Alicia, Courtyard Urbanist

Ultimately, the battle for single stair reform, elevator reform, etc will have to be fought on X and Instagram and Facebook. It makes sense to hone the arguments and pitches here, but they need to be broadcast on larger platforms b

Yeah, the content is definitely weaker there across the board.

But X still the closest thing there is to a public forum. This site is great, but it’s a very limited demographic.

I hope they can fix the algorithm there. It would be so much better if the people here returned.

Here are som Berlin courtyard blocks for your timeline. The conversation here is so much better than on X. But the industry people and “people who need to hear it” are on X, as well as internationals.

Thanks, found him

Hi! I logged on here to find out what’s going on with elevator reform. Is Stephen Smith on here?

Convince people with authority over parcelling and zoning to create guidelines for a courtyard block. Parcels should be wide but shallow. 2 apts/floor share a stair/elevator with access to street and courtyard. Ground floor will prob have to include some parking.

... support a walkable urban neighborhood, full of social interest and commercial and institutional conveniences. (The conveniences for parents on this block include a swim center, a school, a church, a grocery store, cafe, wine cellar, and a car sharing outfit.)

... you give families the "big house with a yard" (and fantastic floor plan!) without sacrificing the density needed to ...

Edinburgh, Scotland, shows that when you stack apartments, join them wall-to-wall, and build them right up to the property line to form courtyard blocks ...

In a courtyard block, when your kids get the zoomies at a party, you send them outside to play with other kids in the courtyard.

When we live in decent neighborhoods and can walk or take transit to our destinations, we are immune to congestion and other car dependency problems.

I had hoped that millennial preference for walkable neighborhoods would have prevented suburban expansion, but cities have not yet risen to the challenge of accommodating millennial families …

West Michigan is mostly Dutch American. My family is from there so I grew up among them. Tall, frugal, and industrious people who love evangelical Christianity, deals, and cars.

… not very long ago emigrated from great Dutch cities like Amsterdam, Leiden, Delft, and Utrecht, where they lived and shopped in places like these.

Driving through Holland, MI, on way back to Chicago, I’m once again blown away that the American Dutch today living in greenfield subdivisions like this and shopping in big box commercial lagoons like this …

To compete with the suburbs for young families, cities should add courtyard blocks to their urban fabric. Replacing surface parking lots and dated single story office buildings along distressed commercial corridors is one place they can start.

The inner courtyards provide residents with a safe, car-free green space where their kids can play with neighbor kids without needing direct supervision or transportation.

Courtyard BLOCKS are framed by wall-to-wall buildings that are 4-6 stories tall. Commercial on the bottom and residential on top. Residents don’t even have to cross the street to go to grocery store and other daily destinations.

The solution to the dilemma (house with a yard without sacrificing density and commercial integration) is courtyard blocks. For millennia, cities have used courtyard blocks to provide residents with a “big house with a yard” AND the conveniences and opportunities of city life.

Families need a big house with a yard. In US cities, we provide big houses with a yard only in the detached single family home format. These are prohibitively expensive and degrade the urban quality of neighborhoods, which depends on density, diversity, and commercial integration.

Young families have continued leaving big cities post-pandemic By Connor O’Brien Key findings Large urban counties have suffered severe declines in their population of young children. While overall population growth in such counties resumed in 2023 (mainly du...

Failing to provide suitable housing for young families, cities are hemorrhaging children and alienating ordinary families from our urban centers of commerce, culture, and government. eig.org/families-exo...

By providing residents with urban conveniences as well as the big house with a yard (but stacked for density), courtyard blocks are the green solution to suburban sprawl.

To reverse suburban sprawl and reduce energy consumption, we need to re-urbanize the ordinary families who flee cities every year for the “big house with a yard” in the burbs and exurbs.

Where is this?? It is my dream to live on the same block as a grocery store and pharmacy.

On the streetside, they have access to the businesses and public conveniences of Vienna.

Today, the block remains a beautiful example of the courtyard block form. Residents of all ages have an access to a car-free and sound-insulted green space in the middle of the noisy city ….

The courtyard had been trashed when the City decided to demolish it. journalists and residents campaigned to improve the central garden and renovate the historic buildings …

mayahabian.weebly.com/english-vers...

In the 1970s, this Viennese courtyard block was condemned to demolition to make way for a major highway. However, residents fought to preserve the structure and won.

Takeaway: we get better disposed units—and smarter lot coverage—when we stack wide and shallow units around the perimeter of a block.

Meanwhile, the thick and squat apartment blocks of Brooklyn have greater lot coverage, but inferior use of outdoor space, lower density, and worse ventilation/natural light.