Can Courtyard Blocks Make Cities More Family Friendly?
This article was originally published, in slightly different form, in the Chicago Tribune. It is shared here with permission. The in-line image was provided by the author.
An example of apartment buildings built around a central courtyard. (Original image via Kansas Sebastian on Flickr.)
How do we stop the alarming flight of young Chicago families to the suburbs? By building European-style courtyard blocks — starting with the U.S. Postal Service site in the 2500 block of West Lawrence Avenue.
A recent analysis of census data shows that the number of young families in large urban metros is in a free fall, with the under-age-5 population falling by 15% in Cook County since 2020, according to the Economic Innovation Group. Yes, some of the decline is due to lower fertility since 2020. However, birth rates in urban counties are declining at twice the rate that they are in rural counties. In the famously family-friendly Lincoln Square neighborhood of Chicago, between 2010 and 2022, the under-5 population fell by more than 1,300, despite gains in total population and housing units. Why are cities losing children?
The increasing costs of single-family homes are outpacing the increase in other housing types, suggesting that an unmet demand for family-sized housing in the city is pushing young millennials to the suburbs. Without abundant family-sized housing, cities cannot compete with the suburbs, which seemingly can easily expand to accommodate growing families and their tax dollars. This is a problem for families, which lose access to the conveniences and opportunities that are concentrated in cities. It is also a problem for Chicago, which loses these families’ spending power, productivity and tax dollars, as well as its connection to the members of the next generation of citizens who will grow up in the suburbs, alienated from urban culture and values.
To compete with the suburbs, American cities should try an urban typology that has kept families in European city centers for millennia. With traditional courtyard urbanism, wall-to-wall buildings frame a city block so that the interior courtyard is closed off from the streets. The buildings are midrise, usually four to six stories tall and built to the property line. Because the buildings are high and wall-to-wall, the interior courtyards are safe and sound-insulated. Courtyard blocks are ideal for families because they provide residents convenient access to a car-free green space where children can play safely.
Families also benefit from the walkability that arises from dense and mixed-use courtyard urbanism. The parent who needs to pick up groceries, a coffee, an antibiotic for a sick child or a six-pack can run down the stairs to the bodega, pharmacy and cafe on the ground floor. By collocating business and residential life, courtyard block neighborhoods are the most walkable and least car-dependent urban areas. They are also the greenest: Their walkability and density lead to greater energy efficiency and lower per-capita carbon emissions when compared with mono-zoned, car-dependent areas.
President Joe Biden’s administration called on federal agencies, including the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), to repurpose federal property for housing where appropriate in the July housing statement. The 2500 block of West Lawrence, where a single-story 1979 USPS office currently sits with abundant surface parking, is an ideal site to show a “proof of concept” for repurposing government land as courtyard blocks. In this plan, the 160-by-270-foot site would become a five-story courtyard block with a downsized USPS office tucked into the ground floor commercial space and parking deck. The courtyard and first through fourth floors would sit on top of the parking. With parking, the USPS office and other retail on the ground floor and assuming that 5% of the building space in the first four floors will go to utilities, the remaining space could allow for 25 jumbo units (3,000 square feet), 20 medium units (2,000 square feet) and 10 small units (1,000 square feet).
The U.S. Post Office and parking lot in the 2500 block of West Lawrence Avenue in Chicago, shown Aug. 13, 2024, could be repurposed as a courtyard block. (Credit: Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune.)
A courtyard block on this stretch of Lawrence would transform the neighborhood and potentially serve as a model for Chicago and North America on how to do green, family-friendly density in our cities. This plan would increase the number of housing units from none to 55. It would add 45 family-sized units to the neighborhood in the form of spacious condos that provide access to safe green space in the courtyard interior. It would offer great potential for affordable housing in the smaller units. It would reduce car dependency in Lincoln Square. It would eliminate an industrial-looking USPS eyesore on Lawrence, and it would increase property tax revenue.
Finally, this courtyard block proposal has its roots in community-driven planning and development. Recently, members of the Greater Rockwell Organization voted to support this plan and planned to present it to the office of our local representative. We hope that he will give his enthusiastic support to this new “courtyard in my backyard” or “CIMBY” project.
To learn more about creating family-friendly neighborhoods, join us on October 10 for this Local-Motive session: “Creating Neighborhoods for People of All Ages.”
Alicia Pederson, Ph.D, is a member of the Greater Rockwell Organization’s Urban Planning & Development Committee, Strong Towns Chicago, and Urban Environmentalists. She is the mother of three children enrolled in a Lincoln Square elementary school.
