Community greens can be developed in several ways:

1. Residents and other property owners merge parts of their backyards into a larger shared yard, park, or garden. In more and more communities, people’s backyards are divided by tall privacy fences. While these fences do give residents a feeling of privacy, they also cut down considerably on people’s ability to get to know their neighbors. This is especially true in our modern culture in which Americans are more likely to spend time in their backyards and on their back decks and patios.
   
   In working together to create a community green, the residents of a block would jointly decide how much of each of their yards they would want to contribute to their community green and how much they would want to remain their solely private backyards. The commons could be as narrow as a pathway that unifies the inside of the block and allows neighbors to visit with one another more easily. The neighbors would also decide what kinds of fencing and other materials would be appropriate to separate their backyards from the community green. Rather than a tall privacy fence, they would more likely choose a lower three to four foot picket fence or a low wall or hedge. Landscaping can be used to give those residents who desire a greater sense of privacy. Of course, each fence should have a gate in it to give people easy access to their community green.
   
   Click here to see six steps that residents and property owners could take to create a community green on their block.
   
   
   
   These images are of The Meadows, a community green in Berkeley, California that was developed by removing all of the back fences on an existing block of detached single family homes.



2. Residents work with their city government to transform dysfunctional or neglected alleys into verdant pathways that encourage neighborly interaction. Alleys have become a popular tool for removing automobile parking from the public streetscape. However, numerous older cities have alleys that are no longer used for parking access in many cases because the alleys are too narrow and the backyards or garages too small for easy parking access. When alleys do not have the regular use of people coming and going in their cars, they can become neglected and even dangerous places that negatively affect the entire interior of the block. In such cases, residents are likely to separate their yards from the alleys with tall fences or walls.
   
   These neglected alleys present a tremendous opportunity to create a new amenity inside residential blocks - a green pathway that brings neighbors together. If the alley is gated where it meets public streets, residents are likely to feel more comfortable replacing their tall privacy fences with lower picket fences. Paved or cemented alleys can be replaced with narrower pathways lined with greenery, trees, and flower beds. Neighbors can also install sitting areas and children’s play equipment where they choose.
   
   
   Grindall’s Yard in the Federal Hill neighborhood of Baltimore serves as a model for how other alleys in the city could be transformed into community greens. The existing alley is in the Patterson Park neighborhood.



3. Developers incorporate community greens into new housing developments. Developers are increasingly interested in creating neighborhoods that have a sense of place. They recognize that growing numbers of Americans want to live somewhere with a sense of community.
   
   While some developers will put the open space in a new community off to one side next to the retention pond, there are numerous innovative developers who are instead weaving the green space into the fabric of the community. Some of these new communities accommodate community greens and alleys by placing the community greens in front of the homes.
   
   Click here to see an example of an affordable housing development called Stoney Creek that was built around several community greens. Also, see our Resources page for links to other sites that show examples of community greens that were created by developers.
   
   
   The Hamlins at Highpoint is a new community under construction outside of Chicago in which houses are built facing community greens with alleys in the rear.

We will soon have more detailed information on this website about how to develop community greens in existing neighborhoods.