Why the Anne Street communal garden space is so significant

Much more than a place to grow vegetables, the shared garden space in the Anne Street Garden Villas will foster a sense of community.

There is a reason why a backyard plays such a prominent role in the great Australian dream – because people crave a connection with their immediate surroundings.

Despite this intrinsic human trait, there are many practical reasons why communal gardens have not been adopted in social housing in Australia. These include:

• Sacrificing other common areas, including car parks

• Maintaining privacy

• Meeting the needs of introverted residents who do not wish to socialise

• Less space for private garden areas attached to each dwelling

• Maintaining the affordability of social housing

Yet after speaking with current social housing residents, it was clear that communal outdoor space would offer just as many benefits, including…

• Place to exercise

• Opportunity to meet neighbours

• Sense of community

• Space to meet and host visitors

• Prevention from social isolation

• A greater sense of belonging at home

This feedback from tenants came from research for the Anne Street Garden Villas project. Their insights indicated that a garden would contribute to better mental health, make them feel safer by providing a space to get to know neighbours and offer more opportunities for physical activity.

Social housing is something we should be proud of as a community. If we design these homes in a way that protects the well-being of its residents, that pride is justified. And that is why we named this project after its garden.

Our research on successful social housing projects around the world supported the benefits listed above of communal garden spaces. So we committed to exploring the viability of a communal garden, guided by the following insights.

Catering to multiple demographics

In social housing, tenants range from young families to older residents who live alone. To ensure it is utilised by all tenants, it needs to adapt to multiple uses. These include:

• Space to actively garden

• Play space for children

• Paths large enough for children’s bikes

• Communal eating and BBQ area

• Places to sit comfortably

Providing choice and independence

To be inclusive, it is important that residents can engage with communal spaces on their own terms. These are some of the measures we took to support their independence:

• Separate spaces in the garden so residents can seek company, or sit alone

• Large spaces for entertaining, plus small spaces for breakaway conversation

• Multiple paths allowing people choose whether to interact or leave quietly

• Separate paths to support daily tasks such as walking to the car and bin

• Narrow paths near private dwelling areas to prevent congregation; larger paths where less privacy is required

• No sight-lines directly into apartments from common areas

Making all outdoor space usable

Social housing projects generally provide residents with their own private outdoor space. But due to the number of dwellings, these spaces are small by necessity and it is not always possible to for every space to receive adequate sunlight.

In this project, residents still have access to a compact private outdoor space where they can grow a couple of plants, hang laundry and enjoy a coffee alone.

By limiting the size of these outdoor spaces, we were able to allocate more usable outdoor space in the communal garden for growing plants and vegetables, and entertaining. This approach means that outdoor area is not coming at the cost of other amenities, such as car parking space.