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Growing up in wide open Lubbock, Texas, I thought alleys in residential alleys were a fact of life. But after having lived in several other cities without alleys, I realize they are not as common as I thought.
I think alleys are probably more common in areas where density is lower and land is not at a premium, but I'm not sure. It may also have a lot do do with how the local sanitation department has decided to collect trash.
So, where do you live, do you have residential alleys and do you like/dislike them?
It does add to a city's character in an indirect way. Alleys are a major contributor to a city's beautification and sanitation, especially in a densely populated city. Chicago has alleys behind about 99% of its streets. Utility lines and trash cans/dumpsters are all kept back in the alleys. Very few driveways too -- most people access their garages from the alley. Makes the streetscapes much more pleasant. The only downside I see to alleys is it's that much more pavement that requires upkeep.
Minneapolis has alleys in many (although not all) of its neighborhoods; the alleys tend to be in the neighborhoods that have the highest density, actually. My instinct would be that they are of great help in tightly packed neighborhoods, or at least dense neighborhoods that developed at a time when people had need for a garage (my parents' place was built in 1909 in a city neighborhood, and does have an alley). Our neighborhood in DC had an alley, our place in Delaware did not, LA did not, San Francisco did not.
I love alleys. It's nice to have all the utilities out in the back, and I like having both the public and the private parts of a neighborhood. I enjoy walking through alleys, too; the architecture of garages (at least of the older types) can be interesting, and alley neighborhoods in older cities also often retain evidence of horse days and other interesting connections to the past that have been long erased from the street. They also mean that there's no driveways cutting up the sidewalk in front. That translates into more parking spaces, as well as makes it nicer/safer for walking.
In some areas there's been a movement to bringing back housing to alleys by means of allowing so-called "granny flats," or garages/carriage houses with apartments (or converted garages into small apartments/houses). It's a great way to add density to a neighborhood without changing its character, as well as helps with safety by adding some eyes to the street, or in this case, alley.
We're hoping to buy a place in the next year. I'm hoping we'll have an alley. I love them!
Yes. My subdivision is newer and obviously wouldn't have them, but the City of Fort Wayne does in its older residential neighborhoods. I love them, as they characterize the urban Midwest.
Chicago definitely has them. A lot of the Inner Ring suburbs have them too. It definitely helps keep the streets cleaner. Things look a lot better when electric wires and trash cans aren't dominating the sidewalk/street.
Where I live the older areas of town where houses are close together have alleys.
There is one alley between each pair of parallel streets. So for example there is an alley between 2nd and 3rd street. The alley serves as engress (sp?) to driveways and garages for both streets. The back yard of each house on both streets face the alley. That is where the driveways and garages are. The frt yards of houses on both streets face the actual street and there are no driveway or garage entrances. Just front yard.
I must be thinking of different alleys, because they are more common in areas with high density populations. ??
My reasoning was that alleys take up a lot of room, so by their very nature reduce the density of housing in a given area.
But maybe alleys are more common in areas with mid-rise and high-rise residential areas?
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