Comments on: These used to be our playgrounds

By: Jayme B.

Jayme B. — Thu, 21 May 2009 17:02:17 +0000

This is a great post. Fact is, more of us should be thinking about the social effects of our neighborhood design. Is it more difficult to care for our neighbors when they are inaccessible but by automobile, or when we never have chance encounters because we don’t have public spaces?

By: Bruce Crow

Bruce Crow — Wed, 20 May 2009 20:36:06 +0000

I live in a home that is large enough for a typical Mormon-American family. But the yard is small enough to mow in 15 minutes and we have two communal playgrounds with 50 yards. I love the sense of community that is encouraged by the design. I only hate I had to live 30 miles from my job to get it. These places are here, but hard to find. Most American homes have two or three bedrooms. Larger homes are secluded from their neighbors by vast lawns.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Wed, 20 May 2009 12:09:17 +0000

If God didn’t want us to live in big houses with big yards and big driveways and have lots of cars and drive everywhere we went he wouldn’t have made suburbs.

By: Eric Boysen

Eric Boysen — Tue, 19 May 2009 12:48:01 +0000

Military housing is typically built by local contractors using local materials under the supervision of the Army Corps of Engineers or the equivalent for other branches of service. Designs and construction must meet local builing codes, but typically has American features like closets. In Europe, where bases are typically small, the housing for all but General officers is in apartments like the one above. Many “kasernes” have histories that go back to World War II or even before that.

I was stationed at Patch Barracks in Stuttgart for four years. I lived on the economy first in Calw, the in Leonberg, until my last year there when I moved into base housing. The commute to and from Calw was tortuous-about fifteen miles of packed two lane roads, sometimes in fog so thick you could hardly see your hand in front of your face. But it was a beautiful place to live. Leonburg was better that way-a shorter commute on the Autobahn. I commuted by bicycle and if need be could use the bus. Not options from Calw. But despite the charm of being out on the economy, living on base was so much better. I had a five minute walk to work and almost everything we needed was right there. (And it was rent free!)

My wife at that time was German, but she really didn’t get on with our German neighbors, and in Calw in particular she felt terribly isolated. (Our house was an old mansion on a large piece of land that had not been kept up too well, and working a military schedule plus commute, I didn’t do too much to reduce its “Addams Family” feel). On base I think worked better for her too.

The playgrounds on base were not as nice as those available elsewhere. I think American safety standards were to blame. There were amazing play structures at some of the parks nearby, however.

I talked to an engineer who supervised the construction of military housing in Italy. Military housing usually has hardwood floors-easier to maintain and change the decor to match personal taste. Well in Italy hardwood was outrageously expensive. Instead, he contracted for marble which was much cheaper. He caught a lot of flack for that because the budgets are reviewed in Washington where such a choice would be seen as an outlandish luxury. In the end the lower price won the argument.

By: Jim F.

Jim F. — Tue, 19 May 2009 04:23:22 +0000

I recognized those apartments immediately. From 1954-1958 I lived in housing units exactly like those, but in Munich. And I remember life there quite fondly, though when I went back to see them a few years ago, I was shocked at how much smaller everything was than I had remembered. I suspect the German families now living in the building where we lived were mystified by the Americans standing out front taking pictures of an ordinary apartment building.

By: Jonathan Green

Jonathan Green — Tue, 19 May 2009 02:33:07 +0000

Tim, the buildings are an interesting hybrid of German and American, so they have built-in closets and no separate enclosed entry space, but the walls and windows and floors were typically German. No Jalousien, unfortunately, which would have come in handy at 10:00 PM in June, when it was still light outside, and school was still in session.

By: Ben H

Ben H — Tue, 19 May 2009 02:05:10 +0000

In Saudi Arabia we lived in enormous houses in a compound of five. Since they were the biggest houses my dad’s employer had, Mormons tended to end up there (and Catholics); at one point three of the five houses were occupied by Mormons! Anyway, there was a wall around the perimeter of the five, about where the outside edge of the yards might be, but otherwise the area was enthusiastically shared by the many children, roller-skating, playing capture-the-flag, etc. Big houses, but a fantastic shared play space, even more so because you could run between the houses and hide behind them (and the various hedges, bushes, trash cans, etc.) during night games. A shared employer, similar professional profiles of our parents, similar age ranges for the children, and being far from home in Saudi Arabia helped to make it work so well, maybe a bit like your setup in Germany. American pluralism sometimes means we don’t actually have much in common. It’s great when it happens though.

By: Tim

Tim — Mon, 18 May 2009 22:44:24 +0000

I remember, 10 years ago, packing extra deodorant with me as I left for my mission in Germany. Word was that decent deodorant was hard to find there.
I miss the livable cities, the fantastic, reliable public transportation, and the quality apartments.
My first thought, after seeing the picture above and the words “German neighborhood,” were, “that’s American military housing.” Similar neighborhoods still house military families; I remember one similar neighborhood that had been, for some reason, entirely abandoned.
I’m glad these are still being put to good use.
One question: did Germans build those apartments? Or did Americans? The description sure sounds like German quality.

By: Peter LLC

Peter LLC — Mon, 18 May 2009 18:20:00 +0000

Those wonderful wooden slide-blinds, whatever they were called.

Jalousien ;)

By: Peter LLC

Peter LLC — Mon, 18 May 2009 18:18:12 +0000

Nice bmx course. The city of Vienna hosts a big dirt jump contest every year in front of the Rathaus, and I appreciate city fathers who view bikes as recreation in addition to transportation.

And I love that we wear deodorant before we get on the subway.

You must be thinking Berlin summer 1948 during the Soviet blockade. I’m pretty sure once it was lifted Germans started taking baths again.