The U.S., Austin, and change

I was reading a Next Door discussion started by someone who felt sad by some of the development in my neighborhood but was looking to understand the various perspectives that people might have on it. In the course of the discussion, one commenter was bemoaning large houses partly because their occupants can look into private back yards. To her, perhaps, these large houses were yet another example of her beloved city being invaded by transplants who don't respect it or its history. Having privacy in one's yard is a fundamental part of what makes Austin, Austin. Another person replied that private back yards weren't part of the neighborhood's original design, since houses had chain-link fences where neighbors could see into each others' back yards and look out for each other, and some people were unhappy when their neighbors put up privacy fences. From his point of view, privacy fences were an evolution in the history of some neighborhoods, and two-story houses are another step in a neighborhood's evolution that no one will have strong feelings about ten years from now. Privacy is highly valued by some, and the same can be said for community/neighborliness, and there is not complete agreement in terms of how to balance these values. This suggests that, in Austin, as in the U.S. as a whole, there is not a universal narrative saying what we are and aren't. In both cases, we might perceive sacred, timeless values that were not always perceived as such and are not universally agreed upon, even among long-term residents.

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