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Pocket Neighborhoods: Creating Small-Scale Community in a Large-Scale World

Ross Chapin

By Jesse Kornbluth
Published: May 21, 2017
Category: Non Fiction

We now know that direct social interaction — being in the same physical space as other people — helps you live longer and better. We know that hyper-focus on events you don’t control is destabilizing and local involvement make you feel centered. And we know the best kind of neighborhood has all age groups. And porches.

We know all this. And more: we know that we crave community. Privately, not sharing our loneliness with others, we think: The empire may be failing, but I still have to live. Is there any way I can live appropriately, in harmony with the planet? And is there some way I can feel more…connected?

Ross Chapin, an architect who lives in a town of 1,000 on Whidbey Island, Washington, started thinking about a more humane way to live in the 1980s. And he came up with a solution. It was not, as he writes, a new solution:

Humans are gregarious — we like to live around others. We also have a desire — and perhaps a need — for personal space. Sometime in the last generation, however, we became so charmed with the dream of a ‘house of one’s own’ that we overshot our desire for privacy, leaving us marooned on our own personal island in a sea of houses… A picture began formulating in my mind that was like the Russian nesting dolls… pocket neighborhoods.

What is a pocket neighborhood?

A clustered group of neighboring houses or apartments gathered around a shared open space — a garden courtyard, a pedestrian street, a series of joined backyards, or a reclaimed alley — all of which have a clear sense of territory and shared stewardship.

This is a delicious concept. Exciting to read about. Great to look at. Important as an idea. And, if you’re up for it, a life-changer. [To buy “Pocket Neighborhoods” from Amazon, click here. For the Kindle edition, click here.]

In 1996, Chapin built his first pocket neighborhood: the Third Street Cottages in the town where he lives. Just a sprinkling of homes. But not 2-story houses. One-and-a-half story cottages. Most about 650 square feet, with lofts up to 200 square feet.


To ensure privacy between neighbors, the cottages ‘nest’ together: the ‘open’ side of one house faces the ‘closed’ side of the next. You could say the houses are spooning! The open side has large windows facing its side yard (which extends to the face of neighboring house), while the closed side has high windows and skylights. The result is that neighbors do not peer into one another’s world.

At the same time, there’s no way to hide — you have a front porch. A carefully designed porch. The railings are low, so you can sit and see the sidewalk. And so passersby can see you. Stop and chat? Has to happen. Watch unsupervised kids at play? You are the neighborhood cop.

“Pocket Neighborhoods” has a rich history, and Chapin gives the guided tour. Almshouses in the Netherlands. A Methodists Camp Community on Martha’s Vineyard. Southern California Cottage Courtyards. New Urban communities. Co-housing. Interesting stuff.

If you are single and not a collector, this is a book for you. If you’re young marrieds and don’t want a McMansion, this is for you. A small family, maybe. Boomers with grown children, for sure. Seniors, definitely. Bill Gates, whose current home fills 60,000 square feet? I think not.

[Thanks yet again, A.M.]