Posts by BenWilson
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I did actually watch the end, but it's all gone blank in my mind.
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Southerly: Village People, in reply to James Green,
I don't entirely disagree with thinking about attachment to the land, but how do you explain the strongly held (at least in district plans) attachment to entirely detached dwellings, even at the point that this frequently means a pointless an unusable strip of land between houses that is home to a fence and not much more?
I don't disagree with it either, I'm a suburbanite myself, who likes a garden and lawn. There's definitely wasted space here, though.
Merc is onto it, probably the only real justification for the gaps is lawnmowers, and wouldn't even be needed if there were no lawns at the front. Even when they are needed, they're not needed on all sides - it's perfectly enough to have only one gap like that every two houses.
My place doesn't have it - whoever conceived of this little development in the 70s (my parents remember my exact location being orchards and market gardens before that), built 4 houses in a row identically, but all placed diagonally on the sections. So we're all north facing, and have odd shaped front and back areas that are triangular. This means also that the north side becomes the backyard space, so each house doesn't really interfere at the back with the privacy of the next - the south sides are car-parking, access, and "pretty" gardens, whereas the back gardens are "edible".
The front area is a big unused lawn. Maybe when the kids get older. I discovered a completely unused triangular jungle that I've turned into the much needed sequestration area - the sheer biomass I was dealing with during summer is ridiculous - I had professional gardeners come in and take away an entire skip, and there was still a lot more to deal with.
Most of my interactions with neighbors have been when using the front space - low fences and clear visibility encourage it.
Things could definitely be organized better, even with this level of people per hectare.
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Southerly: Village People, in reply to Kumara Republic,
In NZ’s case, I wonder if it’s a lingering hangover from Wakefield’s New Zealand Company, escaping the crowded squalor as Charles Dickens wrote of.
That's a looong hangover. I think the mythology of escape from overcrowding has persisted, though. As if the poverty of Dickens' time were a function of overcrowding alone, rather than just an uncaring society, which can create squalor no matter what the level of crowding.
I'd say it's more this deep attachment that so many NZers feel to owning land, meaning the actual ground under it. Given my ancestors were Irish and Scots, the idea of being able to work one's plot is deeply built in, as a response to depression and famine. A society with strong agrarian roots, both Pakeha and Maori alike. Our strongest industries are still rural.
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Up Front: One, Redux, in reply to Hebe,
I have found that I still can't predict that -- am I totally unself-disciplined or just human?
I'm going with human.
Edit: There are no rules for how many shocks a person can take.
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Southerly: Village People, in reply to JLM,
I guess my ideal would be something like this and the developers' triumphalism at seemingly winning the density battle in the Auckland spatial plan worries me as a sign of things to come in Christchurch.
It does. What's up with "high rise hell"? I can't actually see anything inherently wrong with high rise living at all - it suits a lot of people. Actually, even low rise would be an improvement on what we have in Auckland - high rise, then one story suburbs. There's some really weird refusal to allow a variety of living styles to co-exist in this city. I really enjoyed living in a low-rise condominium style set up in Melbourne - it's perfect for young people who don't really need much personal space at all, so long as there is plenty of common space. It's something I missed out on totally at University age, to live in a dormitory style set up - perfect if you're spending practically every waking moment either studying, or with friends. But in NZ this considered to be slumming. Our social attitudes seem to lag behind our reality by about 30 years at all times.
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Southerly: Village People, in reply to JLM,
I worry that it's easier to go and find your own little cave these days, than to learn to co-exist with your close neighbour.
It sure is, these days. I'd love a pocket neighborhood on my street - there's so many kids here, but no really viable place to just hang around, where neighborhood kids are likely to congregate. We'd have to go over to invite them round to our place, and vice versa, which sets up reciprocation expectations that people naturally shy away from. The common space eliminates that, because it's a space you don't have to ask anyone if you can use, and people will just flock there by themselves. But in between all of us is a road, lined with parked cars. It's not safe for children to be on, and my house isn't oriented to look towards it anyway - it's pointed towards the private space at the back.
This is OK for very small children, it's totally fenced off and extensive - I'm happy to let my kids play alone in the back yard. But to meet other children, something my 6 year old needs, I have to organize it, and supervise it. This means it's usually done with pre-existing friends who come over, rather than happening spontaneously with such kids as might form friendships with each other.
There's a park at the end of the street, which is a dead-end. But it's hardly ever got anyone in it. It borders on being creepy, with a small forest, and high fences, so there is no one looking into it. I would not send my children there alone. One of the properties adjacent keeps a vicious looking and sounding dog, which I expect could tear a small child limb from limb, and acts like it wants to every time anyone is in the park. Life in the 'burbs.
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Southerly: Village People, in reply to Russell Brown,
For various reasons, I'm a bit of a mess today, but that image has cheered me right up.
Me too, on both counts.
Edit: The child in the street on a scooter, particularly. When I was little, that was how we met most of the local kids. Seems like some of those "Traffic/pedestrian shared zone" signs could make the communal space between all of the houses into a perfect excuse for adult interaction too.
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Happy Birthday David. Thank you for your stories, when you've had time to give them. They're always strangely cheering, even when they're full of bad news. It's real life, the bitter with the sweet.
In the long run, I doubt excessive hugging during this time will be held against you.
Nor will your attention to your own affairs over those of people who have suffered more. Do not feel guilty about this. I know this advice is futile, from personal experience. But humans can only take so much grief and remain functional. You have remained extraordinarily functional. This is what the people closest to you needed the most.
Keep us up to date with what Linwood Park is like. There won't be too many chances to see a community like that up close.
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Up Front: One, Redux, in reply to Ross Mason,
It's enough to speak only of your situation, Emma. The patchwork of stories is better, in many ways, than executive summaries. The fragmented image parallels the fragmented city. Interesting insight that it makes you feel more naked, to lose the "we". So true.
It was a shattering blow to the nation, too. I remember talking remotely to American colleagues not long after, who were of course highly sympathetic, but did not really seem to credit what the quakes meant to this place. A city the size of Christchurch sliding into the sea would hardly show up on the American economic indicators. In NZ, it's like losing a leg. Or a close family member. Or more like them having a stroke, from which they come home to slowly recover under the inexpert care of family.
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Even in the local home of light rail, Melbourne, they do not put trams along the beach road. It's not really the place for them. They need wide roads, and lots of traffic lights. The do also spoil the outlook with overhead cabling a lot.
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