The lack of front porches and the advent of attached garages that segregated people from their neighbors is one of the direct contributing factors to the sense of total apathetic isolation felt by the Gen Xers and Gen Yers, or whatever you want to call us.
Most people I know that are my age were never raised in a community around people who were different from what they were. They were never left to fend for themselves and come home when the streetlights came on. They never had a corner store they could walk to, or even a park that they could walk to as children. They were totally dependent on their parents and the car for everything so that even further isolated them from the world around them. I've always thought that a good portion of people in their 30s and below have been cheated socially by architecture, automobiles and parental paranoia.
I was lucky enough not to have ever lived a day in a soul sucking suburban neighborhood. Ive always lived in very old homes in the older parts of the city. The garage was in the back at the end of a long driveway up the side of the house. The home I grew up in was built in 1905 and its stood the test of time very well.
A house will last as long as the owners take care of it.
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