Hypothetical

See variations and other perspectives here

Rue de Tertre, Val-de-Reuil, France

See it in location here

Langeuhr

Town Plan for Suburban Development: Town Planning, Germany: Plan for the Development of Langeuhr - a suburb of Danzig Neuschottland - 1908.

I assume this was designed for present-day Gdansk. If you have some time on your hands and feel like doing a search for something like this please feel free! The image is from here.

East Keilor Sustainability Street Community Garden, Tuppal Reserve, Keilor, Vic

A return to an old favourite, which yesterday (3 April 2016) had its regular open day/garage sale which we were told raises a few hundred dollars every six months to defray membership costs for community gardeners. Beautiful day for it and a great chance to check up on one of the best-practice IRs of the 21st century western world (the proof's in the pictures!).

We love it when there are not only gates onto the reserve but... open gates. 

15 Tyne Street, Carlton Vic.

For our hundredth post, we ask: how does this plot of vacant land fit into the 'Internal Reserves' world? Well, it does and it doesn't - but it definitely could. 

The space is here, behind a bustling section of Lygon Street. It is certainly an area bereft of park space which would undoubtedly benefit from a pocket park off a laneway space (Tyne Street, however it is delineated, is definitely not a through street). The block here no doubt once contained a shop and/or business and is now basically a backstreet car park; it is a prime candidate for the kind of space we advocate.

Birds love it, people tend not to, but that second aspect could be changed without too much trouble - it is, however, prime real estate which is the major issue (and the traders, particularly the cafe owners and restauranteurs of the area probably don't want to see places where people can just sit without buying something!).

Christopher Tunnard 1939

Read about Tunnard here. 

'System Garden', University of Melbourne

Seems silly to have avoided this one for so long, particularly as it is about five minutes' walk from where I work every day. The System Garden is celebrating its 160th anniversary this year, except it's a shadow of (i.e. about a quarter of the size of) its original incarnation. Not to say it's not a delightful space.

It conforms to most of our internal reserve rules, although of course (?) the surrounding buildings are all university offices/labs/classrooms etc, not residences, and the idea of 'street frontage' on a university campus is kind of fluid, too. In terms of its content, landscaping and usage, though, it's a great grab bag of ideas.

It's also worth remembering that one of the inspirations for Raymond Unwin in his creation/advocacy of internal reserves was the court spaces he saw at university campuses.

Read more about it here or look at the google map here.