Real neighborhood experiences can provide a meaningful gloss on current discussions about how to make cities better and increase shared places for all.
On Saturday night, in response to an email, I went to the movies by walking 100 feet from my home. Admission was free. And it was not in the comfort of an isolated home or downtown space, but among some 20 neighbors in an everyday place, hidden and in plain sight: Monica and Michael’s alley entry, against Anne and Jerry’s retaining wall.
Our last “alley movie night” of the summer was an important reminder that a city neighborhood can experience community without really trying—an “urbanism without effort” that needs no thought leadership nor sound bytes—and is as natural as European street life in places we sometimes wish we were.
We can try awfully hard—sometimes too hard, in my opinion—to extol the virtues of the city by proselytizing and debating ideas and opportunities. In particular, the potential for American urban alleys remains in the spotlight. This attention, often aspirational, is well-deserved given the raw alley palette for remade narrow streets in the organic European tradition, pedestrian in scale, narrow, interesting and a natural focus for greening street life and new small businesses.
Recently, additional essays (e.g., Alyse Nelson writing in Sightline last week), have recalled alleys’ placemaking role within the urbanist toolbox. Specific, grant-funded work by Seattle’s Daniel Toole has emphasized the now iconic, reclaimed laneway precedent of Melbourne and beyond.
The challenges, of course, are how to pay for reclaiming and maintaining these alleys. And, as with many instances of infrastructure improvement, we must determine where and how the private sector can make a difference in implementing improvements and maintenance too costly for today’s municipal public transportation and utility agencies.
After all, it’s not just about clearing away the dumpsters. As I’ve related before in contributions to the urbanist dialogue (in myurbanist and on Seattle’s KUOW radio), public rights of way, stormwater system maintenance, pavement resurfacing and other forms of street improvement may be required in order to materially reinvent desired space.
Yet, in the meantime, there are ready and simple victories in residential alleys less known or described, where neighborhood is there for the taking.
Admittedly, not all of us have traditional alleys at our back doors (which we often treat as main entries), but those of us who do can readily avail ourselves of the once and future urbanism of alley reinvention. Those of us who don’t might find a driveway and garage to suffice for now.
Email, potluck food and drink, equipment setup, and a bedsheet-as-movie screen yield public space for community, not because of doctrine or dogma, but because it is as natural as the place next door.
The best urbanism is that which is already there to be nurtured, a practice that I highly recommend.
All images composed by the author. Click on each image for more detail.
urbanists at work
Now THIS made me smile: Is ‘urbanism without effort’ the best #urbanism of all? http://ow.ly/6rj5h @crwolfelaw
RT @crwolfelaw New Post: is ‘urbanism without effort’ the best #urbanism of all? http://t.co/AiewXG1 (myurbanist) #cities #placemaking
RT @crwolfelaw New Post: is ‘urbanism without effort’ the best #urbanism of all? http://t.co/AiewXG1 (myurbanist) #cities #placemaking
is ‘urbanism without effort’ the best urbanism of all? http://t.co/Kfj4pJE
Pentingnya brandgang selain utk keselamatan RT @SIGkusumawijaya: is ‘urbanism without effort’ the best urbanism of all? http://t.co/0J44rD4
RT @crwolfelaw New Post: is ‘urbanism without effort’ the best #urbanism of all? http://t.co/CkjD1yj #placemaking
RT @crwolfelaw: Thanks @DPGilmartin for RT: is ‘urbanism without effort’ the best #urbanism of all? http://t.co/Pt6hfe6 #placemaking
Is 'Urbanism W/out Effort' the Best #Urbanism of All? http://t.co/EG27a4p (@sustaincities) or http://t.co/aDGQrH7 (@myurbanist) #cities
On “alley movie night” a city neighborhood experiences community without really trying… http://ow.ly/6rw0k (by @crwolfelaw)
RT @ehooge: Ready and simple victories in residential alleys = valuable community experiences. http://ow.ly/6rw0k (by @crwolfelaw)
On “alley movie night” a city neighborhood experiences community without really trying… http://ow.ly/6rw0k (by @crwolfelaw)
RT @ehooge: Ready and simple victories in residential alleys = valuable community experiences. http://ow.ly/6rw0k (by @crwolfelaw)
is ‘urbanism without effort’ the best urbanism of all?:
Real neighborhood experiences can provide a meaningful … http://t.co/wIEY7XT
is ‘urbanism without effort’ the best urbanism of all? http://t.co/7ix04uX
On “alley movie night” a city neighborhood experiences community without really trying… http://ow.ly/6rw0k (by @crwolfelaw)
Is ‘urbanism without effort’ the best #urbanism of all? http://t.co/jv1xWIj RT @cnt_tweets
Safe, well-designed neighbrhds always require effort. MT @CNT_tweets Is urbanism without effort best urbanism of all? http://t.co/J8ejA8h
Thanks @DPGilmartin for RT: is ‘urbanism without effort’ the best #urbanism of all? http://t.co/aDGQrH7 #placemaking
is ‘urbanism without effort’ the best #urbanism of all? http://t.co/dX0OU37 ((a really great victory right there))
is "urbanism without effort’ the best #urbanism of all?–thoughts for @myurbanist – http://t.co/QQO5LNe
is "urbanism without effort’ the best #urbanism of all?–thoughts for @myurbanist – http://t.co/QQO5LNe
is ‘urbanism without effort’ the best #urbanism of all? http://j.mp/qYdW86 @crwolfelaw
is ‘urbanism without effort’ the best #urbanism of all? http://j.mp/qYdW86 @crwolfelaw
RT @CNT_tweets: is ‘urbanism without effort’ the best urbanism of all? http://t.co/RwUppUC
"Alley movie nights" and more "urbanism without effort" @myurbanist via @planetizen http://t.co/Le2B7w2
Valuable community experiences in residential alleyways http://ow.ly/6rw0k RT @engagingcities @ehooge by @crwolfelaw #community
{excellent use of space} Is ‘Urbanism Without Effort’ The Best Urbanism Of All? http://t.co/OmetDTAr / #urbanism
urbanism sans the effort: http://t.co/Dcipaojo things for #phx to think about
. @AtlanticCITIES — great use of existing spaces here / http://t.co/OmetDTAr / #cityreads
Thx for this! RT @GeorgeDearing: . @AtlanticCITIES — great use of existing spaces here / http://t.co/HZjHpvdh / #cityreads
Thx for this! RT @GeorgeDearing: . @AtlanticCITIES — great use of existing spaces here / http://t.co/HZjHpvdh / #cityreads
http://t.co/YeXhuMnu
"Urbanismo sin esfuerzo" Ese estado en el que la ciudad emerge desde la… http://t.co/XZSg98rr
is ‘urbanism without effort’ the best urbanism of all? http://t.co/qKEZ9Git
[...] is ‘urbanism without effort’ the best urbanism of all? [...]
RT @crwolfelaw: myurbanist revisited: is 'urbanism without effort' the best urbanism of all? http://t.co/deIVqTZy #cities #sustainability
myurbanist revisited: is 'urbanism without effort' the best urbanism of all? http://t.co/tJobXKfW #urbanism #cities #sustainability
myurbanist revisited: is 'urbanism without effort' the best urbanism of all? http://t.co/tJobXKfW #urbanism #cities #sustainability
Real neighborhood experiences can provide a meaningful gloss on current discussions about how to make cities… http://t.co/BXSV9wpS
RT @MartineWhite2 The best urbanism is that which is already there to be nurtured http://t.co/LSjY8yr3 via @sharethis
RT @MartineWhite2 The best urbanism is that which is already there to be nurtured http://t.co/LSjY8yr3 via @sharethis
MT @crwolfelaw: myurbanist revisited: is 'urbanism without effort' the best urbanism of all? http://t.co/PFHUoKuG #cities #sustainability