Urban neighbourhoods become gentrified. Suburban areas get renovated, infilled and dated.
How would we design Suburbia 2.0?
Together. We'd do it together. And we'd do it for all of us.
We'll assume as a given that our new version would need to have increased density. Land is a valuable and finite resource which is fast becoming out of reach of most of us. So we need to live better on less of it per person.
Could we gather together our neighbours to masterplan our streets?
We're starting with a blank slate of land, but real people. This wouldn't be development for the masses, this is design for us. The people. The neighbours. For our neighbourhood.
Imagine the solutions we might arrive at.
- More connected households and deliberate planning for different generations to live together.
- Smaller, better-designed private spaces and larger, more accessible public areas.
- Shared facilities such as workshops, vehicles, and gardens.
- Common ownership of commercial areas by the people who use them.
- Less space given to cars, and more room for people.
If we could get ourselves together, who knows what we could do.