The end of the private back garden? AIBU to think this is a crap idea?

[2beesornot2beesthatisthehoney]

www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/architects-hope-to-tear-down-garden-fences-of-englands-future-homes/ar-BB18huJd

Reported in the Guardian this morning. The shortlist of developers drawn up to attempt solve our housing crisis by new design
includes the idea of communal back gardens that have to be booked in advance to use privately!

Oh yes I can see that going down really well on Mumsnet future AIBU

"My next door neighbour overstayed their time"
"I hate sharing and want peace and quiet"
"Cynthia has just repotted all my begonias"
"Can I put a swing up in the communal garden, the neighbours are complaining"

AIBU to think that this is just a really crap idea?

This is possibly a bit outing but I live in a private street that was a bit of an architectural prototype of the 80s. From the front it is a normal road of 3 storey townhouses. The street itself is laid out in a rounded W shape and but at the back each house has its own small courtyard garden backing on to a much larger communal "meadow". There's a few flats which open out directly onto the meadow too.

It actually works really well. I don't think it would be nice without that private area though.

Do you want your house to sell for the price of a flat? Because this is how you get your house to sell for the price of a flat.

I think it would be good for children. So easy to meet up with friends.

Most architects are men. Go figure.

I think it’s not a terrible idea. People who live on many squares in London or New York have access to a shared garden in the square and it has worked for 100-200 years. I’d rather have a smaller place next to Hyde Park, say, than a pokey garden out in the suburbs.

@Meatshake

This is possibly a bit outing but I live in a private street that was a bit of an architectural prototype of the 80s. From the front it is a normal road of 3 storey townhouses. The street itself is laid out in a rounded W shape and but at the back each house has its own small courtyard garden backing on to a much larger communal "meadow". There's a few flats which open out directly onto the meadow too.

It actually works really well. I don't think it would be nice without that private area though.

Also might be outing but a relative lives on a similar development, where each house or flat has its own small garden, and there is also a community orchard for everyone on the development to share. It's gorgeous, offering the best of both worlds.

Where I live now I have a square of land with a picket fence only big enough for a rotary washing line. Each flat has one but according to some people who have lived here longer than me it used to be a communal area but the housing association sectioned it out because of all the arguing about between residents about how it should be used. You can tell it used to be communal due to the fact between all the squares is a little children's play area.

I can't say I ever use my square as it has no privacy and there really is no space to do much in it. I did try putting plants in it but they got trashed by the kids who seem to think they are allowed in anyone's plot. So now I just make sure the grass is tidy and leave it at that.

I'd never buy a property with a shared garden.

I honestly couldn’t cope in a property like that.
Gardening is one of the few things that gives me genuine joy in my life, I would be so, so depressed without a private garden.
It’s an absolute necessity for me.
I am not at all social, my garden is surrounded by fences and plants blocking everyone out and that is exactly how I like it.

Architects are responsible for the failure of tower blocks by designing unfriendly dark spaces with bad access

And yet those same tower blocks with money spent on them become exclusive city apartments. It is not the fault of the architect if developers cut corners on the build and the maintenance (like for instance, removing windowing from corridors, removing additional lift shafts etc).

We have a completition looking for ideas, one of out six of those ideas has, on the face of it, quite a small shared space. OTOH millions of people live in accommodation with no outside space currently.

On the basis of one out of six suggestions not having a large outside space we have gone full DM and declared "the end of the privagte garden". Talk about over dramatising.

One of my first flats had this set up.

Eight flats in a block, four at ground level and four above. The communal gardens, front and back, were monopolised by the biggest, loudest people, namely men, who would utilise them, sit in them, let their dog shit on them, play music and cook food on them but do none of the required maintenance. It was the same with the monopoly of the common areas and parking spaces.

It may well work in leafy Kensington or Chelsea but not a chance in Crewe or Oldham.

@Borderstotheleftofme

I honestly couldn’t cope in a property like that. Gardening is one of the few things that gives me genuine joy in my life, I would be so, so depressed without a private garden. It’s an absolute necessity for me. I am not at all social, my garden is surrounded by fences and plants blocking everyone out and that is exactly how I like it.

Exactly.

The effect on mental health would be awful.

Give me gates, tall trees and hedges please.

Not read the whole thread, but a few posters have pointed out that Architects don't live in their designs.

I've visited Frederick Gibberd's Garden a few times. He of Liverpool Cathedral, Heathrow Airport and various concrete inspired urban planning schemes.

The Garden is beautiful, lots of sculptures and creative lines of planting to take your eye to the next section. It couldn't be further removed from what he expected other people to live in.

So a summary of the thread so far.

A couple of dozen homes with their own small garden surrounding an acre or two of open space = good.

4 homes around a small typical averaged sized garden with no personal space = bad.

Which one of these two ideas is being proposed - the latter - say no more! Common sense prevails on this thread. But let's see how much money is spent, how many professionals make a financial killing and how many years people have to live in misery before the "experts" decide it was a bad idea?

I love my shared garden. It’s massive. Enclosed so safe for young kids. About 15 houses share it. We have our own terraces also. We garden around the edges a bit (some more than others). There’s cats, dogs, kids. Kids best mates with their neighbours. Sharing childcare is great. (Covid made this complicated). Never been such good friends with neighbours before. Some people keep to themselves

It’s big though you could split it into individual gardens if you wanted. More like a mini park

Im sociable and loads of people would hate it. Horses for courses

Booking time sounds completely against the point of it....

I think I’d probably want to move when kids are older. It makes life with young kids dreamy (tho loud), not having to arrange play dates etc
Almost like a safe version of when kids used to play in the street free range

It was the Guardian who titled the news about this the end of the private garden, not the Daily Mail.

@squid4

I love my shared garden. It’s massive. Enclosed so safe for young kids. About 15 houses share it. We have our own terraces also. We garden around the edges a bit (some more than others). There’s cats, dogs, kids. Kids best mates with their neighbours. Sharing childcare is great. (Covid made this complicated). Never been such good friends with neighbours before. Some people keep to themselves

It’s big though you could split it into individual gardens if you wanted. More like a mini park

Im sociable and loads of people would hate it. Horses for courses

Booking time sounds completely against the point of it....

I think you're missing the point that the proposals aren't for huge spaces shared by large numbers of houses. They're for, say, a cluster of 4 houses sharing the space of a small typical garden. So completely different from your situation.

I know that homes with shared driveways can cause problems and I even knew one family who got their daughter to buy the house next door to them in order to resolve it!
A shared garden would not work in many places as people won't follow the rules or guidelines. I couldn't think of anything worse than this set up especially for new homes as they tend to be more expensive so people would expect their own bit of garden with a fence around it.

Everyone saying it's great for kids - they can play with their friends, etc etc... what if the kids don't get on with the neighbour's kids? Suppose you are the parent of a child who is bullied by local children? Surely then a shared outdoor space is more of a torture chamber than a garden and unusable?

Or you look forward to your toddler being able to play on the grass but then dog owners move in and use the space as a toilet.

The couple of dog owners in the flats around our shared grass are pretty considerate and I've only had to pick up after someone once, but the grass is a patchwork of scorched pee marks which turn to slime when it rains.

Will dog owners allow pets to foul in the communal space?
Even if they pick it up, the residue can still be fatal if it gets into a graze or cut.
Mothers will not like that.

I'm not sure about the 'booking' idea, but communal gardens are common enough on council estates - we have them - and in squares, and apartment blocks. So long as you know what you're getting in to, I don't see the problem.

Its not that they are proposing to take away the gardens from existing houses!!

What if your neighbours are nudists?

If it rains when it's your turn on the rota...too bad.
You won't be able to plant your favourite flowers or have a veggie patch unless you don't mind others cutting the flowers for their 'mam's' grave or stealing your veg, strawberries and tomatoes from their pots.