A porch is more than a porch
from The Ottawa Citizen, 2008-02-21
The carefully restored cream, green and gold front porches at 208-212 Bolton St. in the ByWard Market are pretty and obviously well-crafted. But, in the scheme of things, the restoration project that recently won a City of Ottawa architectural conservation award might seem a modest design contribution to the life of the city.
Think again.
Front porches have an impact on streets, neighbourhoods and the way people live in communities that is out of proportion to their size. Perhaps that is why the city chose to honour the restoration of the three porches on the Victorian row house: It is an excellent way to highlight what good design and urban planning can do — improve our lives.
Front porches have been the focus of a great deal of attention in recent decades because of what they do right and, by extension, what some porchless developments do wrong.
Jane Jacobs, the renowned urban critic and author who moved to Toronto in 1968, called front porches a neighbourhood's "eyes on the street." Ms. Jacobs, whose book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, launched a revolution in the way people view urban design, spent many hours on her own front porch in Toronto's Annex neighbourhood, observing street life, talking to neighbours and learning more about the ecology of a healthy street.
What's so great about some slats of wood, a couple of pillars and a roof on the front of a house?
People tend to congregate on the porch, where it is cool in hot weather and where there is always something to watch. Porches make it easier for neighbours to talk to neighbours and for children to meet other children on the street. And when people sit in front of their houses, they attract even more neighbours. This social interaction is the glue that helps build and strengthen neighbourhoods.
Front porches went out of vogue after the Second World War as suburbs grew, and the backyard became the modern outdoor room. Suburbs were designed with cars, not strolling neighbours, in mind.
The value of porches was not always obvious. In the 1980s a community was built in northern Florida called Seaside based on a concept later known as New Urbanism. It had businesses, parks and schools located near homes to encourage walking. Front porches were mandatory to reduce reliance on air conditioning. But the community's developers discovered they had other benefits — they brought neighbours together and helped cement a sense of community.
Ottawa is not northern Florida, of course. Porch sitting here is limited to the fleeting warm and bugless months. But at a time when smart growth is a buzzword that many approve of in principle but few can define, porches stand as cheerful reminders of how design can help create healthy communities.