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

Ross Chapin (Author), Sarah Susanka (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: 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.
 

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 (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #78,544 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #28 in Books > Professional & Technical > Architecture > Sustainability & Green Design
  • #48 in Books > Professional & Technical > Architecture > Urban & Land Use Planning

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 38 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant thoughts on community living and architecture March 25, 2011

By Michael McKee TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

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 (hint: not solid) and optimal height for the porch railings. 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. The result is a thoughtful and well considered exploration of pocket neighborhoods.

BTW, a pocket neighborhood has a common green space shared by the community, a common building for connecting in, modestly sized homes that don't give garages pride of placement. As I've mentioned, the homes have front porches that face the community, not just weather coverings for the front door but real porches that encourage sitting down and sharing a word or a drink with neighbors. I can't say whether all of Chapin's neighborhoods work as well as ours does, but I feel more sense of community now than I ever have in a city.

26 of 27 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...

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The concept of home reinvented? March 21, 2011

By Robert Walsh, Architect

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. Additional design keys explain how to incorporate porches large enough to function as rooms, and efficient layout of the building interiors, and much more. By the end of the book I felt like I had gained insight not just into how these places work, but also how to make a new Pocket Neighborhood.

Some of the examples featured are projects Chapin has designed and built, while additional projects produced by others are also well represented, helping to further develop the concept of the Pocket Neighborhood. Some readers may find the comparison to Co-Housing helpful, while others may be intrigued by several projects that reorganize existing suburban spaces to improve a neighborhood. Also shown are a variety of projects where a group of moderate size homes have been brought together to result in a neighborhood that is more than the sum of the parts. Collectively, these numerous examples demonstrate that this concept has a broad relevance that could result in comfortable appealing living environments in many different sorts of communities.

The book conveys a sense that good design is ultimately about shaping places for people and many of the pictures include people going about the ordinary business of living in these wonderful places. Unlike many architectural publications, where places are photographed empty of people, the presence of people in these images seems to suggest that these are not pristine sculptural objects to be admired from afar, but instead are places that are meant to be inhabited and lived in to be fully successful. The inclusion of people also helps to illustrate how the compact scale of many of these projects actually seems to be an advantage.

As a vision of community that could replace suburban sprawl with something more affordable, compact, sustainable and wonderfully appealing, Pocket Neighborhoods have the potential to expand the range of housing options available to people today, at a time when just such options are really needed. This book does an excellent job of explaining why Pocket Neighborhood projects are successful, as well as some of the obstacles that can be encountered in an effort to realize them. Beyond presenting the Pocket Neighborhood concept, Ross Chapin also offers an abundance of useful insight into details of design and layout needed to really get one of these projects to work. After reading this book I cannot help feeling that I want to live in one of these vividly livable neighborhoods, and that somehow this book may help make this dream possible. I hope that it is the start of a larger trend.