exploring mixed use and the human dimension

On November 11, 2014November 12, 2014 By Chuck WolfeIn everyday urbanism, urbanism without effort, vignettes5 Comments

On a walk from Fréjus to Saint-Raphaël last week, an elderly man asked us, in French, why I had just taken a photograph of his house. I offered to erase the photograph, which was intended to show, in modern urbanist visual language, the delight of a stamp and coin shop as first floor retail at an intersection across the world from our hometown.

I re-learned that day what every urbanist should know: The physical city means less without the stories behind building facades.

Sometimes we only learn such lessons while abroad, when acclimating to a new, temporary neighborhood, or when answering a question as simple as the one just stated. After all, the human dimension, of affinity and conversation is broader, and arguably more important, than the human scale that we hear so much about.

The story continues with the elderly man acknowledging us as Americans, who were more interested in the storefront than the dwelling above. Suddenly, we were no longer suspects, not the tax inspectors or police that could have been. There was no need, he said, to erase the photograph.

Suspicion yielded to enthusiasm and affinity, and his tales of visits to Wyoming and Yellowstone. He provided an introduction to the stamp and coin store proprietor, his son, Roland Spadari. The younger Mr. Spadari is a regular U.S. visitor, shy about his English, but quietly aware of his commonalities with the people who come through his door.

Father and son invited us into the store, and we became neighbors in a city that spanned an ocean. Conversation spilled forth about American coins from another era—from Indian Head pennies to Buffalo nickels to Mercury dimes. We commiserated about what these coins once looked like and discussed whether we ever see them anymore back home.

We politely listened as Mr. Spadari, explained, with his father looking on, how he obtained Buffalo nickels and Eisenhower dollars on his annual trip to Las Vegas last year.

And then we said our goodbyes, and thanked Mr. Spadari for his hospitality. My coin and stamp collection habits ended long ago, so I was in the market for nothing more than continuing our walk.

But the power of the human dimension carried matters beyond their logical conclusion. On our way out, Mr. Spadari gave me three Buffalo nickels—to keep—at no charge.

It took 30 minutes for suspicions about a photograph to become a thoughtful, affinity-based gift of items that transcended place and time. That’s the power of the real dynamics of city life, the connections behind the built environment that we, at first, more readily see.

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

why the ‘finesse of the avenue’ is what cities need

On October 5, 2014October 7, 2014 By Chuck WolfeIn compact development, everyday urbanism, infrastructure, pedestrianism, place decoding, placemaking, sustainability, urban views, urbanism without effort2 Comments

Fourth in an illustrated series about place-decoding from the South of France.

The Finesse of the Avenue

Last month in Cassis, the Avenue Victor Hugo told the stories surrounding its pavement and curbs. People walked the Avenue, between a small square-with-fountain and the quay, while the trees, awnings and overhangs together cast the shadows that passers-by always need. The shiny, at-angle paving stones reflected the light in ways seldom seen on a street. And ambient noise seemed pleasant and appropriate, muffled perhaps by the envelope of finesse just described.

My experience in Cassis was a major reminder, about how several factors can combine to create a “finesse of the avenue”; a noteworthy confluence of people—both natives and tourists— of physical aspects of the urban environment, and of the human senses of sight and sound.

In short, natural, built and human factors merged in a perfect storm of light, trees, stones and scale.

But, of course, it was not a storm at all. It was an exemplary venue to practice the “place decoding” called for in my three earlier series entries.

The Human Impact of a Simple Fix

While Cassis is known as a fishing village turned touristic haven (and a departure point for dramatic rock faces above the Mediterranean and remarkable inlets along coast, a short distance from Marseille), this essay is hardly a travelogue.

Rather, it focuses on the human impact of one of the simplest and most common municipal interventions: Closure of a street to automobiles on Market Day, or during times of heavy use of a place (in this case, to board tour boats or visit the beach on a September Saturday). As a result, inherent and longstanding qualities of the place re-emerge for the people.

The two sets of photos below show Cassis with full automobile access, off-season (via Google Street View), and on that September late morning, when I photographed street use at a more human scale. Comparing the two, it is not difficult to distinguish the ho-hum on the left from the right hand’s finesse of the avenue.

The placemaking movement has already marshaled the festival imagery implied here. We know that medieval townscapes and small streets are not a precursor to experiments that allow the value of public spaces and mix and re-enable non-motorized transportation modes. Transformations such as New York City’s Times Square pedestrian plaza are increasingly well-known, on their way to best practice status for our cities and towns.

The Role of Magic and Finesse in Urban Definition

In a place like Cassis, however, it’s more than cutting off the cars.

Some places have magic elements that combine in unique, empowering ways that inordinately impact the urban experience. I have written about those special locales in Urbanism Without Effort, and inferred associated people-based criteria of comfort and scale. Just as those criteria became clear for me in London’s Neal’s Yard, and parts of Portland, Oregon’s small, cohesive downtown blocks, they reemerged with vigor in the Cassis experience.

The additional ten images below show the essentials of everyday life, carried out in public, with comfort and apparent ease. While some are walking, others are selling, shopping, reading, attending to pets, or each other. These essentials stand out amid the merger of private and public, and the temporary compromise of the automobile. The “envelope of finesse” of light, trees, shade and reflection described above, worked a magic aura, in my opinion, without over-designed intervention.

Communicating this “finesse of the avenue” is as valuable as the scholars and thought leaders’ views about successful urban attributes. Places with the look and feel of Avenue Victor Hugo, if interpreted in context, illustrate successful attributes of urban public spaces, and help define the infrastructure and services that cities should equitably provide. It’s a gut-level, observational process, which every one of us has the means to carry out, to better understand the underlying make-up of successful city life.

Images composed by the author in Cassis, Provence, France, with the exception of the indicated Google Street View comparison photographs. Click on the image for more detail. © 2009-2014 myurbanist. All Rights Reserved. Do not copy.

Coming next: Lessons in Housing from the Domaine of the Caravan.

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

cities and the plot: stay tuned

On October 4, 2014 By Chuck WolfeIn compact development, environmental and land use law, everyday urbanism, infill development, lessons learned, pedestrianism, placemaking, sustainability, urbanism without effortLeave a comment

For five years, myurbanist has focused on the organic, naturally occurring aspects of urban development and placemaking. Several myurbanist entries became the basis for last year’s Urbanism Without Effort (Island Press, 2013).

This year, based on introductions from friends and through social media, I’ve collaborated with the Urban Design Studies Unit at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow on common interests, including ideas about the latent length of main streets throughout history.

Later this month, the collaboration continues, with the Plot-Based Urbanism Summit in Glasgow, commencing October 27. The Summit will focus on strategies and examples emphasizing foundational, close-grain urban fabrics that were once the premise of urban development and associated street networks. In particular, the Summit will address the fundamental role of the individual “plot” in urban development.

My keynote will stress the “first principles of urbanism” discussed many times here and in Urbanism Without Effort, and suggest basic implementation strategies. I very much look forward to the range of related subjects covered in panels convened by leading United Kingdom proponents of the plot-based approach.

See the following programme for more, and look for updates here and on Twitter, under the hashtag #PBUrb14.

#PBUrb14: Plot-Based Urbanism Summit Programme, Glasgow, October 27, 2014 by myurbanist

‘inevitably urban’ and the role of the people

On September 29, 2014September 29, 2014 By Chuck WolfeIn everyday urbanism, infrastructure, pedestrianism, placemaking, sustainability, urban abstractions, urban views, urbanism without effort, vignettes6 Comments

Inevitable Urban Times

These times seem so inevitably urban. Of course, my wry remark comes from a city-dweller in a post-recessionary Seattle, where new construction appears at every turn.

Here, civic dialogue focuses on the social repercussions of growth, such as affordability of urban housing (“build more“, said yesterday’s Seattle Times), the proper range of housing types, and how residents will travel from here to there.

These are also times to think again about how to “create scalable solutions for city leaders to share with their constituencies across the world”, according to The Atlantic’s CityLab 2014 event underway now in Los Angeles.

Attention to human opportunities in the city is now commonplace, with recurring urbanism, placemaking and urban innovation events like CityLab 2014, The Placemaking Leadership Council and The Future of Places all occurring within the last month. Proffered solutions abound, aided by technology, applications and provocative presentations, both live and online.

Oratory and Shakespeare Define the City

But it’s worth remembering that inquiry about the how to fulfill human opportunities is longstanding. There is undeniable precedent in storied oratory, arguably the internet of ancient times.

The Greek poet, Alcaeus of Mytilene (680-511 BC) (as reported by Roman-era sophist Aelius Aristides in later oratory) established human opportunities as central to his definition of the city:

Not houses finely roofed or the stones of walls well builded, nay nor canals and dockyards make the city, but men [sic] able to use their opportunity [emphasis added].

Sound familiar?

The human part of the built environment has echoed in other, much-quoted prose. Beyond the Greek sophists and orators (themselves criticized for educating only those who could afford the price), Shakespeare’s better known quotation, from Coriolanus, Act 3, Scene 1, also set the tone:

“What is the city but the people?”

What I Learned About Cities

In my case, personal background complements history.

In one of his last presentations, at a major “21st Century City” conference he helped organize in 1988 in Phoenix, my father (late Urban Planning Professor Myer R. Wolfe) quoted Alcaeus in his holistic conference keynote remarks.

How, he asked, can interdisciplinary forces be marshaled to make an accessible urban form (citing Alcaeus’ human “opportunities”) for the 21st century? “The question has to be asked—opportunities for what?”, he noted, pointing to, inter alia, limitations on quality of life inherent in long commutes and related life choices, issues of density v. intensity, as well as urban character across both urban and suburban patterns. (See The City of the 21st Century, M. Pihlak, Ed., Arizona State University, 1988).

In reviewing those remarks just yesterday, his references both to Greek oratory and his predictive questions about this century sent me searching for universal, human imagery. Because it’s the people who define the city, we should look at them, closely.

It’s the People, Stupid

I have compiled 25 photographs for this essay—taken in multiple locations since 2009, including cities on four continents. The photographs are presented in black and white, to better show the contrast between the human and built environment, yet also emphasize the undeniably symmetry between.

My intentions are simple:

First, I want to straightforwardly illustrate fundamental traits of city dwellers across cultures, distance and time. Such traits include talking, eating, singing, watching, shopping, walking, sitting, learning, growing and aging, seeking shelter from climate, and blending with technologies of communication, travel and illumination.

Second, beyond the other ample media available to assess city life and prospects, I want to challenge the reader to think about how best to maximize the opportunities for those pictured, and those around us, and to realistically assess what we see.

As explained here, this story of “urban inevitability” has traveled through sophism—a once-revered (albeit privileged) form of teaching, across the ages. But the very point of such sophism—defining the city on human terms—should not morph to “sophistry”, a more modern term reflective of deceit and specious debate.

Finally, Just Look at the People and Learn

Here’s hoping that the interspersed photographs above and below will illustrate what Alcaeus meant long ago, as revisited in 1988 by my father and in new forms, through the gatherings and events today.

I would venture that to be “able to use the opportunity” of the city is a perpetual challenge best observed in the conduct of the users themselves.

Images composed by the author in Antibes, Arles, Frejus, Grasse and Nice, France; Tel Aviv, Israel; London, UK; Aveiro, Lisbon and Porto, Portugal; Arusha, Tanzania, and Seattle, USA. 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.

the option of sensing the city

On September 11, 2014September 20, 2014 By Chuck WolfeIn everyday urbanism, place decoding, placemaking, urban juxtapositions, urban views, urbanism without effort, vignettesLeave a comment

Second in an illustrated series about place-decoding from the South of France.

How do we decipher this story? — How do we decipher this story of port-side people, buildings, and who lives where? Which senses are key?

Place Decoding: Moving Beyond the Directed Experience

Sensing the city is a personal experience owned by each of us. From a legal perspective, it is an urban property right that transcends public and private domains. It is a form of place-decoding that deserves more illustration and attention.

To see and smell the city is an affordable lease, easement or license across space and time, and it is too easily manipulated by other forces, such as intentional design or the accretion of organic forces of growth or decline.

One critical element of place-decoding is understanding who, respectively, are the leaders and followers in the urban experiential adventure.

My ongoing work in France (outlined here) reminds me that this form of place-decoding is critical to each of our experiences, but it is not easy to capture without treating urban places as classrooms for exploration. This may explain why we often choose to institutionalize the path of least resistance (such as yielding to a directed response or championing others’ essays on the zen of walking and biking), rather than foster self-directed efforts to allow each of us to realize our own sensations and experiences.

The Directed Example

In Grasse, Provence, street odors are changeable near the Fragonard parfumerie. Why? Because an Orwellian, directed scent, as illustrated below, dispenses fragrance across a narrow, pedestrian street. Shoppers, caught in post-hypnotic strolls, cannot escape the medieval, odor-masking reality of perfume’s very purpose.

In this case, a deodorant of the street manipulates the observer, externally directing the right to experience described above. The urban observer has no cognitive choice other than to leave, or ignore the smell.

Context Through the Minds’s Eye

In the multi-layered city such as Bastia, Corsica, small pockets of old blend with the new, and lines of sight span the ages and associated technologies.

As shown below, in the two images below, a glance at topography can show either a hill town setting in isolation, a traffic-laden city, or both. One person may see historic urban form up the hill. Another may see a roundabout of automobiles in context, with little regard to the pre-spawl relic above.

Here, the urban observer has more choice than in the Grasse example to sense for oneself, and more readily understand the mind’s eye.

Summary

I’ve said before that we should pay more attention to the place-receivers of placemaking, through encouraging urban diaries that lead us all to better understand where we live, work and travel between. However appropriate the urbanist purpose, we cannot rest simply with the cutting edge, activist goals of bus and bicycle without a more holistic, experiential point of view.

I believe part of the answer is simply enhancing people’s ability to sense the city. More apps, tools and activities all go without saying; examples include Adelaide, Australia’s well-presented “Picture Adelaide 2040” project, Stage 1 of which centers on gathering 1000 stories from citizens (each with a photo) on how they use their favorite urban places.

But “how-to’s”, such as community classes, meet-ups, school curricula, training of political officials and sensitizing of loan officers is also what I have in mind.

We can urge our political leaders, our planners, our designers and real estate professionals that encouraging people to sense the city deserves a high priority in policies, plans and pro-formas. Better cities will not result from a mandated smell this, or see that mindset.

Rather, better cities are more apt to happen if we first learn how to smell and see, a Place-Decoding 101 class affordable to all.

Coming next: How walking between towns decodes the elements of place.

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

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exploring mixed use and the human dimension

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