Where Will the 4-Year-Old Kick the Ball?
A Reflection on A Pattern Language
I wasn’t trained to design neighborhoods.
I don’t have a degree in urban planning or architecture.
What I had was a deep disenchantment with how this world was being built—and a deeper hope that it could be built better.
By better, I don’t mean more profitable. I don’t mean more efficient. I mean more humane.
Years ago, when I was sketching my first small home community in Durham’s Walltown neighborhood, I was flying blind in a sense. Just intuition. Vibes only. Drawing what I felt a small neighborhood could be. Small homes clustered together. Shared spaces. Gardens. A place where people could belong.
I reached out to Ross Chapin—a builder and designer whose pocket neighborhood work had inspired me, and many others, and asked if he could help shape the site plan.
He wrote back:
"Whatever you design, imagine yourself in the space. And …
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