While we were away for CNU.31 Charlotte, we went on a self-guided tour of Baxter Village in Fort Mill, South Carolina. Baxter Village is a prominent master-planned community located near Charlotte. It was developed by Clear Springs Development Company and aimed to address the encroaching suburban sprawl from downtown Charlotte by establishing a well-designed Greenfield development that applies traditional neighbourhood design while addressing the modern needs of the community.
Key features of Baxter Village include:
Mixed-Use Town Center: The community incorporates a mixed-use town centre that spans over 250,000 square feet. This area hosts a variety of restaurants, shops, and offices, creating a vibrant hub for social interactions and commercial activities.
- Pedestrian-Oriented Design: The design of Baxter Village emphasizes pedestrian-oriented features, encouraging walking and promoting a sense of community interaction.
- Community Amenities: The development includes a range of amenities such as a YMCA, public library, and elementary school. These amenities enhance the convenience and quality of life for residents.
- Open Spaces and Parks: The community is surrounded by over 500 acres of open space and parks. These green areas provide recreational opportunities, contribute to a pleasing aesthetic, and support a healthier environment.
- Traditional Neighbourhood Development (TND): Baxter Village was designed using principles of Traditional Neighbourhood Development. TND focuses on creating walkable neighbourhoods with a mix of land uses, interconnected streets, and a sense of place that fosters community bonds.
There was one more detail we picked up on during our tour: the way the site design creatively maximized space. Even an irregular corner was not overlooked as an opportunity to create something vibrant and usable for the residents of this community. This design approach makes the neighbourhoods the priority and the houses second – an important principle of placemaking. We stumbled upon an excellent parkette example in Baxter Village that was thoughtfully designed as a social space for residents, easily reached by walking. The park was aesthetically pleasing due to the landscape design, and comfortable seating areas encouraged residents to linger and enjoy the environment.

Why should we plan for parkettes in neighbourhoods?
Parkettes are small green spaces that offer several benefits to communities, residents, and the environment. Despite their compact size, these pocket-sized green spaces can play a significant role in enhancing urban life. They serve as community gathering spaces that encourage neighbours to meet, interact and build relationships. Additionally, parkettes encourage physical activity through walking, jogging, or simply enjoying the outdoors. Parkettes often features play equipment for children, giving families a safe and accessible place to play.
Parkettes also contribute to the overall aesthetic appeal of a neighbourhood. Through landscaping, seating areas, and public art, they can transform once-unused spaces into charming, visually appealing areas that uplift the surrounding environment. Well-maintained parkettes can even have a positive impact on property values in the surrounding area. They can also support local biodiversity by providing a habitat for various plant species (including native vegetation), pollinators, and animals. The addition of trees and other vegetation, can mitigate the urban heat island effect by providing shade and cooling. In summary, parkettes not only provide important social benefit, they enhance the community by integrating the benefits of the natural environment where site planning opportunities exist.
Local Parkettes of Note:
Here in St. Catharines, we have our own examples of parkettes that offer important benefits to their neighbourhood context. Below are the Hannelore Headley Chess Park (top) and the Haig Street Community Garden Park Thomas (bottom). Both parkettes offer similar but different amenities and function well in two different contexts (one downtown next to a large public park and the other in an established neighbourhood).

Hannelore Headley Chess Park is framed by beautiful landscaping, making the seating areas feel like they are situated in a comfortable outdoor room. The central fountain provides soft, soothing noise amidst the surrounding urban environment and creates a focal point on the street corner. The park honours Hannelore Hedley, longtime St. Catharines resident who owned Hannelore Headley Old & Fine Books and was a published author herself. The parkette is close to downtown St. Catharines and across from Montebello Park.

The Haig Street Community Garden Park offers several raised beds, seating areas, interactive art, a mini library and a community bulletin board. The Haig Neighbours Association has their own social media pages where residents can reach out and get involved with the community garden and/or apply to attend a plot. Residents care for the garden and use this space to host community events and markets. It is both beautiful and functional as a gathering space. It’s positioned in the neighbourhood so that houses face the greenspace and get to witness the various activities that take place. This was pleasant to see this past weekend during the Haig Street Garden Party. Neighbours came outside to join the party or listen to live music from their front porch.
How can we create more of these spaces?
When you see people enjoying spaces like this, wouldn’t it be wonderful to create more? The challenge is that both of these parks mentioned above are located in historic neighbourhoods, planned in a pattern that was established over 150 years ago. In the current planning regime, we do not often see new development, including parkettes neighbourhood designs. With land costs rising, developers don’t always always see the value proposition in allocating land for open space. As a result, inclusion of small green spaces like parkettes are largely lost in the newer suburban model that we are so used to in the present day. .However, there are noticeable benefits to these environments in older neighbourhoods, where they serve an important function. Through new urbanist development, we hope to advocate forfeatures like parkettes.
The greatest potential for this is to plan at the neighbourhood scale with endorsement from local authorities, who helppromote this approach rather than resorting to cost-cutting alternatives. A major challenge is that many parks are often viewed as burdens by municipalities due to the upkeep expenses and constrained budgets. Nevertheless, with ample population density, parks can find financial backing through the community’s tax base. In examples like the Haig Street Community Garden Park, residents also play a significant role in caring for these community spaces and maximizing their opportunity for social mixing.
Due to their small size, theoretically, parkettes can be easily integrated into urban environments where larger parks might not be feasible. Their proximity to homes and businesses ensures that a broader range of people can enjoy the benefits of green spaces without having to travel far. Some parkettes also incorporate elements of art, sculpture, or cultural significance. These features can add a unique touch to the community and serve as points of interest that spark creativity and inspiration.
Closing thoughts:
There are opportunities for parkettes in larger-scale developments. For example, New Urbanist parkettes are often by-products of intentional laneway and roadway layout geometry, providing road deflections that avoid long straight roads that induce speed. In other words, they are by design at the expense of housing units, resulting from prioritizing the neighbourhood focus. The neighbourhood focused on presenting our local examples planned 150 years ago but absent from our current suburban practice of lot efficiency. We want to see these ideas brought back to new developments. At Better Neighbourhoods, we are pushing to include features like parkettes in our upcoming projects by putting neighbourhood and community first.