Statscan numbers

[Surrealplaces]

I see people leaving their units and going to nearby parks to play, this age of neighbourhood actually have a decent amount of parks so it is possible to send kids off to play in the them. Not having a yard also means no maintenance, there are some cost and time benefits to that.

Agreed on the yard size. Most people need only enough space for their BBQ and some chairs, a few flower pots etc.. I lived in a townhouse when I was a kid, and we had a small yard with the garage taking up 2/3rds. We had a deck that was probably around 15' X 15' and that took up most of the rest of the yard. The front yard had grass area that was bigger, but was never used. Most people can get by quite easily with a 15' X 15' yard space. I realize most of the new rowhomes might have smaller yard spaces, but point being people can make use of small outdoor spaces, just have to use them in an efficient way.

Take this small rowhome development on 10th St NW. Probably due to setbacks, they have a patch of grass out front that will never, ever get used. Basically a waste of space. Put that in the back and you turn it into a deck and you have a nice outdoor living space, rather than just a yard. Lately and going forward the trend is for smaller yards and the key is to think of them as an outdoor living space instead of a yard. The closest park makes a good 'yard' space for kids and pets.

In this case the developer was able to put in roof top decks which function as good or better than a typical yard space.

 

[CalgaryTiger]

The setbacks are so pointless, that space could be much better used or moved to the back, like you say. There are numerous bad examples in Altadore/Marda Loop. Some of the newer courtyard development are forced to be pushed to the sidewalk and if a regular townhome did that it would much better.

 

[CBBarnett]

If I had a magic wand and the zoning rules allowed, I'd gladly shift my house 5m forward to the front property line and have a 5m larger backyard.

 

[CalgaryTiger]

The setbacks are so pointless, that space could be much better used or moved to the back, like you say. There are numerous bad examples in Altadore/Marda Loop. Some of the newer courtyard development are forced to be pushed to the sidewalk and if a regular townhome did that it would much better.

This is what I'm talking about...

Perfect front setback execution. Front fences, well organized vegetation, excellent material choice.

The worst setback execution I've seen. Utility/Storage rooms, a contrasting mix of materials, trees in raised boxes that have since died, they also won the downspout lottery (there are so many of them), and poorly maintained grass:

 

[Surrealplaces]

Those setbacks are definitely an issue, and in a lot of cases it's simply from trying to match the original setbacks. For example in this one on 24th, we see the 24th ave side has a decent setback. Just enough to allow for some shrubs, but the 17th ave matches the setback of the street, and we have a large patch of space covered in grass that's mostly useless. The only thing it accomplishes is increasing your water bill. Granted some landscaping might help, but still a space that's not really useful for anything.