› Flat Chat Strata Forum › New to strata – or just strata-curious › Tips wanted for creating a sense of ‘Community’ › Current Page
Our set of townhouses was built in the 1970s. Community facilities were intended but not much happened at the start. Over time, things were added. Early on a double clay tennis court then playground equipment. Later a wood BBQ (we have plenty of trees). Much more recently, the BBQ was not being used much and it had only a small picnic table adjacent. We added two much larger picnic tables, paved the surrounding area, added a picnic shelter (so you can plan an event even if the weather is looking dicey). The big hit was including a pizza oven in the picnic shelter – it cooks very quickly and is amenable to handling a larger group and diverse food preferences. People have their own BBQs since gas BBQs got relatively cheap but nobody has a pizza oven. It is easy to tell neighbours you are lighting the oven and they are welcome to join in. The pizza oven and BBQ and picnic shelter are next to our larger playground so kids can be supervised while adults have somewhere to sit and chat. Kids have something to do while dinner is being prepared etc.
Most recently we converted one of the two tennis courts into a community garden with raised beds. One neighbour commented that he had met more of his neighbours since having a plot in the garden than in decades previously.