Life on the Street

Taking advantage of the sunshine and warm weather, I spent much of Columbus Day weekend out on the streets, which got me thinking about sidewalks.

Architecture and urban planning critic Jane Jacobs observed back in the 1960s that sidewalks are about a whole lot more than getting to or from somewhere. In the best circumstances, sidewalks are about people-watching, bumping into acquaintances and old friends, and just hanging out. A good city street, according to Jacobs is “a marvel of balance between its people’s determination to have essential privacy and their simultaneous wishes for differing degrees of contact, enjoyment or help from the people around.”

In other words, in the best city neighborhoods, you can share time and space with others without having to share everything with them. Sure, you can have daily chats with fellow dog walkers, but you don’t have to invite every dog walker you meet over for dinner. You can share a conversation with the local shopkeeper, but your pleasantries and chatter don’t have to mean you become best friends. A lively sidewalk brings you in contact with people you wouldn’t otherwise meet, perhaps because you really don’t have much in common. But that’s okay, or even good, because you’re broadening your horizons, no matter how superficial it may seem.

Contrast that with a development with no sidewalk life— no small shops and restaurants within walking distance. Instead, there’s the ubiquitous and always empty “meeting room” or “clubhouse.” You’re not likely to bump into anyone there, and rest assured, whoever you do meet will rapidly become a fixture in your life, for better or worse. In a neighborhood sans sidewalk life, the choice is quick and cutting: either a whole lot of contact or no contact at all. The result, according to Jacobs, is that people become either extremely choosy about their neighbors or they choose no contact at all.

Brookline and Brighton have plenty of areas without much street life. For street life you need walkable commerce. Fortunately, however, there’s that, too, if you know where to look for it. So in honor of weather still warm enough for a stroll, here are three homes near business districts that provide enough sidewalk activity to keep things interesting.

131 Sewall Ave, #63
Brookline
BEDS:2/BATHS:2
SQ.FT: 1456
$549K

37A Harvard Street, #5
Brookline
BEDS:1/BATHS:1
SQ.FT :571
$285K

7 Eulita Terrace
Brighton
BEDS:3/BATHS:2.5
SQ.FT:1600
$574,900K

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