Alternatives to the shrunken back yard

New urbanist thinking holds that tight-knit development can promote neighborliness and can generate densities that make amenities, such as nearby shops and transit service, economically feasible. But at what point does a lot become too small for livability? When should detached houses give way to a different housing type? Those questions become pertinent when one looks not only at compact developments in Austin (see accompanying story) but also at tightly configured traditional neighborhood developments (TNDs) elsewhere. For example, in the Baywood neighborhood in Hercules, California (see March 2005 New Urban News), back yards were eliminated altogether. Steve Lawton, community development director for Hercules and a prime mover behind new urbanist development there, says he has not noticed “any meaningful relationship between backyard size and resale value,” nor has he heard that resales are faring worse in Baywood than elsewhere. Todd Zimmerman, co-managing director of the market research firm Zimmerman/Volk Associates, says, “In areas like California where land carries extremely high values, and open space is liberally provided, buyers don’t seem to be deterred by the lack of backyards. (Since a large percentage of them don’t have children, it’s not a paramount consideration.)” “Lots are getting smaller everywhere, whether in a conventional or traditional neighborhood,” Zimmerman observes. “There are fewer traditional family buyers, fewer children, and less time and money to maintain expanses of grass.” He sees the quality of privately-owned outdoor space — the balcony, the terrace, the dooryard, the back yard, the courtyard, the atrium — as “one of the key characteristics of TNDs,” more important than quantity. Nonetheless, many new detached-house developments look cramped when compared to the leafy and more spacious neighborhoods found in nearly every older city in the US. And having some extra outdoor space available is often key to accommodating the changes that residents want to make as years go by. Terry Mitchell of Momark Development in Austin acknowledges that questions of outdoor space will become more pressing as compact development becomes more prevalent. At the Goodnight development which Momark is involved in developing southeast of Austin, “we’re making the yards deeper — 120 feet deep, plus alleys,” he notes. Zimmerman doesn’t lament the disappearance of the larger back yard. He points out that “a townhouse courtyard can be just as appealing as the private back yard of a detached house.” And he contends that there are other good models for outdoor space. “The courtyard type — currently underutilized in America — would be valuable in many market areas as development moves toward increasing densities,” he says.