outside

The interesting thing about the house exhibits at the henry ford musueum was how much of the activity of the house - cooking, cleaning, etc - that was done outside. The interior of the home was mainly only for sleeping and entertaining, it seems.
More and more we do less and less outside of our homes. Instead, the outside has become endless lawns or a place for the swimming pool.
Richard Sommer once wrote something about how urban designers have not yet come to grips with the simple fact that the street has to do fewer and fewer things than they used to - ie the urban qualities of the historic street can never be matched today. does the outside of the home share the same fate?