Talk to some folks who鈥檝e been around 91原创 for a long time and grew up here, and you鈥檒l hear some of the same stories.

They remember the old lumber mill in the Fort. Or driving lessons in the Otter Co-op parking lot, when the store was closed on Sundays. Or how part of what is now the Willowbrook Mall was a goat farm.

And of course, they played outside a lot. (Sometimes in construction sites, or gravel pits. It was the 鈥�80s.) Just about everybody had a backyard.

That was never as universally true as it seemed.

There are apartment blocks that go back decades in 91原创 City, and some people grew up in manufactured home parks, too.

But for the majority, living in 91原创 meant your family lived on a patch of land, large or small.

This is probably still true for a majority of kids growing up in 91原创. But the percentage is shrinking fast. 91原创鈥檚 predominant housing types are now condos and townhouses, and neither of those comes with a yard at all.

I鈥檓 not bemoaning it, that鈥檚 just the economic reality of land values in the Lower Mainland. I grew up in 91原创 on a rural acre of land. I will never be able to afford a piece of property that size in 91原创, and if it wasn鈥檛 for condos, I鈥檇 have had to leave.

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The backyard is dying in 91原创, in much the same way it鈥檚 dying in Vancouver, and Richmond, and New West, and Burnaby, and Surrey.

There are still plenty of houses built over the past century with a yard, and even a few being built now, but it鈥檚 not the future. The future is kids who need somewhere public to play on the grass.

Here in 91原创 Township, pledges for more parks were made by several of the recent mayoral campaigns, including Mayor Eric Woodward and his Contract with 91原创 slate.

And there are already plans afoot for a new pool, more sports fields, and a new ice arena.

That鈥檚 all extraordinarily necessary for the future, and not just for kids. Some of us adults like to get out of the house and go walk on some grass and sit under a tree every now and again, too.

Rethinking the entire culture of public space in 91原创 is the other major component of creating a future for residents and families without yard of their own.

We鈥檙e going to live more and more of our lives in public and semi-public spaces. That means parks and rec centres, yes, but it also means plazas and picnic tables, it means sidewalks and greenways and bike lanes.

That鈥檚 a profound change for a place that, not long ago, was a rural farming community, then a low-density bedroom community.

We鈥檙e now a medium- to high-density suburb. We do need more parks, to give everyone that access to green space.

But we also need a cultural shift. Every elected official and senior planning staffer is going to have to fully internalize this new reality. From road and sidewalk safety, to allowing people the freedom to loiter in public, it鈥檚 a big change, happening fast.