Reshaping Suburbia

[Robert Urbanek]

Critics have attacked suburbia as car-centric areas that have large carbon footprints. While one might debate the direction of future residential development, that doesn’t address the existing suburban sprawl.

One partial solution may be to convert one house per suburban neighborhood into a mini store where neighbors within a half-mile walk could buy some groceries and sundries without using a car. They could carry groceries home in a bag or a mini-shopping cart. The store might be managed by a couple living on the top floor of a two-story house. Parking by customers in cars would be banned except for a single disability-only parking spot.

Product variety would be limited but the goal is not to be a one-stop shopping center but a shopping option that reduces the number of trips a resident takes.

A variation on this might be a “mini-Starbucks” manned by two people that would sell coffee, pastries, and sandwiches to people in the neighborhood and offer an opportunity for people to gather and be more “neighborly.”

 

[Concerned American]

neighborly

That used to be when you sat on your front porch and invited your neighbors over for a confab. Can't do that anymore--you're neighbor is likely to take a shine to something on your porch and it won't be there in the morning.

 

[Manonthestreet]

Critics have attacked suburbia as car-centric areas that have large carbon footprints. While one might debate the direction of future residential development, that doesn’t address the existing suburban sprawl.

One partial solution may be to convert one house per suburban neighborhood into a mini store where neighbors within a half-mile walk could buy some groceries and sundries without using a car. They could carry groceries home in a bag or a mini-shopping cart. The store might be managed by a couple living on the top floor of a two-story house. Parking by customers in cars would be banned except for a single disability-only parking spot.

Product variety would be limited but the goal is not to be a one-stop shopping center but a shopping option that reduces the number of trips a resident takes.

A variation on this might be a “mini-Starbucks” manned by two people that would sell coffee, pastries, and sandwiches to people in the neighborhood and offer an opportunity for people to gather and be more “neighborly.”

Its called the gas station