Why are our homes orientated to the back? Our living spaces, kitchens, dining rooms and lounges all over looking our own piece of walled paradise, rather than being connected to the community at the front? Is it to do with design theory and approaches? Or is it to do with human desire? Or both? A project and a yearning during Melbourne lockdown, made me question “why is this so?” I started to wonder about the anti-social nature of our homes, how it impacts our integration with our community and how that has affected our modern communities. It wasn’t until very recently when I saw a Facebook post shared by a friend about a design pioneer, that I realised others had recognised the need to socialise our homes and had even tried to design it in.
Lockdown Lists - Keeping busy in the most quietest time of our lives. Image Source - Pexel.com
In lockdown I renovated my pointless, uninspiring front garden and installed four large vegetable wicking beds. A good investment of our endless iso-time, it’s now producing bountiful vegetables and fruits. But it’s not only produce that’s growing. Having a garden out the front is really nurturing my community connections. As I attend my garden I’m meeting neighbours, friends of neighbours, fellow gardeners, avid composters, dog lovers, walkers and lifes dawdlers and we’re conversing about all things community, weather, garden and a little bit of Covid coping. Being outside in my front garden certainly makes for a very social time. During a period in which we we’re in lockdown, it was a seriously chatty (at 1.5M distance) and frankly was one of the main things that kept me ticking along.
Lockdown project - productive front garden. Image own
The other isolation past-time was daydreaming. Mainly of far flung places I’ve had the privilege to visit recently. Vietnam. Romania. England. All the different sights, smells, sounds, tastes, traditions and ways of life all came flooding back to me. I remembered the Vietnamese homes with their lounges at the front, often right on the street, with no real doors and windows. Some had scooters stored to one side of their living space for a speedy, super handy entry onto the pavement. The stunning architecture and colours of the Romanian homes arranged around courtyards, with people sitting outside, watching the world go by on purpose built fence seats. Fence seats? Yes front fences had inbuilt bench seats installed to enable community chit chat and connections. Something I have never seen before, but something I loved so much that I installed a community seat outside the front of my house. My friends classic semi-detached cul-de-sac English home with a kitchen at the front of the house. Very handy when you need to knock the window and shout the kids to “come in for your TEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!”. People were living their lives right up front and centre. Where everyone who was passing could see in and where everyone passing could be seen. But I couldn’t find it anywhere in Melbourne.
Travel inspired community bench - Image own.
There really is a clear pattern between the location of our living spaces to how integrated we are in our community. But it wasn't until a friend recently shared information about a Sir Walter Burley Griffin’s final Australian plan: Milleara as ‘the garden city of the future’ 1925–1965, that my garden experiences and travel thoughts merged and I started to understand the idea of anti-social orientation and how it’s caused the desocialisation of communities. It also made me question, whether it’s ‘design’ or ‘desire’ that has driven this agenda. And if it is desire, whether that’s changing due to our experiences of lockdowns I, II, MiniIII and IV.
Future planning garden infused. Image Source - Moonee Valley Library. Via my friend Luisa Muscara!
Sir Burley’s design for Milleara suburb back in the day was a garden city. With nearly as much community green space as there was private built space. Compared to today’s allocation of green space in new developments, this seems incredibly progressive. He also planned for homes in the Milleara development to be facing into communal reserve areas to the back of the property, not the street entrance at the front. But this never materialised. Given a small piece of natural communal heaven, residents installed fences to bring plan boundaries alive and mark out their land, in doing so, turning their backs on the social infused design. Makes you wonder who put up their fence first. Bold move!
Fences mark out your plot - Image Source - Pexels.com
So it appears even during a period when town planners developed socialisation opportunities into town planning & design our desire for privacy, sanctuary and protection made us revolt and go the other way. It also makes me wonder how our communities would have fared during isolation having more socially designed spaces. Would it have helped or hindered? It would have helped those living alone deal with the isolation of lockdown. But it might have hindered with the need to keep people separate. What was made abundantly clear during lockdown, is that people instinctly gravitate to natural spaces to deal with times of trouble and cope with stress. Living in a community that’s saturated with green space really has major health benefits and needs to be valued much much more.
Green heart. We all gravitate to green when we’re down. Image Source - Pexels.com
So if Sir Walter Burley Griffins turned up today with his plans, detailing integrated natural open spaces; tree lined and grassy boulevards; community vegetable gardens; a community solar power and battery facility; set alongside a community hub for material management; a sharing and repairing shed and entered a COVID rebuilding competition - I reckon we’d all jump for joy and say “YES PLEASE” and he’d walk out with the rosette for sure.
Yes Please. Me! Image Source - Pexels.com
We might not be able to reorientate our homes, but we could retrofit many of the design features into what we already have. We can all play a role in re-wilding our gardens and nature strips. Sacrifice that front lawn and create something special, both for you, your community and the birds and bees. There are a growing number of fantastic examples of bee / wildlife friendly and native species gardens popping up. The people behind them are popping up too, out the front ready for a friendly chat! In addition, some of the spaces Sir Burley Griffins designed are still there. Just hidden away. One of these gems of a green space is now the East Keilor Community Garden. Go visit it and find your zen.