When I was talking about this concept to a friend of mine, she pointed out that a big part of the allure of the small private green space (i.e. sizable back yard) as opposed to the larger common green space is that sending kids out to play in the back yard doesn't require mom to load up the car and take *everybody* in the family to the park. If you have a baby that needs to nap and a toddler who wants to play and other kids to consider as well, it's hard to get them all to the public green space. But with a yard, the ones who want to be outdoors can be outdoors and the ones who need to be indoors can be indoors all at once.
A big part of the problem is that planning decisions aren't made with the big picture in mind. It's true that if we don't densify Arlington, we're going to sprawl into Prince William, and that this will make Prince William residents unhappy. But they don't really go to Arlington and complain (and would be written off as outsiders if they did). A more regional approach to planning would help a lot.
When I was talking about this concept to a friend of mine, she pointed out that a big part of the allure of the small private green space (i.e. sizable back yard) as opposed to the larger common green space is that sending kids out to play in the back yard doesn't require mom to load up the car and take *everybody* in the family to the park. If you have a baby that needs to nap and a toddler who wants to play and other kids to consider as well, it's hard to get them all to the public green space. But with a yard, the ones who want to be outdoors can be outdoors and the ones who need to be indoors can be indoors all at once.
A big part of the problem is that planning decisions aren't made with the big picture in mind. It's true that if we don't densify Arlington, we're going to sprawl into Prince William, and that this will make Prince William residents unhappy. But they don't really go to Arlington and complain (and would be written off as outsiders if they did). A more regional approach to planning would help a lot.