life in a small space

occasionally adam and i have a discussion about the number of people we could reasonably expect to live in our house...no, we're not expecting twins or family moving in, but ever since we bought a townhouse instead of a single family home, we've had to rethink our ideas about living space.

people have interesting reactions to our home, anything ranging from amazement that we can comfortably live with three people inside such a (shockingly!) small space (1860 sq. ft), to asking us when we plan to purchase a "real home." (we still know people who call our house an apartment and seem to imply that an apartment is not a "real home." another issue, another day). i recently had a conversation with another mom who told me she can't imagine her family living in a townhouse much longer because her two girls need to have their own bedrooms (for privacy) and a bigger backyard.

i thought about this a bit and reflected on a book i read during my semester in chicago - sidewalks in the kingdom (eric jacobsen). the book focuses on christianity as it relates to new urbanism, a movement dedicated to creating compact and sustainable living environments. new urbanist communities are meant to be an alternative to suburban sprawl, with pedestrian friendly design (a 10 minute walk to everything you need), a well designed street grid, mixed use housing and zoning (creating diversity), high quality architecture, and traditional neighborhoods (a discernible city center with public space, among other things). an example for those familiar with fort collins-rigden farms is designed to be a new urbanist neighborhood.

space and community are interesting concepts to consider from a christian perspective. as jacobsen points out, it can be difficult for us to live in christian community when we are overly concerned about keeping our fences high enough for privacy and searching for our country acreages far away from people who might bother us. we'd hate to be forced to ask our neighbors to turn their music down, so instead of working out our differences, we use space to avoid confrontation. we spend huge amounts of time in the car on our way to the grocery store and work. certainly, getting to know your neighbors is more possible when you can run to the grocery store, bike to work, walk to church and barbeque with friends all within the same neighborhood.

i think my friend might miss some learning opportunities when she moves her girls to a bigger home. i admit, there are many days when i wish we had a yard and a couple extra bedrooms for visitors. but when people come to stay we are forced to trip over them on air mattresses in our living room and basement- and you know what? we always have fun. and we have a pretty sweet park within walking distance of our house.

i can't quote sidewalks because i lent my copy to a friend, but i'm only touching on a few things in the book. it's a good read, and you might find it a bit provocative...but it's not meant to be a bash on small towns and rural life. community building is definitely a worthwhile and biblical pursuit, regardless of whether you live in small town iowa or new york city. and for those who wonder when we will buy a "real home-" i'm looking outside this morning and missing the neighbors in our old apartment- i used to cross the hall in my slippers and invite the neighbor for a cup of coffee. and we used to have great summer barbeques...