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Pocket Neighborhoods: Creating Small-Scale Community in a Large-Scale World [Hardcover]

Ross Chapin , Sarah Susanka
4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)

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Book Description

March 29, 2011
Pocket Neighborhoods: Creating Small Scale Community in a Large Scale World introduces an antidote to faceless, placeless sprawl — small scale neighborhoods where people can easily know one another, where empty nesters and single householders with far-flung families can find friendship or a helping hand nearby, and where children can have shirt-tail aunties and uncles just beyond their front gate.

The book describes inspiring pocket neighborhoods through stories of the people who live there, as well as the progressive planners, innovative architects, pioneering developers, craftspeople and gardeners who helped create them.

Sarah Susanka, author of the best selling “Not So Big House” series, wrote the Foreword to the book, placing pocket neighborhoods within context of the contemporary trends in housing and community. Ross Chapin begins the book by outlining the shifts in the scale of community and the American Dream over several generations, leading to super-sized houses in a sea of development, then describes a solution to help restore healthy, livable communities. The first section of the book looks at historic precedents of pocket neighborhoods, from 15th century hofje almshouses in the Netherlands, to a 19th century Methodists Camp Community on Martha’s Vineyard, to early 20th century Garden City models and Southern California Cottage Courtyards. The second section covers a wide range of contemporary pocket neighborhoods, including New Urban communities, affordable housing, houseboat communities, eco-neighborhoods, and Ross Chapin Architects’ own pocket neighborhood examples. The third section focuses on ‘cohousing’ communities, from Danish origins in the 1960s, to examples across America, Australia and New Zealand, including a chapter on senior cohousing. The fourth section looks at retrofitting pocket neighborhoods within existing communities. Throughout the book are series of “Design Keys” that highlight the essential principles of pocket neighborhood planning and design, and short stories about “Pocket Neighborhood Pioneers” who blazed new trails. The book is filled with rich photographs, drawings, illustrations and site plans, and a Resources section at the end provides leads for the reader to explore the topic in further detail.
 


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Editorial Reviews

Review

Anyone who’s looking for a way to live both simply and beautifully will love Ross Chapin’s notions about creating community. If you’ve enjoyed the “Not So Big House” series, you’ll also love this book.
—SARAH SUSANKA, author of The Not So Big House
Ross Chapin possesses a Christopher Alexander-like ability to show how all the pieces of a house and a neighborhood can fit together, composing a profoundly satisfying environment.
—PHILIP LANGDON, author, A Better Place to Live: Reshaping the American Suburb, and editor of New Urban News
The phrase "think globally, act locally" takes on new meaning in this book, which shows what is possible when residents in close proximity share a commitment to community.  "Pocket Neighborhoods" includes an extensive list of resources and organizations related to urban design and eco-friendly neighborhoods, but this is not a how-to book. It is information and inspiration, a timely discussion as regions grapple with housing density and look for ways to build a sense of community along with every new house, apartment and condo. --Jeffrey Head, LOS ANGELES TIMES
This revolutionary book will change the way North Americans view new home developments and will help home buyers realize that community is often as important as the house.
—TORONTO STAR
After decades of living large — mini-mansions in sprawling subdivisions the size of cities — some Americans are retrenching and showing a new appreciation for small, cozy and neighborly. Architect Ross Chapin has coined a term for these new compact communities: pocket neighborhoods. His new book — Pocket Neighborhoods, Creating Small-Scale Community in a Large-Scale World— documents a surprisingly broad array of such developments across the USA, from urban neighborhoods to suburban and rural areas.
—USA TODAY
Superb and sublime — Ross Chapin has described the future of neighborhood-making with his book, Pocket Neighborhoods.
—CHARLES DURRETT, architect, author of Cohousing: A Contemporary Approach to Housing Ourselves
Ross Chapin and his development partners in the Pacific Northwest set the standards for beautifully designed and beautifully crafted cottage neighborhoods. Now comes Ross's long-awaited book explaining why and how these neighborhoods work. It's a manual for right-sizing community in America's 21st century.
—BEN BROWN, Principal, Placemakers
Ross Chapin's book, Pocket Neighborhoods, skillfully illustrates numerous success stories showing how to transform individual homes and gardens into a community. As homes get smaller, connection to the public realm has never been more important. This book is a great read for anyone looking for housing solutions that will stand the test of time.
—MARIANNE CUSATO, Designer of the Katrina Cottages & The New Economy Home
Ross Chapin is a master in understanding the importance of 'scale' in creating beautiful and humane communities. His new book is a profound manual of what works to create vibrant pocket communities—essential components of a sustainable future.
—JASON F. MCLENNAN, CEO Cascadia Green Building Council
My own instinct is that Ross’s work is just what our culture is hungering for right now—a viable way to make life vivid, personal and deeply satisfying, and a sustainable alternative to spread-out suburban sprawl.
—ROBERT WALSH, architect, educator
After 30 years as a building developer, I met Ross Chapin. His articulate guidance about how we live together permanently changed how I create places for people to live. With Pocket Neighborhoods, Ross shares his wisdom of how truly wonderful neighborhoods can and should be. This book has come none too soon for every one of us.
—MICHAEL MCKEEL, developer
Building a neighborhood is about having a vision and understanding how all the pieces and layers fit together. Skipping over a key detail or two is the difference between a subdivision and a neighborhood. Ross Chapin understands these details and his Pocket Neighborhoods book will give you that understanding too.
—M. CASEY LAND, developer

About the Author

Ross Chapin, AIA, is the principal of Ross Chapin Architects, located on Whidbey Island, north of Seattle. He has focused on “sensibly sized” custom residences, “pocket neighborhood” developments, and mixed-use projects since 1982. His partnerships with developers, city planners, and builders have created innovative housing and neighborhood prototypes that have received significant national attention and are shifting the way we think about our homes and communities. His projects have won numerous design awards, including the 2005, 2007, and 2009 AIA Housing awards, and have been published in Architectural Record, Builder magazine, The New York Times, Boston Globe, Fine Homebuilding, Metropolitan Home, This Old House, Sunset, and more than 25 books, including Creating the Not So Big House, Home By Design, Patterns of Home, The Good Green Home, The New Cottage Home, and Blueprint Small. Ross lectures on housing at conferences and universities throughout the country. Visit his website at www.rosschapin.com.

 

 

 


Product Details

  • Hardcover: 224 pages
  • Publisher: Taunton Press (March 29, 2011)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 160085107X
  • ISBN-13: 978-1600851070
  • Product Dimensions: 9 x 0.9 x 9.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #29,618 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

4.8 out of 5 stars
(20)
4.8 out of 5 stars
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
41 of 41 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Okay, first off, the disclaimer. I live in a Ross Chapin home in a neighborhood of Ross Chapin homes. My wife and I both had extensive conversations with Chapin during the design process. Does that make me biased? Or does it show that I appreciated the concepts that Chapin details in his terrific book before he fully articulated them in print? Probably both.

Ross Chapin is a thoughtful person who has spent decades considering how our homes, both individually and in aggregate, shape our interactions with our neighbors, with our stuff and with how we go about daily tasks. That's a long- winded way of saying that this book is about community.

How does having an inviting front porch affect your willingness and ability to interact with neighbors? We sat on our front porch this afternoon and had coffee. In 15 minutes we had three conversations with passers by. It's not just the fact that Chapin's houses all have front porches that makes this possible. He has considered the door placement in relation to the porch width. He has considered the construction and optimal height for the porch railings, so we can see out to the sidewalk. And so on and so on.

Each room in the house has been considered, it's relation to the other rooms, to the light from windows, to the flow of traffic, to the size and shape. But in this book, he's gone beyond the single dwelling to consider how homes work in relationship to each other to facilitate the creation of true neighborhoods, not just adjacent buildings inhabited by near strangers. And we don't get only Chapin's ideas in the book. He has done a lot of research about neighborhoods, examining what has worked in the past and why, as well as what hasn't worked and why not.
... Read more ›
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27 of 28 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Gorgeous April 2, 2011
By CRJ
Format:Hardcover
I give the book 5 Stars, with a caveat.

I have been interested in the Pocket Neighborhood (Ross Chapin) and Not So Big House (Susan Susanka) concepts for many years. I live in a moderately sized home in a conventional neighborhood in flyover country, but I would dearly love to downsize and move into a more community oriented area, urban/walkable or pocket neighborhood.

I just received the book a few days ago, and it is absolutely gorgeous and fascinating. It makes me want to live in a Chapin neighborhood all the more.

The caveat, these homes are incredibly expensive. So much so that I would never afford one, even though we're financially able. I still have not figured out what makes them worth $300-$400 or more per sqft. I know that's not at all expensive if you're coming from San Fran or even urban Seattle, but more than I would guess most Americans are used to. Again, I love the concept and everything about it, but seemingly at "eco-chic" prices.

So I will have to find a pocket neighborhood that doesn't know it's fashionable yet...
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21 of 21 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars The concept of home reinvented? March 21, 2011
Format:Hardcover
Pocket Neighborhoods, by Ross Chapin, is one of those books that just may well have the power to change the world, and change it for the better.

Currently our culture is struggling through the aftermath of the collapse of a housing bubble in which the goal of owning a home for many may now seem out of reach. The inspiring message of Pocket Neighborhoods is that smaller houses skillfully designed and efficiently grouped together around a public commons, in a setting where the automobile has been corralled and contained, has the potential to result in communities where life is better , more sustainable, more satisfying and yet also less expensive. It sounds amazing and it is amazing, yet the many projects used to illustrate this book, including several by the author, demonstrate that beyond all doubt, it really works.

This is a book that first drew me in through the gorgeous pictures and illustrations, which appear throughout. Then as I began to read the text I was intrigued by the story of how Ross Chapin rediscovered the concept of the Pocket Neighborhood in a much early project which he remembered visiting. While he describes several important precedents, it also becomes clear that Chapin has brought his own unique talent as a designer to his own efforts to build new Pocket Neighborhoods, giving them new life in the process.

A wide range of factors that play a role in the design and success of these projects are described in detail and in terms that make sometimes potentially challenging insights readily approachable. For example, keys to design describe the use of vegetation and other elements that Chapin uses to layer the spatial experience in these developments helping to explain how these compact developments end up feeling much larger.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Our Quest June 18, 2011
Format:Hardcover
Several years ago, my wife and I were charged with the task of helping her mother and father find a suitable place to downsize within their existing community. They had lived in their home for over 50 years and were looking for a smaller residence that offered safety and a true sense of community with other like-minded individuals. After a lengthy search nothing was to be found.

It is now several years later and we are now on the quest to find our own next place of residence. We currently live in a lovely area in the Central West End of St. Louis Missouri. While the location does provide us with a diverse selection of housing product, some even dated back to the 1904 World's Fair, we are unable to find what we are looking for. We have explored Senior Housing and Co-housing opportunities and other forms of communal living. At this point, nothing seems to fit the bill.

We came across Ross Chapin's book POCKET NEIGHBORHOODS, Creating Small-Scale Community in a Large-Scale World. After reading it from cover to cover and hardly being able to put it down, we realized that the concepts described in his book seemed to resonate with what we had been searching for. We found that Ross did a wonderful job of explaining the components needed to really create a strong living community. The sense of security and identity, the location and design of the homes and the overall utilization of space both inside and outside made total sense to us. We had been looking for these same common elements that we had experienced as children growing up. The reader can find example after example with plenty of pictures to help demonstrate his "Pocket Neighborhood" concepts. The book is a virtual tutorial on what we feel many individuals are yearning to have in their home.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars A great resouce tool for Architects and Non-Architects.
I am a practicing architect and live and work in Seattle. I've had the opportunity to see several of Ross Chapin's projects illustrated in this fine guide to pocket neighborhoods... Read more
Published 1 day ago by j ARCHITECT
5.0 out of 5 stars Am excited about the concept.
Retirement communities are similarly fashioned. In urban areas, it would create the village of community to raise children and grow old. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Linda Johnson
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Book on New Urbanism
Unlike most of the reader's here I currently do not and have never lived in a Chapin neighborhood. I am, however, a student who enjoyed this book for an entirely different reason... Read more
Published 4 months ago by hannahmh
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent reference book and a good read
Lots of valuable info for those who are wanting to learn more about life in these micro-communities, or who may be considering developing one and are looking for a way to get... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Paula Krause
5.0 out of 5 stars This book needed to be written
This book represents the state of the art in neighborhood planning. It is the neighborhood equivalent of THE NOT-SO-BIG HOUSE. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Nobleman
5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific Book!
Wonderful book!

I found it met my expectations per the description and was interesting to read. I enjoyed the photos.
Published 6 months ago by Robin C. Mace
5.0 out of 5 stars Pocket Neighborhoods
This is a great book, I hope all the city planners and architects out there are reading it. Pocket Neighborhoods are 12-15 cottages or homes located around a green courtyard area... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Pamela Wilder
3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, but has some issues.
The Good:
- The architect has created very desirable 900-1300sq ft. homes.
- The designs are straightforward and very nicely detailed. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Mark J McKevitz
5.0 out of 5 stars Pocket neighborhoods work, and here's how:
This book not only reviews the theory of "pocket neighborhoods" and why they're desireable, it also provies many real world examples. Read more
Published 19 months ago by M. J. Elmore
5.0 out of 5 stars Urban Planner/Traditional Architect Review
As an urban planner and traditional architect by trade, I have an affinity for the little cottage courts of the past. Read more
Published 23 months ago by J. Everett Schram
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