choosing place-receiving over placemaking, and why

On March 13, 2014March 16, 2021 By Chuck WolfeIn everyday urbanism, infrastructure, pedestrianism, placemaking, sustainability, urban abstractions, urban juxtapositions, urban views, urbanism without effortLeave a comment

A footnote to the new series, in the urban world, juxtapositions matter

In 1997, I returned to Europe after a long absence. My Paris photograph, above, jump-started a then-dormant fascination with the scenery of urban life and form.

I later digitized the photograph, to enhance internal contrasts between the Eiffel Tower, the layered scene on the Pont d’léna and the Champs de Mars beyond. My goal? An indelible impression, evoking a provocative, dream-like quality, consistent with a profound place-based memory.

Call this informal process “place-receiving”, and not placemaking.

Is place-receiving composed of unique occurrences, limited only to when and where we, the users, find them? Can they be replicated? If so, how?

These questions raise a practical side—and a real challenge—in assuring that placemaking efforts dovetail with the human nature of place-receiving described here.

The challenge comes from today’s renewed interest in creating special urban places for people—whether public, private or somewhere between—often offered by design professionals or related consultants.

Sometimes, the look and feel of a remade urban place is not consistent with the human perceptions common to place receiving. A quick example from my hometown: Assertions that downtown redevelopment approaches and several features of the Seattle waterfront plan just don’t fit the context of local climate, local history and likely end users.

Sixteen years later, disassembling the Paris photograph, I see many central elements of what urban visitors, residents and design professionals aspire to, whether resulting from spontaneity, casual tactics, or more purposeful plans. The photograph suggests several words well within the vocabularies of placemaking, complete streets, green infrastructure or human-scale approaches.

Some summaries of these elements seem stale and full of labels. Others evoke emotion through climate, color and the built environment. Here are just five examples:

The pavement dramatically mirrors people approaching the Eiffel Tower on the Pont d’léna.
The Eiffel Tower, the Pont d’léna, an equestrian statue, cars, buses and people combine to enhance a Paris view and experience.
The grainy textures of infrastructure stand out along the Seine.
Water and pavement blend in Paris.
A red bus and red backpack stand out against the Pont d’léna, the base of the Eiffel Tower and the expanse of the Champs de Mars.

Other summaries could be more poetic, or more human in focus. And perhaps they should, because place and place-receiving occur as much in our minds as in the real world.

My take? In the end, we should focus more on place-receivers as the most authentic stakeholders of meaning in the urban experience. If people cannot place-receive with a sense of acceptance and inspiration, placemaking may mean very little indeed.

For more information on the role of personal experience in understanding the changing city,see Urbanism Without Effort, an e-book from Island Press.

Seattle’s Super Bowl parade and placemaking lessons learned

On February 7, 2014 By Chuck WolfeIn everyday urbanism, infrastructure, pedestrianism, placemaking, politics, sustainability, urban administration, urban views, urbanism without effortLeave a comment

Professional efforts to create great urban places have a lot to learn from unifying regional events that cut across silos of culture, age, income, or neighborhood. Such events need not be limited to rebuilding after a superstorm or earthquake—they can be as simple and spontaneous as one city’s celebration of its first-ever Super Bowl championship.
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Today’s post continues as an exclusive entry on The Atlantic Cities. For the remainder, click here.

For more information on the role of personal experience in understanding the changing city, see Urbanism Without Effort, an e-book from Island Press.

Image composed by the author in Seattle.

ten photos and the overlapping urban story, human-style

On January 25, 2014January 26, 2014 By Chuck WolfeIn everyday urbanism, pedestrianism, placemaking, sustainability, urban juxtapositions, urban views, urbanism without effort, vignettesLeave a comment

Seventh in the new series, in the urban world, juxtapositions matter

For many years, I have been on a self-imposed assignment to discover and capture the human, experiential elements of urban juxtapositions, overlaps, intersections, and all the other descriptors used in this series so far.

It’s an attempt that I have suggested to others, because it seems as helpful to the urban dialogue as the ever-evolving blogs and articles centered on best practices and sensations from afar. I believe that an enhanced quality of life and a sense of belonging and safety can result from the total of our observations about how cities work every day.

For me, it’s not about placemaking advocacy, championing certain development forms, or counting new clients in the door. Rather, and most importantly, it’s about inspiration and how, in turn, such inspiration relates to the more practical issues at play.

One sub-theme of this effort is artistic more than empirical, or as one critic noted more specifically, “more impressionist than analytical”. Each of the following visual impressions is consistent with that approach, but with a practical taint foreshadowed above.

In the ten photographs below, I offer a specific summary statement—and sometimes a lesson learned—about human scale, urban interactions with overlapping physical, sociocultural, natural, public and private environments.

Think of this seventh series entry as an illustrated reminder of many of our baseline urban experiences, and some of the underlying forces that drive governments and communities to consensus or opposition.

On a Portuguese railroad bridge adopted to pedestrian and transit use, an innovative “sidewalk” participant shares the mix and match of human and tram: All “streets” need not include all transportation modes.

The backdrop of new development to a historic, scaled riverfront district shows the real change that is in the memory of the featured resident along the way.

Similar to the preceding example, in the doorway of a neighborhood coffee shop, members of two different generations of city residents cross paths. Are the needs of both adequately accounted for from day-to-day?

If water, light, buildings and people can align with this serendipity, are we missing something more magical in the way we discuss and manage urban places?

In the city, walking amid the trees can mean issues of sidewalk repair and maintenance of private property, encumbered by a public easement. The responsibilities vary among jurisdictions, and are not always clear.

Street vending carries many of the issues of the sidewalk of the last example, but in this case layered and with temporary structure. What are the rules driven by country, city or community?

Again, public places are often private at the same time. How does work and commerce mix to “meter” the use of both?

When is it environmentally sound to densify over water, consistent with human enjoyment and aesthetic traditions of a French spa town?

Waiting—so much a part of city life—today shows the reflective light of 21st century technology, blended with reflections on the mirror facing of a 20th century machine.

“Hardscape” and nature juxtapose in more ways than the trees and sidewalks of the fifth example above. Here, the hard surfaces of food and coffee preparation contrast with the human scale interaction and features of the scenario participants. It’s a concluding reminder of of who we really are.

Images composed by the author in Porto, Portugal; Seattle, Washington; Portland, Oregon; Victoria, British Columbia; Saint-Tropez, France and Fontaine-de-Vaucluse, France. Click on the image for more detail. © 2009-2014 myurbanist. All Rights Reserved. Do not copy.

For more information on the role of personal experience in understanding the changing city, see Urbanism Without Effort, an e-book from Island Press.

recalling the real intersections of city life

On January 13, 2014January 13, 2014 By Chuck WolfeIn everyday urbanism, pedestrianism, placemaking, sustainability, urban juxtapositions, urban views, urbanism without effortLeave a comment

Fifth in the new series, in the urban world, juxtapositions matter

This series has emphasized urban overlaps, overlays and, without saying so, the real points of convergence in city life. The photographs above recognize two variations of this convergence: a corner, and a place to sit and see, interact and do.

In two linked posts in 2011 and 2013 examined important characteristics corners and sit-ability (a.k.a. “sit-able city”) in the urban setting. Those two posts defined both crossroads and sit-able places as key, interdisciplinary focal points of human interaction with the city.

My point remains as stated—that these focal points offer challenges and opportunity, worthy of study and contemplation in the tradition of William H. Whyte‘s work (carried on today by the Project for Public Spaces), and in Jan Gehl and Birgitte Svarre’s latest summary of Gehl’s longstanding approaches, How to Study Public Life. And several others remind us of the latent “ecosystems” of humans, from Dannenburg, Frumkin and Jackson’s Making Healthy Places, to concepts inherent to my good friend Kaid Benfield’s new book, People Habitat. (Coincidently, all three book references–and my work—share a publisher and/or distributor in Island Press).

The “corner” and “sit-able city” posts were also viewed and endorsed by thousands of people around the world in both their original and repurposed forms. The idea of “sit-ability” compelled several follow-up articles by others.

Why?

For the same reason that the urban drummer in the photographs above latently knew, without guidance, where and how to place himself in a way that draws attention and charitable donations from passers-by. We inherently know the stages and windows and observation points of urban life—the entry points to everything from transportation modes to safety at night—and that knowledge is captured in scenes such as those shown here.

My examples of convergence points—corners and sit-able places—embody the premise offered in the opening post of this series, that in the urban world, juxtapositions matter.

For more information on the role of personal experience in understanding the changing city, see Urbanism Without Effort, an e-book from Island Press.

visualizing regulatory change in the urban setting

On January 11, 2014January 12, 2014 By Chuck WolfeIn everyday urbanism, pedestrianism, placemaking, urban abstractions, urban juxtapositions, urban views, urbanism without effortLeave a comment

Fourth in the new series, in the urban world, juxtapositions matter

The first entry in this series described the importance of multiple forms of juxtapositions in urban settings, and emphasized the importance of reading such overlays and overlaps as a basic aid to policy, governance and regulation.

In particular, reading the overlay of regulatory change on urban spaces is easier than you might think. Ready snapshots illustrate changing socio-cultural practices, co-reflected in the evolving regulation of public venues.

The photographs above show two simple examples of this overlay. In summary, pictured here are two visual byproducts of overlaying and evolving regulatory schemes, focused at the human scale, rather than more typical parameters of building height, bulk and density.

In the first, more common example, an active sidewalk scene benefits from relaxation of enforcement practices regarding sidewalk spaces. Revised policies or regulations (either before or after the fact) enhance such visual results.

The second example results from legalized marijuana use in Washington State—call the scene “a vignette of tolerance”. Such scenes are not uncommon while cities around the state evaluate further regulatory approaches to venues for marijuana sale, use and consumption.

There are purposely no before and after images here—the point is to review the photographs and contemplate the appearance of different bounds of permitted uses in the not so distant past, from empty sidewalks to interventions of police and prosecutor.

Consider, also, the visual possibilities of the overlay of regulatory change some years from now.

For more information on the role of personal experience in understanding the changing city, see Urbanism Without Effort, an e-book from Island Press.

myurbanist

Category: pedestrianism

choosing place-receiving over placemaking, and why

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ten photos and the overlapping urban story, human-style

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recalling the real intersections of city life

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visualizing regulatory change in the urban setting

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