I grew up in a city of mostly rowhomes and I love them. Plan on buying one one day.
You still get walk-ability, sense of community and good population density (not as good as a high-rise but still good), but also more privacy, and the space is more conducive to raising a family than an apartment. Also they’re cute as fuck and people can paint them different colors and have cool little gardens on their porches and stuff.
There are many solutions to this. Nobody is claiming it’s barrier free. No building with stairs is barrier free. That why there are things like add-on ramps, electric wheelchair lifts, and for bicycles, rear entrances. Almond many other possible fixes. What’s your point?
That I lived in a building like that and it was a huge barrier, that we have to reduce barriers and that includes not fetishizing old outdated ways of construction. Electrical wheelchair lifts aren’t a solution, they are an addon. Add on ramps would demand a complete reconstruction of the setting, having a different entry for you by feet and by bike might work sometimes in this situation in does create additional barriers.
My point is that the lived experience of people who see barriers and problems to be accepted and the material structures we created are to be heavily critiqued.
Solutions to the problems are not addons, they are re-drafts of what is and what could be.
Ok, then redesign. This isn’t an issue with rowhouses. This is an image with a walk-up entrance. Maybe design some with ramps. Boom. Done.
You would prefer condos everywhere? Or larger lots and detached homes? Those are the alternatives.
I wrote a bit to that, but if you give examples of specific row houses you ought to expect call outs if they are excluding a large part of the population. Really not getting why your vibe is as it is right now.