Yesterday I got to tag along on a planning-related tour of Southwest Portland, during which representatives of neighborhood associations explained some of their major concerns. This was cool, since I haven't seen much of that part of town, and I was impressed by the commitment and knowledge demonstrated by the neighborhood association people. They have some concerns that are unique to this part of town (invasive species destroying the trees and causing landslides!), and many that are not (OMG! Too many new buildings! And they're so BIG!!). I am a big believer in listening to people's concerns, especially in the planning profession, even if you don't feel that they are well-founded or tenable.
However, after a few hours of the tour, I found myself getting bitter. Having been an urban apartment-dweller for my entire adult life, I scoff at the notion that people living in 5000-square-foot houses have any right to indignation that a condo is being built next door. Where exactly do they think the million people expected to be added to the Portland area's population in the next twenty years are going to live? I guess the answer is always "somewhere else." They're happy to have all that density located in the brownfields right next to the freeway. They're happy to have all that density in somebody else's neighborhood. Just not their own. I saw a sign somebody had posted that said something like "Increasing density decays livability." I guess that's true if by "livability" they mean "getting to live on this huge lot in this huge house with no sidewalks and nothing to walk to nearby anyway, and neighbors who look just like me." People, you live IN A CITY. If you don't do density, you're going to lose all the open space you love to hike in or play soccer in or pick-your-own-blueberries in. Things change, people! You cannot live in the 1950s anymore, unless you have some great population-growth-prevention plan in the hopper (actually, never mind, I don't want to hear about it).
The thing is... those people are missing out. Density rocks. I've been lucky to have had the opportunity to learn how great living in cities can be (visits to Scandinavia during my formative years did the trick, I think), and it makes me sad that so many people have a knee-jerk distaste for density and urbanity.
Particularly, this whole courtyard-apartment-building gig we've got going on is fantastic. I do wish we had some claim to the space (like in a cohousing space, or some kind of co-op), so we could plant a garden, and put in some furniture and I wouldn't feel so worried that Dutch is going to uproot some sort of precious plant, but otherwise it's kind of perfect. It really is. Nearly every day this summer, Dutch has spent at least an hour outside playing with one to five neighbor kids, all of whom live within 200 feet of her. Just in the last three days, they have built tiny little houses for elves, made puppets, performed a dance show, climbed trees, chased eachother around, played with toy cars, practiced somersaults, ridden bikes, tortured bugs, and so on. Cook and I look out the window pretty frequently, so we can keep pretty close tabs on what's going on, without having to hover. We get delicious kid-free time, and Dutch gets practice in getting along with other people and torturing bugs, plus a wonderful sense of independence. This would not be possible in many other living situations. If we lived in a single-family home with a yard, we'd be delighted to have the outdoor space, but much of the thrill goes out of a yard when you have nobody to share it with. For Dutch, the courtyard is a place of joy and exploration largely because it is peopled, or potentially about to be peopled. The
courtyard set-up is ideal. The space is confined (and fenced in, even better), so the kids are relatively protected from the heavily-trafficked street outside, and there are always eyes on the yard. Neighbors come in and out this way, and it offers an opportunity to meet and talk in a shared, neutral place. I recommend it to everyone, including people who live in big single-family homes and get all grouchy about having (horrors!) too many neighbors too close by!
I don't mean to be all idealistic about high-density urban living. Living
in eachother's laps is hard. But living in isolation is hard, too. Living in a place where your kids have nothing to do and nowhere s/he can go without being chauffeured is hard. Living in a place where you never have to think about other people is hard. It'd be great if we could find some better ways to meet everybody's needs.
Tomorrow I will storm the bastions of city planning and declare a coup. High-density courtyard housing for all!
