Cohousing-L Mailing List: Porches and other things

[Collaborative Housing Society (cohosoc]

1) Harry, I live in downtown Toronto, and went to school in Waterloo.  Yes,
there are a lot of porches, but as you noted, almost all of those houses
were built between 1910 and 1930 - the point being that they were not built
so that people could be better neighbours, but because the housing product
the market (ie. "us") demanded was something emulating the grand Victorian
Mansions all the rich folks lived in.

2) That porches, etc., have also enabled good community to happen is great,
and part of the reason we lament their loss and welcome their return.  But
porches alone are not the answer, as both Shedrick Coleman and Rob Sandelin
point out.  Those famed front porches worked, when they worked, because they
tended to occur on houses built very tightly together, very close to the
street, and tended to exist in very homogenous neighbourhoods -
like-mindedness? - generally at the lower end of the income scale (when they
were built).

3) I like your analogy about the big three automakers, perhaps because I
have been using it in articles for about three years now.  However, even
Japanese cars are still just cars, and only responded to an obvious niche -
read consumer (that's us) demand - that the big three weren't addressing.  I
do not agree with any assertion that "they" are dictating to "us" anything,
anytime.    Our houses (and cars) are a reflection of our values and
desires.   Our cultural values are always reflected in the places we build,
and, yes, the way we build does affect the way we live, otherwise why would
we bother with cohousing.  But I think it is important to understand what we
are really trying to fix here, and it isn't just front porches.

In a way, I am suggesting a rephrasing of the original question, which was
something like "when did the front porch disappear from the front of our
houses".  I think that rather than presume that someone did something to us,
we remember that, for most of our building history, the front porch didn't
exist, and when it did, it was more for stylistic concerns than out of a
desire to help people be neighbours.  As Rob said, almost any way you look
at it, ours is a very anti-social culture.  That's the context we are
working in:  changing our selves, not just doing it oureselves because
"they" don't know how.

4) So, I am not trying to debate the efficacy of the front porch as a tool
for building neighbourhood and community.  I am debating any insistance at
there are simple rules that can guarantee instant, happy community - ie if
only we bring this back, or do this, it will all be right again.   As Buzz
Burrell asserted, we have to understand the context in which we are
operating if we really want to change anything, which means educating
ourselves not about who did this to us, but what it is about our culture
that makes cars, isolated boxes in the landscape and just generally living
in our own worlds (in front of tv/comuputer screens - thanks Rob) so
attractive.

I had about 15k more stuff here, mostly about Modernism and social
engineering, but fortunately deleted it, as others have said it better than
I could, especially this late at night.  Anyway, bring back the front
porches, but let's not rely on them or any other gimmick or doodad to make
our communities for us - communities are people, not buildings.

Russell Mawby
Collaborative Housing Society - Toronto
cohosoc [at] web.apc.org