Changing Tenement Life

The way we use tenements has changed in the last 50 years or so. In the past they were places for hanging out washing, places to meet the neighbours and places for children to play, as well as places to deposit household waste.

These things still take place in tenement backcourts, but to a lesser extent. Nowadays backcourts are rarely the social spaces they once were. Neighbours come and go and you may never even meet those that stay. Peoples' lives are so busy, we are more self-contained. Washing lines are seldom used and children are often discouraged from making a noise in the backcourt. Bin areas have become problem areas as we generate increasing amounts of rubbish. We seldom stop to talk with our neighbours, rarely discussing the problems that living so closely together can bring. It is these problems that the Sustainable Backcourts Initiative study is looking at.
Tenement backcourts come in many different shapes and sizes. They can be beautiful, well-managed spaces with areas for hanging washing, for children to play in, for residents to meet in, perhaps even to do some gardening or carry out some other activity. They can also be neglected spaces where lighting is poor, refuse builds up, plants go uncut and residents don't feel safe.