Getting stuck behind a slow-moving vehicle—whether it’s a snow plow, a garbage truck, a mail carrier, or just someone allergic to the gas pedal—is enough to exasperate anyone, especially when you’ve got somewhere to be and you’re already running late.
So, what do you do if you live in a small town where everyone lives along one main street?
Sure, maybe there are narrow roads leading to parking spaces and yards in the back. But these aren’t the kinds of “back roads” you can use to avoid the main drag.
In the case of one village in Poland with 6,000 residents, all the homes and businesses are clustered along one street, with short, narrow roads between properties. Because every home has a long strip of land out back to use for gardening.
Suloszowa is a village in southern Poland that has earned the moniker “Little Tuscany” due to its unusual layout. Lying about 29 km northwest of Krakow, the village has a population of 5,819—all of whom live alongside one another in harmony on one 9-kilometer (5.5-mile) street.
About those long strips of land out back, maybe it’s years of hearing homeowner association horror stories, but we can’t help wondering if there are consequences to using that strip of land in a way your neighbors on either side don’t approve of.
Also, how do they manage postal deliveries—or garbage pick-up—or rush hour? Do they even have a rush hour?
So many questions. And we’re not the only ones curious about what it could be like to live in a place like this. We’ve run across several social media posts highlighting this town and speculating on the possibilities.
Some are comparing it to The Line—a smart city currently under construction in Neom, Saudi Arabia, designed to have no cars, streets, or carbon emissions.
“Neom, but make it Hobbiton” https://t.co/hCZnBkUZ4b
— Adam Roberts (@arrroberts) April 3, 2023
A LADbible article by Jess Hardiman shares more images of the Poland town and includes a quote from one of its inhabitants on what it’s like to live there:
“I wouldn’t trade this place for anything else. It has its own charm and atmosphere. As the saying goes, there’s something about it. The whole place looks the same: there is a house and then a strip of field, hence the beauty of the photos. One has grain, the other has rapeseed, and the third has something else. The colors look beautiful from above.”
When an aerial photograph of the town landed on Reddit, here’s how one commenter responded:
“I just showed this to my Polish friend and he said yes! …Each house has that strip of land to do whatever on, hence different colors, and they are using the land for different purposes. Some grow crops on it, others have animals, some just leave it.
“I said I didn’t believe him but he says it’s true.”
So, could you see yourself living in a town with this kind of layout? And what changes would you make?
