I want a front porch
We live in a residential “PUD” (”Planned Unit Development“) where the houses are, as I term them, “detached townhouses”, on relatively small lots. I.e. backyards are tiny. Since we have little traffic, kids go out and play in the front yards and the streets (think: basketball, kickball, bikes, etc). And thus we actually get to meet many of our neighbors and informally socialize outdoors. I’ve thought several times over the years that the one main thing I’d change on the home design in the development would be to incorporate front porches. I’ve felt that such a simple change would further foster our neighborhood’s community-building. And since our weather is mild pretty much year-round, they’d see a lot of use.
Lo and behold, I heard a recent NPR piece on front porches…
It seems that there is a “New Urbanism” “urban design movement” that incorporates and promotes front porches (and several other design characteristics). Cool stuff.
And there’s a few other apropos NPR pieces in the thread…
A Spell on ‘The American Porch’
Sitting on the Porch: Not a Place, But a State of Mind