Why suburban design doesn’t work for urban infill

Spring is the time when cities in the Midwest start to come alive. When the blooms start to pop, so do the people. My family and I like to get out a couple of times a week throughout the year walking up to one of our favorite restaurants on our local commercial node, or just meandering around the blocks of our historic neighborhood. This time of year it’s great seeing everybody sitting on their porches having a beer, waving as we walk by, and just catching up after hibernating through the winter.

I live in a part of Kansas City that is a popular growing urban area built at the turn of the 19th to 20th century. Many of our residential buildings have a large front porch, garage in the back, and are built with locally-sourced materials, like stone from the old quarry that is now a park down the street, and brick made on site. Our city has a unique multi-family residential design called Colonnades (or Cowboy Hotels), and I often see many renters in our neighborhood sitting on their porches on our walks.

What I’ve noticed with a lot of infill lately is that suburban design does not work well in an urban area. I’m not just talking about modern, boxy architecture with modern cladding that doesn’t fit with the character of a neighborhood. No, I’m referring to elements of the design that don’t just look unappealing, but don’t function within the urban environment.

Suburban Infill Example

Gone is the place where people can hang out, wave to their neighbors, keep their eyes on the streets to help deter crime-now replaced with a place in which to store a vehicle.

For example, some of these houses were built in the last couple of years. They sell for more than $1 million when in the last few years a home on that land would’ve sold for less than $400,000. Most of the time the smaller, more affordable bungalows were demolished to make away for these structures. A lot of families I work with as a real estate agent tell me they love the diversity of the neighborhoods, and accessibility of the midwest’s housing market. It is slowly being destroyed in order for some to make a quick buck.

The one thing I’ve noticed with the design of these buildings is not that it’s a modern box, not that it takes up most of the parcel’s square footage, but that what would have been a welcoming front porch has turned into a garage. Gone is the place where people can hang out, wave to their neighbors, keep their eyes on the streets to help deter crime-now replaced with a place in which to store a vehicle. This suburban-style of architecture that encourages people to pull in the garage, shut the door and stay within their four walls destroys the historic community of neighborhoods. I believe this is indicative of a larger trend nationwide—people are forgetting that we have to live together in communities in order to function as a society. 

#nailedit

You see the boxy modern architecture, but this house was built with a sensitivity toward what makes our neighborhood strong—a front porch, and the ability for the owners to be a part of the community without having to leave their house.

Take a look at this infill house in my neighborhood. You see the boxy modern architecture, but this house was built with a sensitivity toward what makes our neighborhood strong—a front porch, and the ability for the owners to be a part of the community without having to leave their house.

There have been multiple proposed infill developments in my neighborhood that replicate what mistakes have been made in suburban environments. Unfortunately, as a growing area, we are an easy target for outside money coming in without much thought to how their actions will affect our areas. 

Recently, a proposed apartment building would have underground parking, no street facing commercial store frontage on a highly walked and transit-oriented district, and would rent at a price point that many people cannot afford. This type of short-sighted design contributes to the degradation of why our area has been so popular over the last decade or so. It encourages people to pull into the garage, shut the door, go to their apartments and stay there. If this building had been designed with balconies on the front and commercial space on the first floor, maybe it would entice residents to go downstairs and interact with the community. Maybe the residents wouldn’t stay for a year while finishing up a program at the local teaching hospital, but they would feel as if they fit into the fabric of our community and plant their own roots there as the next generation of our community.

As our area continues to grow, my hope is that our local developers take into consideration design that helps to build community, respect the historic nature of our neighborhoods, and respects the lifestyle of its residents.