2 Golden Rules for Vibrant Front Yards

This month, we distill the 6 Design Relationships of Place that we explored in June into two essential frameworks to transform your front yard into a place that connects you to yourself and your neighbors.

Rule 1:
Do Things You Love To Do

Make sure you're doing things that you want to do in your yard. Your presence in your own yard is the thing that opens up the opportunity for repeated serendipity.

Your main focus should not be on drawing people into your lawn (even though it's certainly a hope). Instead, focus on doing things that draw you into your own space, and the people who share your love for that activity will naturally become drawn in as well. 

Besides: what better way to meet and engage with people than by doing something you love?

Rule 2:
Create Semi-Enclosures:
Balancing Containment & Permeability

Front yards are often very physically exposed places, making you feel like you're on display when you're in them.

In contrast, a backyard is often where all the fun happens, but is relatively cut off from serendipitous interactions with others. 

To create a front yard that supports you connecting with others, it's all about the balance of feeling safe yet also being open and available to see people walking by. An example is a front porch, which makes you feel comfortably enclosed, yet open to interaction. The key, then, is to make the rest of your front yard feel as contained yet permeable and open as a front porch. 

Strategies for non-porched front lawns include:

• low hedges

• fences

• defined threshold

• enclosures with open sides (ex: gazebos, pergolas etc.)

As the saying goes: "Good (low-height) fences make good neighbors."