The mid-sized American city exhibits binaried behaviors and development patterns. The chain of food production begins with healthy and productive environmental systems, depends upon reliable labor, and ends at the fruit stand, the vendor bazaar, the warehouse, or the supermarket. Meanwhile, civic life is predicated upon the negotiation shared and privatized space in the bustling promenade and shuttered apartment, respectively. After engaging in speculative exercises in habitation under space constraints, I developed a courtyard ecosystem at the scale of the block: an alternative hybrid to the sprawling suburb. Micro private spaces and expansive commons meet the needs of both parties and allow the block to actively situate itself in a gradient of urban development while maintaining robust links to the countryside.