We might take it for granted now, but the garage wasn’t always at the front of the house. Of course, before there were cars, there were no garages, but even with the advent of cars, it was not always the case that we had a front-facing garage. They were often detached, or cars were parked in an alley. Either way, garages weren’t always a ubiquitous feature of a typical suburban house. 

Garages aren’t pretty: they’re boxy, disruptive and probably the ugliest feature of the facade of the house that people might see from the street. So why are they always there? Garages are tolerated because we value other things more, like the ease of being able to drive right out of our house to our job, and then drive right back in when the work day is over. Perhaps what’s more important is what the garage effectively replaced: the porch. The porch was a place to socialize, meet neighbors, watch the kids play and be present outside. Nowadays, many homes instead have it secluded in the back in the form of a deck. 

The replacement of the porch with the garage is just one small example demonstrating how our built environment is a reflection of our priorities and shapes the way we live. By that principle, we can intentionally shape the way we live by building with certain values in mind. This has always been the case, but we often let the powerful currents of other ambiguous or negative values like capitalism and racism dictate how we construct our society. Yet we fail to be equally radical or purposeful when building in pursuit of the virtues in life. 

If we build intentionally rather than aimlessly, we should build with the fostering of community in mind. It seems rather obvious to build around community, but as the garage example demonstrates, that’s not necessarily how things actually play out. Often when we clamor for more housing, the goal is density or quality. These are all good things, but we should think about more than just how many units we can put in this new development, or which neighborhood we would upzone. What might it look like to construct an environment that builds community? 

The solutions are fairly well-known. Build housing around parks with playgrounds, fields and community gardens. In high-rises, you can reserve every few floors for recreational space if there are clubs and associations that people want to form in that community. The first few floors can be reserved for businesses, the best being small or local businesses. Streets should become a communal space that’s actually useful for interaction between humans rather than mostly cars.  

Some of these rather obvious ideas have already been vaguely implemented in cities, but these examples should only serve as the starting point. There are many subtler methods too. In Singapore, residents are sometimes able to choose the paint color of their building , which can allow residents to feel more invested in their community and its upkeep. 

There are many methods to go about building intentionally with community in mind that can’t all be discussed here, and every place will require different solutions. Nevertheless, we should always construct our society with the porch in front, so to speak, rather than in the back. 

Grant Li is a Weinberg junior. He can be contacted at [email protected].edu. If you would like to respond publicly to this op-ed, send a Letter to the Editor to [email protected]. The views expressed in this piece do not necessarily reflect the views of all staff members of The Daily Northwestern.