Yes. Living in a small urban space with kids isn’t a compromise.

Here are some of the (often unexpected) benefits of urban living for kids:

Adventure abounds: We don’t feel confined, but we do naturally leave the house more often. Instead of our son circling a backyard on his balance bike, he’s out on the streets and in the park. In urban spaces, there’s often more parks within a small radius for endless exploration.

Adventuring has increased our connection with our environment. We have followed our creeks and rivers for miles in each direction, learned about our birds and foraged for edible items along the way.

Active transport: We’ve dramatically decreased our car usage. Instead of a weekly petrol top up, one tank now lasts two to three weeks. We ride our bikes to many places we go, using three bikes or two with a child seat for long distance.

We try to live the saying “there’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing”. We’ve walked through rain, wind, cold and more – with gumboots, rain jackets, beanies, and all. My son sees us use our bodies for function as well as fun, and he acquires strength and coordination along the way.

The unexpected bonus of active travel over car travel is that he interacts more with his surroundings and has a developed sense of direction as a result.

Children should be seen and heard: It’s wonderful to see our son engaging fully in public life, learning how to navigate his way through public transport, restaurants, libraries and more. We live a lot of our life out in these spaces, and he feels confident and comfortable in them.

Though we go to restaurants, we like to save money, often instead making a meal to take with us. Food eaten outside feels special, transforming a walk or ride into an event. Urban environments are full of spaces to sit outside, whether in green space or a town square.

Sharing and caring: With limited space comes decreased capacity to move to a separate or quieter location to be alone. It also means limited storage space for life’s ‘stuff’, including toys and books. We’ve had to learn how to share our spaces respectfully, decrease the amount of things we own, use community resources, and really enjoy the things we have. This means working through strong feelings and resolving our differences. We’re not perfect; shouting sometimes ensues – but we find a cuddle and a chat works things out eventually.

In practice, limited space means making space for new items. We try hard for a ‘one in, one out’ policy and he’s frequently practicing letting go. Our son expects to give old toys, books, and clothes to friends, charity shops or local swap spaces. To avoid monotony, we use our local library and our toy library.

We don’t expect our toddler to do it perfectly every time. It’s all part of learning about limited resources, trade-offs and living within personal and environmental means. Sometimes there’s big emotions and deep discussions before a loved but borrowed book or toy is returned, or an unloved item is passed on. Where possible, we try to lead by example, provide control and choices and help develop acceptance when there’s no choice.

Tiny can and does work for kids, with a few hiccups along the way.

We’ve found our lifestyle has changed substantially and most of it has been positive, but I won’t pretend there aren’t downsides.

Firstly, there’s lack of private space. The neighbours can look down and see what we’re doing or throw cigarettes onto the balcony. We’re occasionally frustrated by their noise. However, the neighbours are usually respectful of our privacy and my son enjoys a chat with an upper balcony sticky-beak. Noise doesn’t disturb my son’s sleep, and it rarely disrupts us either.

Then there’s lack of spontaneous, self-directed nature play. My son walks barefoot on tiles, not bare earth. He asks me for dirt to play with on the balcony. He can’t make a stick fort or play in a treehouse. Those things concern me, but we work through them. Instead, he attends a weekly musical story time session where they later play in cubby houses or sandpits, feeding quails, ducks and chickens and collecting eggs. We try to embed nature-play into our lives as much as possible It’s not perfect, but we think it’s workable for now.

There are many joys to be found in small spaces and built-up environments. Tiny urban living has been a positive change for our physical and mental health. It’s brought us closer, forcing our family to consider what we have and why; where and how we spend our time; and become creative within constraints. Consequently, we live more intentionally, falling into fewer daily patterns without considering why. We might not live here forever but we’re putting down roots, content for the foreseeable future.

Important note: Never eat a plant you can’t definitively identify. If you’re interested in foraging for edible weeds, consider taking a course such as those regularly offered by Ceres or Very Edible Gardens (similar courses are throughout Australia) and supporting your knowledge with a book such as The Weed Forager’s Handbook). Please first consider how sustainable your foraging choices are and take only what you need.

Interested in sustainable living?
Learn to lighten your eco-footprint and improve your health, with our short course 'Eco Living: natural choices for a green lifestyle'.