Absurdity

Crazy idea of the day, why don't we do away with front streets/roads, for the houses that do also have a back lane. Why do we need to devote so much valuable real estate to personal vehicles, driveways, garages, back lanes, front lanes, they are given so much space to travel on, and to rest on. We have given into the idea that not only everyone drives or wants to drive, but that every domicile will have multiple vehicles.

Imagine what the streets, well not streets anymore, could be like. What the space between your neighbours could become. The spaces in-between houses, the neighbourhoods. We can fill the area with fields, bring back a lot of green space to the city. It would be so great for the children, less worried about them going outside, just letting them go out into the field in front of your house to run around, play sports outside with other kids. We can have community gardens there, we could have cycling or pedestrian trails. So much potential with what seems as wasted space that is stuck as something you go through.

We can save a ton of money each year by not having to constantly clear snow, clear debris, repair roads constantly. This would just be residential streets, still lots of ways to travel, but adding more green spaces and community areas that require less maintenance than a road that may not be necessary be. We have built this massive infrastructure and just keep adding on while it is harder and harder to maintain, to keep clean and clear, to keep in good repair. Why not start to scale back?

One of the biggest fears people have for their children walking around on their own is being struck by a vehicle. One of the next biggest is that someone would report you for daring to think your child is safe crossing streets on their own in this dangerous world we have created. Why not try to change this? To make it feel safe for people to just travel, to walk around and run and play.

This is of course all a pipe dream, I doubt we could get a whole street or a majority to agree to lose their front street in favour of this. But what if we could build a new development based on this philosophy, a new area that is built from the ground up with a focus on walking, being green, being close to the essentials that you need. To instead of driving to the big box stores we have small local mom and pop stores again that we can walk to and carry our products and goods home on a daily basis. A development that flies in the face of car culture and the damage it has done to society, making us less connected, less in shape, less financially sound as individuals and as a city, just making us less. I know some new developments are built with just a front street, no back lanes, and then have your neighbours back to back with a fence. Thinking places like Harbour View South. Well instead of cramming them in quite so much, let's have strips of fields in between all the houses. I would prefer the front lanes, the ones you face your neighbours the most with, to encourage a strong community that is together, but even back lanes between houses would be great for bringing that connectivity.