WHAT IF NEIGHBORHOODS WERE DESIGNED FOR KIDS (NOT CARS)?

Submitted by Jeff Buster on Mon, 05/07/2012 - 18:11.

 

This afternoon it was sunny out and I was up working on the roof where I could see the kids next door  bouncing a basketball in their driveway.    I also could see and hear - on the next street over - other kids playing basketball in their quiet residential street.   Both sets of kids could have had a pick up game if they just could get to one another conveniently and safely - through the middle of the block.   

But there is no way for kids (or adults) to physically commute through the blocks because of the private property and fences.

What a shame.

Today, a kid cutting through the middle of a block - going through someone's private yard and hopping the rear fence - could get the kid shot.   

Great life ahead!

When you get a car....

Image: kids in Hawaii skateboarding on a dead end residential street after school - note - they all wear crash helmets. Ever see a "street" just for kids?

 (ps later tonight...I just re-read this, and I haven't effectively or clearly gotten my point out.    I am thinking about those paths in England on which everyone has the "right to roam", and I am thinking of our US over-emphasis on private property rights...I want to see private property with public pathways in between - so instead of one fence between neighbors - there would be two fences with a public pathway in between the two fences.   Kids and adults could conveniently and move on non-auto routes.   That's closer to what should be conveyed..)

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