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neighbourhood retreat

Uncategorized: neighbourhood retreat

Posted by Lauren Anderson on July 3, 2007 | 9 COMMENTS

One of the few pleasures of moving is getting to make a whole new suburb your own. You delight in walking to the bus stop that’s further away because it means you get to watch the little boutiques stretch the sleep from their eyes as they wake for another day’s trading, far away from their city clone cousins. You learn little shortcuts which mean you make the distance from your doorstep to your local espresso joint in the time it takes to froth the milk. You branch out of your old routine to embrace new pastimes which are only a 10 minute stroll away, even shorter with your housemate at your side.

 The perspective you’re used to seeing your city through changes depending on where you can spot the stadium‘s lights from, or whether the blazing X‘s are to your left or right. A new bus route gets you from here to there even more efficiently than before, and you learn that you could even walk if you really wanted to.

 The older I get, the more local living thrills me, and in turn the more my little red mazda sits idle out the front as I favour connecting with my new suburb on foot. If you find yourself wondering why you work on the ‘other side of town’, or have to drive a distance to do the things you enjoy, I encourage you to do one of two things:

1. Find a new job, or a new house. (hard option)

2. Get to know your streets like a tourist, then prowl them like you own the place. (easy option)

What happens in your suburb? 

 
  • Kate Shannon

    Thanks Lauren – this is such a good thing to do. I recently let my gym membership lapse as it was on the on the other side of town and signed up for a yoga school in my ‘hood which I walk to. Its so nice to have an additional hour of my day free which I would have normally wasted in traffic. love it!

  • http://www.portalpie.com Morgan Daly

    Hey Lauren. Thanks for the plug.

    It is not always possible as suburbs like ours, that lend themselves so well to being experienced the way you describe it often also in time see huge property and rent increases and many of the originals that set the foundation of what you describe have to move out. Like the older couple I know that after 40 years in the same apartment in West End, had to move because the rent went up way too much. But like one of my favourite customers said yesterday, “Cities are for living in… not capitalising on those living within.”

    On the flip side, what you describe is often a cheaper more time saving way to live. Walkers can overtake cars on their way to the city in the morning. It is healthier. I love living and working in my community.

    The financial side of this does actually give me one hope that deep down we understand the value of these kinds of communities, even if for now we express it in capitalistic ways. I don’t mean to come off negative, but what you describe can be hard to create and in time maybe harder to protect.

  • Emma

    Lauren, you are tapping into the lifeblood of our society by choosing to walk.

    In my previous life as a criminologist, it was my job to study urban form and assess whether certain designs contributed to the opportunity for crimes to occur.

    The great work of the late Jane Jacobs, author of ‘The Death & Life of Great American Cities’ among others, points to the fact that diversity is the key to a wonderful quality of life in our dense suburbs. She says,
    ” People gathered in concentrations of city size and density can be considered a positive good, in the faith that they are desirable because they are the source of immense vitality, and because they do represent, in small geographic compass, a great and exuberant richness of differences and possibilities, many of these differences unique and unpredictable and all the more valuable because they are.”
    Aah the life of Paddo….

  • http://www.portalpie.com Morgan Daly

    Everyone, please excuse my 6:30am comment. Strayed a bit, I think.

    But Emma, you have just reminded me of a great little story.

    A couple of years ago we had some friends visiting from out of town that wanted to go to the city. So I offered them the use of our car. Woz quickly responded with, “No thanks, we will take the bus.” Angela his partner jumped in and said that it was one of Woz’s environmental things. No argument from me. I thought that was a great reason, but he quickly corrected her and said, “NO! It’s cultural.” Those 3 words changed my perspective on things. In fact Woz’s response really taught me a lot about perspective.

    Among other things he talked about the fact that because we are often one person wrapped in all that metal we take away the opportunity to connect with others. Foot centric cities are said to be happier and healthier and safer. And according to Steven Berlin Johnson in his book Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software the reasons why can be learned by studying ants. Basically a community of ants would not function if they drove cars. Oh I forgot how much I love this topic. Go Lauren, you had me thinking all day about this.

  • Lauren

    Look at you guys go!! What awesome comments :)

    That’s almost 4 posts in one. Morgs and Emma, I reckon I could go on all day about this stuff too. A life where you can reach everything you need on foot, while having the option to look outside your circle and take in some of the better influences of a globalising/evolving world is surely my utopia. I think for me it’s a bit of self-sufficiency that is the motivation, knowing I’m not relying on low traffic, or full petrol or pumped up tyres to get me where I need to go.

    I need to become more confident with pedal power, then I will really be able to expand my circle. Unfortunately there are just some places your feet can’t take you when time is against you.

    And Morgs, I’ve got to check out that ant study…

  • Yen Trinh

    I don’t do it enough, but definitely agree discoveries are found when you just wander. One of my fave neighbourhood finds is a narrow public staircase, unusually hidden between houses on Teneriffe Hill – not because it’s stunning, it’s actually slightly dodgy feeling or because I use that shortcut regularly – but because it’s one of those odd things you really wouldn’t know about unless you lived there. These secrets/discoveries in urban experiences is what makes neighbourhoods and places – I think it’s part of the reason why established neighbourhoods have a fundamentally different vibe, why reusing heritage buildings works, why things like laneways work so well in Melbourne etc etc

    P.S. Emma, ever since uni Jane Jacobs has been my urban planning hero! We should talk some time, I’d be interested to hear about CPTED from your perspective.

  • Emma

    Yen, Meet you at Urban Grind one day and we can have a great chat about CPTED. Morgs can join in, and Lauren can wander down too!

  • http://www.urbangrind.com.au Morgan Daly

    :)

  • Lauren

    8 comments… arranging to meet up…this post has definitely met its expectations! You could even say it’s walking the walk…Nothing like engaging with your neighbourhood, even if it is online. Thanks guys for really identifying with this message.