My Ideal Neighbourhood

What kind of neighbourhood would you consider most livable? A community that is always a car ride from everything ? Or, do you want to have most of  the things that you need and enjoy just a walk away? I don’t think my ideal neighbourhood should surprise anyone.

My Ideal Neighbourhood

I would opt for a walkable neighbourhood within a compact city with clean and dependable public transit system. Transit and an extensive active transportation network , would  allow easy access to other neighbourhoods, cultural and sporting venues, a vibrant central business district,  and appealing shopping areas. And could I please have high-speed inter-regional rail service. Failing ,  convenient access to a car would be nice but I would be happy to never have to own one. 

Anything real begins with the fiction of what could be. Imagination is therefore the most potent force in the universe and a skill you can get better at. Its the one skill in life that benefits from ignoring what everyone else knows. – Kevin Kelly 

Third Places, a term coined by Sociologist Ray Oldenburg

• Specialty food shops such as a green grocer, a butcher shop, a fish monger, bakery, and a cheese store. In Paris there would also be a “traiteur”. 
• I don’t want to have to drive to Canadian Tire or Home Depot to buy picture hooks, a missing screw, or to have a key cut. I would like a small local hardware store where I could get these items along with good advice.
• The Great Good Place, which described why hangouts like cafes, bars, pubs, restaurants, hair salons, and barber shops are essential breeding grounds for social connections, inclusion, and, democracy.
• While on the subject of Third Places, I want a place that makes great coffee and great pastries
• Lots of green space and I wouldn’t want every park to consist of a soccer field, baseball diamond, and playground.

What Happened?

In my very early adult years, local retail was just starting to fade away. The average household size in Canada had dropped to a little less than four people. Now, that average household size is down to 2.47 people. That translates into about 1500 fewer people for each 1000 homes. This reduction in household size impacts the vitality of community organizations, schools, the design of municipal services and recreation, restaurants and cafés,  and proximity retail.  

Over the same period, automobile ownership increased and more regional shopping centres developed. Neighbourhood retailers not only had fewer customers but also more competitors in locations designed for automobiles. And then came Walmart. Not only has Walmart and other big box retail exacerbated the erosion of urban small retail, it has destroyed many small town centres.  Goodbye to my ideal neighbourhood.

I like diversity

I like diversity and I want to live with people with  different ethnic backgrounds and from different age groups. My ideal neighbourhood should be for doctors but also for nurses and orderlies; not just business owners and executives but for mechanics and electricians and shop keepers. I have worn a kilt and “stripped the willow” at family weddings, enjoyed bar mitzvahs and bat mitzvahs, plied the night away to reggae and “jump” music. However, I still haven’t been to a Bollywood wedding, something that is near the top of my punch list. I want to be young enough to be able to take part in all that dancing. 

I enjoyed my involvement in my children’s sports activities because of the mix of people that it brought together from a broadly defined  catchment area made up of varying socio-economic ghettos. We would cheer together, travel together, share a meal and a beer, and support each other. I would get lots of useful advice and help on a whole variety of things and occasionally I was able to return the favour.