Pocket Neighborhoods and Microvillages

 Pocket neighborhoods were one of the seed ideas that developed into the microvillage design. Ross Chapin, architect and designer, coined the term in the mid-nineties. If this term is new to you, you can find out a wealth of information on his website.

​He's also written a book, Pocket Neighborhoods: Creating Small-Scale Community in a Large-Scale World.

​

 But essentially it is a neighborhood design that nestles houses together around semi-private courtyard or garden space in order to increase community

​ Microvillages and pocket neighborhoods share many common traits: removing the primacy of the car, increasing community interaction, common green spaces, prioritizing privacy, and creating intentional and secluded neighborhoods. They part ways in matters of scale, density, accessibility, and the integration of residential and small business spaces.

The pocket neighborhood has a max capacity of 8-12 homes. Beyond this multiple clusters can be designed to pocket near one another but they are more or less distinct from each other. The microvillage could be a pocket neighborhood, or it could become very close to being its own village. Larger microvillages may be made up of smaller clusters, but still are united by one central village green.

---

 Microvillages prioritize agricultural spaces and sustainable capacities when possible. Pocket neighborhoods are denser neighborhoods with heightened design considerations to maintain privacy (I.e. north facing walls have windows and south facing have high windows and/or skylights so the houses can be clustered very closely).

​Pocket neighborhoods frequently have parking spaces away from residences while the microvillage is based off an inverted cul-de-sac. (Houses are clustered around a common green rather than a paved circle or street) Every house has road access, it is just on the exterior of the neighborhood instead of the center. 

 The microvillage is like a tiny village, and some designs include clustered areas for small businesses. There would never be a Walmart, but there may be a row of shopfronts. There might be a grocer, a library, and a laundromat, a cafe, and a bed and breakfast. Whereas the pocket neighborhood is strictly a residential "neighborhood within a neighborhood." ​

​Microvillages and pocket neighborhoods are both exciting and novel improvements on the traditional neighborhood model of the past century. They both hearken back to neighborhood arrangements of previous eras (more on this to follow!) and at the same time, push forward and help us to consider, how might our spaces be better organized to serve the people who live there?