Where the Sidewalk Ends...

It’s that time of year; the sun has made a debut, grass has peeked out through the melted snow and we have shed our heavy winter coats for a jacket or sweater.  Yes, spring has finally arrived bringing with it signs of life, pulling us outside to climb on our bikes, run, play tag, and take long walks with friends and loved ones.  Whether our journey outside begins on a path made of gravel, cement, dirt or a yellow brick road, a sidewalk has been created to take you places, from point A to point B.  It is made to ensure you arrive safely and promptly, without disruption from any on-coming vehicles. 

However, how many times have you embarked on a path, only to discover that it abruptly ends?  No explanation or direction is communicated to as to which way would offer another safe route.  It simply ends, just like the picture above.  Forcing you to walk out into the street, making it essential to compete for space with any oncoming vehicles.  This does not provide a safe route for your children to ride their bikes, scooters, and walk to a neighbor’s house.  An unfinished sidewalk puts your children at risk to be harmed by speeding commuters.

A sidewalk that loops and connects through the community is the ideal way to get around safely.  Would you be more comfortable sending your children to a friend’s house, if there was a sidewalk to take them from your door to their friend’s door, away from oncoming traffic?  Imagine a community with a path that connects everyone, would you feel safer out on a walk?  Would you be more inclined to venture outside and enjoy the sunshine?  We are working to build this level of safety in our Master Planned Community “Hill Farms” (coming this fall) by creating paths and sidewalks that unite the neighborhoods, rather than divides.     

    

Barriers...

A community is defined by a group of people that are living together in a particular place or area. Utah has a rich history of strong communities. Somehow we’ve accomplished this in spite of how our communities are designed. Take the ‘Fail’ example pictured above; we have some nice green space surrounded by a 6’ privacy fence. Visually, the set up here indicates that each resident isn’t interested in getting to the green space easily, and they certainly don’t want anyone from the green space getting close to them.  Homes are positioned facing away from this park area making it easy to ignore.  Homes face wide streets with quick moving cars, and have unused front lawns with a broad driveway to accommodate vehicles.  Everything is clearly stating “this is mine and that is yours” in these neighborhoods.   

These unintentional barriers: a 6’ foot fences, wide streets, empty front lawns and oversized driveways are just a few reasons that allow people to come and go without ever having to take a step outside their front door.  This minimizes drastically the relationships that can be developed with others within the neighborhood, leaving everyone feeling rather isolated. 

Image the community result if the barriers described here were removed. Could we enjoy the green space more? Would we enjoy our neighbors more? Would it feel safer to have our children playing in wide-open green space easily viewable to yourself and all neighbors as opposed to playing in that same space behind a privacy fence?  Would you feel more connected to the person next door to you?  As we work towards our fall 2013 Grand Opening of our Master-planned community “Hill Farms”, our intention is to break down these barriers that keep us from enjoying what we value most in life.