Small Cities

The Atlantic, Cities: “People would live in small city clusters built around a town center replete with stores, offices, schools, public buildings, and parks. Traveling around town, residents would take the “light” road network. They would walk, bike, or drive tiny cars incapable of exceeded 25 mph. There would be no on-street parking at all. The general idea is to promote interaction and accessibility.”

I really love this idea. We live in a neighborhood where our homes are tightly packed, and I like it. From the outside it looks like a really nice apartment complex. We have a two community pools, tennis courts, and a basketball court. After we lived here a couple months I mentioned to Kim how I wish we had a little convenience store in the neighborhood, something simple, just the basics; a meat counter, fruits and veggies, dairy, and some very basic household items. I remember back to my childhood in Lindsay, California. We had a little corner store in our neighborhood, Linwood Market, that was exactly what I described. When we’d play baseball in the street on a hot summer day the group of boys I hung out with would often pool our money, look for bottles to redeem, and head to the market to buy a six pack of root beer or sarsaparilla to quench our thirst. Yes, very reminiscent of The Sandlot.

I think society could use more neighborly neighborhoods. Having a small, self sustaining, community could help, I think. If something like this sprung up in the valley I’d be very interested in checking it out.