SOUTH BEND —They’re called pocket neighborhoods, a cluster of smaller homes over a shared common space to create more sense of a community. Thrive Michiana is considering bringing them to the area.

“A pocket neighborhood is a gathering of nearby neighbors,” said Ross Chapin, an architect and community planner from Seattle, Washington. “It’s a cluster of dwellings around some kind of shared commons, a pocket park rather than out to the street.”

Chapin has helped develop many pocket neighborhoods across the nation.

“In my own community I discovered that there could be another form of development that has homes gathered around these pocket gardens,” Chapin said. “We developed one and it was immensely successful.”

Thrive Michiana hosted the event.

“If we can empower enough people, we can begin to develop our own neighborhoods, rather than waiting for someone to come do it for us,” said Mike Keen, principal at Thrive Michiana. “Our idea was instead of having everyone out there not talking to one another, that we begin to know each other, that we begin to support each other, that we begin to share resources with each other.”

Representatives and developers across Michiana were in attendance.

“In these clusters and things that he talks about, he says each person that comes to the cluster adds in something that’s useful for the cluster, so there was a fire pit in one yard, there was a play yard in the other and a garage in the other and this like that,” said Jennifer Havard of Windingbrook. “I like the idea that everyone has something to bring with their space.”

One thing that concerned her was how to make the space usable all four seasons.

“Winter presents unique challenges because there are so many months where we withdraw into our homes so it’s hard to imagine a common living space being sometimes very useful during the harshness of our winters,” Havard said.

Others like the sustainability and security the pocket neighborhoods create.

“Safety,” said Mauricio Anon. “Having to know and live close by people, kind of like everyone looks after each other. I think there will be less consumed of things and more emphasis on people.”

“What is different, isn’t always bad,” said Myron Larimer, the Chief Executive Officer at Greater South Bend Mishawaka Association of Realtors. “There really is more of a dependency upon your neighbors, bringing people closer together sharing more common spaces, being more reliant upon each other so it does build the relationships.”

The homes would be smaller and only in groups of about eight to 12 around one cluster. They might range anywhere from 250 to 2,000 square feet.

Thrive Michiana will start a few projects this summer, but they would like to really start building these types of communities in Michiana by next summer.

For more information on pocket neighborhoods, please follow this link:
http://pocket-neighborhoods.net/index.html