Problem
People like to watch the street.
Solution
Build a special bench outside the front door where people from inside can sit comfortably for hours on end and watch the world go by. Place the bench to define a half-private domain in front of the house. A low wall, planting, a tree, can help to create the same domain.
Related Patterns
… Seat Spots (241), acting within several larger patterns, creates an atmosphere around the edge of the building which invites lingering - Arcades (119), Building Edge (160), Sunny Place (161), Connection to the Earth (168); it is most marked and most important near the entrance - Entrance Room (130). This pattern defines a special Seat Spots (241): a bench which helps to form the entrance room and the building edge around the entrance. It is always important; but perhaps most important of all, at the door of an Old Age Cottage (155).
The bench may help to make the entrance visible - Main Entrance (110); it can be part of a wall - Sitting Wall (243), with flowers in the sunshine next to it - Raised Flowers (245). Place it with care, according to the rules given in Seat Spots (241) …
Alexander, Christopher. A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction. Oxford University Press, 1977, p. 1121.