Three years ago, I’d never heard the terms cottage homes and pocket neighbourhoods.

Then, I got an assignment to write a series on these topics.

I learned that Bob Ransford, a Vancouver area urban designer who specializes in complex urban development and land use challenges, was a local expert.

Bob told me that cottage homes in pocket neighbourhoods are the brainchild of Ross Chapin.

In 2001, Chapin bought four city-sized lots and build eight single storey detached cottage homes, each less than 1,000 square feet, with homey front porches, surrounded by gardens.

The cottage home movement had begun.

Pocket neighbourhoods are more affordable and safer since neighbours are close by.

They’re also sustainable, walkable and healthier because they contribute to sprawl on farmland, forest or wetlands.

Ross Chapin talks about cottage homes: