Pocket neighborhoods are small-scale communities with small or tiny houses that can offer affordable living and a strong sense of community. Book Group 6 has been talking about pocket neighborhoods for a while, and last Wednesday 1/16, members had an opportunity to roll up their sleeves and look at how to plan one.

Pete Childress led a wonderful hands-on workshop on designing a pocket neighborhood. The group worked in teams to create a design and layout for a possible real pocket neighborhood in East Palo Alto. Pete then helped calculate a likely cost for each project. That’s just the first step, but it’s exactly what planners do when thinking about creating their own designs. Each neighborhood had 10-15 homes of 200-400 sq feet and common buildings, gardens, etc.

Book Group 6 plans to continue looking at pocket neighborhoods and other creative and alternative building arrangements in the hopes of promoting interest and possibly action (!) to make living more affordable, sustainable, and community-friendly here in Silicon Valley.

If you have any questions send email to Book Group 6: tpa_book6@yahoogroups.com