Introducing, IncDev Book Club.
IncDev Book Club meet-ups are virtual discussions that create space for deeper, more intentional thinking about what it means to be a neighborhood developer.
Time advertised is in Central Time.
Pocket Neighborhoods: Creating Small-Scale Community in a Large-Scale World
IncDev Book Club Series with Ross Chapin, author and architect
Pocket Neighborhoods: Creating Small-Scale Community in a Large-Scale World explores how small clusters of homes can be places where residents can easily know one another, share daily life, and still enjoy privacy. Drawing on historic precedents, contemporary built work, and lived experience, Ross Chapin examines design patterns that work across contexts — from infill parcels in small towns and urban neighborhoods to their role within larger neighborhood plans.
This four-part IncDev book club invites practitioners to engage these ideas not as theory alone, but as practical tools to test, adapt, and apply in real projects. Across four weekly conversations, participants will explore historic precedents, contemporary pocket neighborhoods, cohousing communities, and strategies for working within existing neighborhoods. Each session includes a short framing presentation followed by facilitated discussion, creating space for shared inquiry among small-scale developers, planners, designers, advocates, and public-sector staff.
Reading the book is encouraged but not required. These conversations are designed to support thoughtful, grounded discussion about how neighborhood-scale decisions shape daily life — and how incremental development can foster stronger, more resilient communities over time.
part 1: introduction + precedents: Why Pocket Neighborhoods, why now?
In Conversation with Ross Chapin, author and architect
Pocket Neighborhoods: Creating Small-Scale Community in a Large-Scale World offers an alternative to single-family subdivision development — small clusters of homes where residents can easily know one another, share daily life, and still enjoy privacy.
The book begins by defining what Pocket Neighborhoods are, then addresses the fundamental question: why do so many people feel isolated in so-called “neighborhoods”? We’ll look back historic pocket neighborhood precedents as a source of instruction rather than nostalgia. Drawing from examples such as Dutch hofjes, bungalow courts, and early Garden City neighborhoods, we’ll explore what these places reveal about scale, shared space, and daily interaction — and what still applies today. Join us as we consider how these long-standing patterns help explain the renewed relevance of pocket neighborhoods, especially for practitioners working within real-world constraints.
We recommend purchasing the book from your local book store, Bookshop.org, or ThriftBooks.com.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ross Chapin, FAIA
Ross Chapin, FAIA, is an architect, author, and community designer based on Whidbey Island, Washington. Since the early 1980s, his work has focused on modestly sized homes and small clusters of nearby neighbors organized around shared outdoor space. In the 1990s, he coined the term pocket neighborhood and helped demonstrate its viability through built projects and supportive zoning. Ross is the author of Pocket Neighborhoods: Creating Small-Scale Community in a Large-Scale World and works with practitioners, nonprofits, and developers on human-scaled, incrementally feasible housing.
REGISTRATION
Book Club meet-ups are a membership benefit for Associate and Charter Members.
Not a member yet? Become one today!
Recordings will be sent to those who register following the session. This event will be held in Central Standard Time. Details will be sent to attendees upon registration.
Contact
For any questions, message us at training@incrementaldevelopment.org.