Essential Traits Of A Great Neighbourhood
Recently I went through an article on MSN Real Estate. I remember Melinda Fulmer writing it and it talked about what makes a great neighbourhood. It was kind of hard for me to disagree with anything that Fulmer wrote. Many factors play a role in making a great neighbourhood- cafe culture, proximity of amenities, plenty of areas thriving with community interaction and so on. Go through the piece in your leisure time, I bet it won’t disappoint you.
People make neighbourhoods
More than developers, its people who make a place, says Fulmer. A mad collective rush of floating consciousness combining at the right time at the right place and there you go; a community is formed out of thin air. Such communities give birth to terrific neighbourhoods. You have got me hooked there Fulmer.
Small acts of love can be breeding ground for community culture
Come to think of it, what does it take after all? Someone puts in a bench out on the street adjacent to his house, someone else puts up a coffee machine and soon you have an interactive hub ready to breathe out love and warmth.
Artists can revitalise neighbourhoods
Artists can revive places, dead places really. A bunch of them starting with an old-as-Adam warehouse and infusing a burst of colour in it…small beginnings really….opening a gallery, a small parlour and soon enough people begin to join in, contribute to it, and make it a place worthy of meeting in leisure hours; one that is very high on community value.
Various places of community value
Best neighbourhoods are those which are flushed with places like post offices, cafe houses, and sidewalks- in short, areas where two people can connect freely and lovingly under the sun.
Transport routes
Yes, great neighbourhoods are also most likely to be close to major transport routes. They are good with high paying jobs. Sprinkle in a few nice schools, hospitals and churches and you get the recipe.
Walkable neighbourhoods
Walkable neighbourhood is the manta today. And why would people choose to walk? Of course they will if you put up magnets like windows at eye level (flushed with visual artillery), outdoor lighting, bough of trees, fountains and clock towers. You couldn’t have nailed it better Fulmer.
You can read the original article here.
The man-environment fit
I personally vouch for man-environment fit and the concept is not restricted to our homes, it is true for our neighbourhoods too. Neighbourhoods should be such which automatically run in sync with the people who inhabit it.
Such person-environment fit works on a conscious level initially but soon it shifts to an involuntary, sub-conscious plane (just like the act of breathing). Such neighbourhoods do not subtract from but add to the intrinsic value of each person who resides in them.
What according to you is the pulse of a great neighbourhood?
