with shows brilliantly what you're up against. The broad separation of one house from the next (and from the street), the lack of sidewalks reflecting the fact that there's no place to walk anyway, and the double garage door as the primary design element.
As you work toward redefining site-scale responses like stoops, porches, and entry facades, don't forget the neighborhood-scale responses like pocket parks, retail uses, schools and so on. Function-based zoning has driven a lot of life out of residential neighborhoods; it doesn't do me any good to have a porch if there's nothing to look at and no one to invite up for a beer.
Hello,
So I am just now getting to catch up on blog readings. I watched a great documentary this past weekend titled "God grew tired of us". I think everyone must see this film. It is about the lost boys of Sudan who escape civil war and end up in a makeshift community in a UN camp in Ethiopia, only to then get "saved" by being shipped to the US. One of the young men mentions his opinion on the differences of living in Africa vs. the US; that in Africa it is conceivable to be welcomed in a stranger's home where in the US this would not happen without the probability of the police being called, or that in Africa it is normal to travel in large groups of family and friends with out being deemed as a threat, where here in the US, the local merchants file formal complaints with the police on the large group of men who visit convenience stores together.
The film is a very honest and poignant commentary on learning on how to become American (their term). The scene I can’t shake from memory is when the boys visit a Whole Foods supermarket; their first supermarket experience. Wide angle lens of the produce section; the scale of the store to the individual shopper is quite uncomfortable to watch on the screen.
Thank you for your research. I have really enjoyed the topic.
quite interesting post. I would love to follow you on twitter. By the way, did any one hear that some chinese hacker had busted twitter yesterday again.
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