Push and Pull Forces Away from Front Porch Use

Abstract

Observational and survey data were collected from a pre-World War I and a post-1970s neighborhood to assess the influence of push and pull forces away from front porch use. The findings indicate that the most important factors in reducing front porch use are design issues having to do with the small size of porches, the attractiveness of the backyard, and lifestyles that no longer support front porch use. Implications for design, including support of New Urbanist design principles, are discussed.

Nowhere to Go and Nothing to Do but Sit? Youth Screen Time and the Association With Access to Neighborhood Destinations

“…This suggests that a number of forces may be working together to decrease the amount of time children spend outdoors and increase the time spent indoors using screen based devices. Based on a concept studied by Wilson-Doenges et al (Wilson-Doenges, 2001), 'push' and 'pull' forces may be working to influence the relationship between the neighborhood environment and youth screen time. Time spent interacting in the neighborhood is the locus around which 'push' and 'pull' forces operate.…”

Neighborhood design and sense of community: Comparing suburban neighborhoods in Houston Texas

“…It has been suggested that front porches enhance sense of community (Brown et al, 1998;Plas and Lewis, 1996;Calthorpe, 1993), but Wilson-Doenges (2001) finds that size of porch, its furnishings and encouraging activities on the porches positively impact porch use. While increased personal space (in the form of lot square footage) has been found to have a small positive impact on sense of community, use of shared public outdoor space (in the form of natural and semi-developed areas) has a stronger positive impact on sense of community (Kearney, 2006).…”

Neighborhood Physical Features and Relationships With Neighbors

“…The degree to which front porches may influence neighborliness may be dependent on how frequently they are used. Existing studies have found that qualities such as porch size or the presence of furniture are related to increased front-porch use (Wilson-Doenges, 2001). Although we only counted front porches that could comfortably seat a chair, we did not measure the quality of the space or their actual use.…”

“…The neighborliness questions used in the door-to-door survey were adopted from the Social Capital Module of the General Household Survey (GHS; Coulthard, Walker, & Morgan, 2003) of 2000-2001 Neighborliness was defined by the GHS as the extent of interaction, trust, and reciprocity between neighbors (Coulthard et al, 2003). The key items used in the neighborliness index included knowing people in the neighborhood, trusting the people in the neighborhood, looking out for one another, doing favors for neighbors, having favors done for you, and frequency of speaking with neighbors.…”