Ross Chapin shares the philosophy and design of Pocket Neighborhoods. This video gives a compelling insight into the layout of a neighbourhood design that honours both the private the public and the common space, integrating them within a design that encourages strong relationships to grow naturally. From the original source Shareable.net:
Chapin’s tag line, “Creating Small-Scale Community in a Large-Scale World” touches on the heart of the matter. Many people would love to keep the comraderie of community without forsaking the sanctity of single-family housing.
Chapin notes, “The people who live in these most sought-after communities know they share something extraordinarily valuable: a model of community that provides a missing link. They have their cherished privacy, but with something more: they get to know each other in a meaningful way, and are able to offer one another the kind of support system that family members across town, across state or across country cannot.”
This post from Shareable gave me the sense that these neighbourhoods go beyond the traditional intentional community, upgrading the age-old practice of community living to not only strengthen community ties while honouring individual autonomy that creates a natural security – they are also very well built, energy efficient, and scalable.
Visit Chapin’s website where he offers a number of different site plans, from a single cluster of homes to an entire neighbourhood. For more information please visit www.langleyhighlands.com
Inspired by Ross Chaplin’s work students and professors at the University of Arkansas set up and designed the Rock Street project:
“Fascinatingly, the AIA jurors are calling Rock Street a model for not only the regeneration of blighted core neighborhoods but also for the future of the American housing industry. “The industry has nearly optimized construction discipline in the single-family dwelling, the next frontier for achieving affordability with high livability returns is design of the neighborhood template–the shared spaces,” explained the jury in a statement. In other words, shared housing (the “missing middle”) will be the next big boom in the American construction business. And on Rock Street, we’ve got a perfect model for how to do it well.”
http://www.fastcodesign.com/1671705/wanna-reinvent-the-inner-city-reinvent-its-housing-stock?utm_source=twitter#1