(0) Our Neck of the Woods
A picture illustrating the pattern
While this pattern language does not include any patterns
larger than this one, this pattern is certainly part of a
larger, yet-to-be-written pattern language. Within this
greater pattern language, Our Neck
of the Woods and its smaller component patterns
form only a small, but important, part.
People
need an identifiable spatial unit to belong to, along with a
cooperative relationship with their neighbors.
[Portions of this pattern are taken from A
Pattern Language pattern 14 (Identifiable
Neighborhood)]
They want to be able to identify the part area where
they live as distinct from all others. Available evidence
suggests, first, that the neighborhoods people identify
with have extremely small populations; second, that they
are relatively small in area; and third, that a major
road through a neighborhood destroys it.
- What is the right population for a neighborhood?
The neighborhood inhabitants should be able to
look after their own interests by organizing
themselves to bring pressure on city and/or
county governments. This means the families in a
neighborhood must be able to reach agreement on
the basic decisions about pubic services,
community land, and so forth. Anthropological
evidence suggests that a human group cannot
coordinate itself to reach such decisions if its population is above 1500, and many people set the
figure as low as 500. In rural areas, the figure
is lower still, perhaps between 100 and 200
people.
- As far as the physical diameter, studies in
cities indicate the urban residents really know
an area between two and seven blocks from their
house. Rural areas are going to have larger
figures that are based less on proximity and more
on physical features, such as all of the parcels
on a particular dead-end road or in a small
valley or along a particular ridge. So rural
areas may encompass several square miles.
- The first two features, by themselves, are not
enough. A neighborhood can only have a strong
identity if it is protected from heavy traffic.
Studies have demonstrated this well in urban
areas, but the same principle applies in rural
areas as well. In rural areas highways act as
physical features, dividing areas just the way a
river does. Neighbors who only live a few hundred
feet apart in a rural area might never exchange
more than a wave if they are separated by a busy
highway. Likewise, residents living along rural
highways do not establish neighborhood ties
especially well, even when they live right next
door to each other, largely because of the
intrusion of traffic. The same people on the same
lots living along a little-traveled country lane
establish ties with each other.
Studies indicate that urban neighborhood quality
begins to deteriorate when traffic exceeds 200
cars per hour. We believe that the threshold for
rural neighborhoods is much lower due to
increased distance between homes and the lack of
sidewalks. Physically, rural areas are less
conducive to neighborly contact to begin with.
The addition of even 120 cars per hour (two cars
per minute) impacts both the rural quality and
neighborly cooperation.
- In rural areas, protection from traffic is only
part of the solution. Rural residents, whether
they be farmers, loggers, retirees, or people who
have city jobs and businesses, thrive on the
lower population density and the open space. The
injection of large numbers of people, either
temporarily by way of roads or permanently in the
form of housing causes people to withdraw and
become more isolationistic.
In rural areas, crisis causes neighborhoods to
crystallize. The two most common crises are land use
issues and natural disasters. There is no faster way to
draw a rural neighborhood together than for a
subdivision, highway widening, or water rights proposal
to be made. Likewise, rural areas are further from
government services, so fires and floods force
cooperation.
Once these connections have been made, there is the
opportunity for increased neighborhood cooperation in the
form of shared labor, equipment, or even shared property
such as a community center or a water district.
So.....
Help people to define the neighborhoods they live
in. In urban areas, the area should not be be than 300 yards
across with no more than 400 to 500 inhabitants. In rural
areas, the area should encompass no more than a few square
miles (preferably defined by natural features), with no more
than about 200 people. In existing cities and rural areas,
encourage local groups to organize themselves to form such
neighborhoods. Give the neighborhoods some degree of autonomy
as far as taxes and land controls are concerned. Keep major
roads outside these neighborhoods.
A diagram showing the solution, with
labels to indicate it main components.
Many
other patterns will need to be realized in order for Our Neck of the Woods to be
completed properly. As individuals and as a group, Our Communtity
is our contribution to the completion of this pattern in our
rural area. Patterns leading to completion of the pattern in
urban areas are not discussed in this language (see pattern
14 "Identifiable Neighborhood" in A Pattern
Language for suggestions on urban implementation).
Created July 27, 1997.
Updated March 17, 2003 at 14:37.
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