55% of Americans say they would prefer to live in a community where houses are larger and farther away from amenities – compared to 44% who say the opposite.
For me the yard is what I really want. Being able to grow fruits and veggies and attract birds and pollinators is my jam. I think my family could live quite happily with basically a bedroom attached to a big kitchen. But I don’t think I could forfeit the yard.
This was my dilemma. I’m one person with a couple of dogs, I don’t need much interior, but I wanted land to cultivate both as a hobby and for the reward. I settled on a mid-century single wide on a decent lot, and bonus, it had mature trees. I can’t walk to downtown, but I can walk to the grocery store and bike to a bus stop to get to downtown. I do have to Lyft home because our buses quit early, but I’m often intoxicated so that’s safer anyway. The real perk of this is that the neighborhood is older, and while there’s some derelict places who don’t care (junk cars, weeds, dilapidation), it’s nice because no one fucking cares. It’s a mix of people like me turning their smaller, older homes into little bungalows and cottages, backyard chickens and gardens, plus some random peacocks that roam. We trade seeds, put bins of free veggies alongside the road, nod and chitchat. A lot of the US does have the space to create living environments like this, but it’s marketed the idea the house has to take up the whole lot and that landscaping other than perfectly manicured, wrong climate, water-sucking grass is a sin. I do wish our bus system was better, and side roads that encouraged walking/biking were better, but how we live in the communities we have shouldn’t be just dense but walkable or mega-subdivision it takes half an hour to drive out of. We can find ways to balance land use and social desires.
This is my problem. I essentially want a suburban-sized lot, cause I would make use of every inch of it. I really dont want to live surrounded by 1000 other identical lots full of people who just want to have a big patch of non-native turf grass that they are going to complain about in the rare event that I see them actually outside of their house.
I think there are a hell of a lot of people who would actually be happier in just a roomier condo or townhouse if they: 1) had ever lived in one that wasn’t just the cheapest possible student housing, and 2) they weren’t conditioned to believe that a single family detached home is the only place that a non-poor person should live.
For me the yard is what I really want. Being able to grow fruits and veggies and attract birds and pollinators is my jam. I think my family could live quite happily with basically a bedroom attached to a big kitchen. But I don’t think I could forfeit the yard.
This was my dilemma. I’m one person with a couple of dogs, I don’t need much interior, but I wanted land to cultivate both as a hobby and for the reward. I settled on a mid-century single wide on a decent lot, and bonus, it had mature trees. I can’t walk to downtown, but I can walk to the grocery store and bike to a bus stop to get to downtown. I do have to Lyft home because our buses quit early, but I’m often intoxicated so that’s safer anyway. The real perk of this is that the neighborhood is older, and while there’s some derelict places who don’t care (junk cars, weeds, dilapidation), it’s nice because no one fucking cares. It’s a mix of people like me turning their smaller, older homes into little bungalows and cottages, backyard chickens and gardens, plus some random peacocks that roam. We trade seeds, put bins of free veggies alongside the road, nod and chitchat. A lot of the US does have the space to create living environments like this, but it’s marketed the idea the house has to take up the whole lot and that landscaping other than perfectly manicured, wrong climate, water-sucking grass is a sin. I do wish our bus system was better, and side roads that encouraged walking/biking were better, but how we live in the communities we have shouldn’t be just dense but walkable or mega-subdivision it takes half an hour to drive out of. We can find ways to balance land use and social desires.
This is my problem. I essentially want a suburban-sized lot, cause I would make use of every inch of it. I really dont want to live surrounded by 1000 other identical lots full of people who just want to have a big patch of non-native turf grass that they are going to complain about in the rare event that I see them actually outside of their house.
I think there are a hell of a lot of people who would actually be happier in just a roomier condo or townhouse if they: 1) had ever lived in one that wasn’t just the cheapest possible student housing, and 2) they weren’t conditioned to believe that a single family detached home is the only place that a non-poor person should live.