Spaces for People on Bicycles

Lots of good reasons to ride your bike.  Exercise, fresh air, dollars saved on gas money.

If more people bike, that usually means fewer cars.  Fewer cars usually means an environment more hospitable to pedestrians.  A pedestrian-friendly environment usually means a more enjoyable public space experience.  By now I hope you can finish the thought.  An enjoyable public space translates into better quality of life, more business, and more revenue for the city.

So bike lanes are becoming more popular.  The low-cost method is to squeeze the traffic a little and put down a couple of stripes.

The first illustration above (once again the handiwork of Rob Dinsmore) shows a common approach to creating bike lanes.  It’s easy because the traffic patterns don’t really change that much.  But there are some problems with this approach.  The bicyclers are directly adjacent to fast-moving traffic, a danger in itself, and they are also subject to getting whacked by cars pulling out of parking spaces or by doors being opened in their line of travel.

The second illustration shows a better solution.  It’s made possible by eliminating the continuous center turning lane. Although this illustration doesn’t show it, you could still have center turning lanes at intersections to keep traffic moving.  Parallel parking is indicated in the blue lane, and the bike lane is in green, adjacent to the sidewalk.   The bike lane is much safer away from moving traffic and the possibility of a driver opening a door in the way of the bicycler is completely eliminated.  And you get a healthy dose of green space to boot.

People walking, people riding bikes, and people driving cars can live in peaceful coexistence.

It’s a beautiful thing, man.

Spaces for Cars (and people)

Fifth Avenue Before

Fifth Avenue After

If a picture is worth a thousand words, I just saved a lot of typing.

Which street scene is more appealing?  Which one looks safer?  Which one would have a positive impact on the community?

Rob Dinsmore, landscape architect (to be) created those sketches as part of our Expo seminar last week.  He and Kit Anderson applied a little road diet to Fifth Avenue, the four-lane highway that bounds Marshall University in Huntington.  It exists now in the Before sketch, truly a Frogger situation if there ever was one.

Yes, the After sketch is so much better, but is it really possible, you may ask.  Certainly.  All Rob and Kit did was reduce the lane widths a little to make room for the center island.  And change Fifth Avenue from one-way traffic to two-way.  All of which serve to slow traffic.

Why slow traffic?  Well, for one, to create an atmosphere where cars and people can safely coexist.  To extend the edge of a public space and create a more social, livable community.  To create an atmosphere where people are much more likely to stop, enjoy themselves, and maybe even spend money shopping or dining.

No, it’s not for every situation, but it applies more often than not.  Particularly downtown.  Use your imagination and picture your own After sketch for the Frogger street in your city.

We’re going live!

It’s also about the money.

Spaces for People is going live!  On Wednesday, March 20, at 1:00 PM, Rob Dinsmore and Kit Anderson will join me for a presentation at the West Virginia  Construction and Design Expo at the Charleston, WV, Civic Center.  We’ll be talking about how good quality public spaces not only enhance the quality of life, but also help generate revenue for cities. 

Think good public spaces is just about making things pretty?  Think again.  Kit Anderson is the Executive Director of the Huntington, (WV) Sanitary Board.  He’s charged with finding ways to fund big infrastructure improvements and rate increases are not always the way to go.  Stop by and hear Kit’s ideas on how cities can raise revenues with the right attitude about public spaces and the quality of life.

Rob Dinsmore is a young award-winning landscape architect.  (Rob is so young, in fact, that he’s not yet officially licensed.  I’m not supposed to call him a landscape architect, but soon he’ll be licensed and he can proudly proclaim his professional title.)  Rob will be talking about basic design principles for developing good public spaces.

As for me, I’ll go beyond design and talk about the magnets that draw a diversity of people to public space for different purposes throughout the day.  Jane Jacobs stuff.

So stop by our Expo seminar. It’s free.  Hope to see you Wednesday at 1:00.

 

 

 

Lessons to learn at the mall. Yes, the mall.

The Charleston Town Center got a major makeover, but it’s the new furniture that makes a difference.

When searching my corner of the world for good public spaces, I didn’t expect to find anything at the mall. But during a recent shopping trip, I was surprised. The Charleston Town Center has changed.

First, some background.  The Town Center opened thirty years ago as one of the few urban malls in the country.  While suburban malls typically drained business from downtowns, the Town Center, situated in an urban renewal area of downtown Charleston, at least kept the business in the city.  Yes, some of the local shops were affected by the mall, but the old downtown retail area has managed to develop a new identity over the years and today is doing fairly well.

In 1983, the mall, at least by West Virginia standards, was grand.  Three floors of shops, a center atrium and a three-story, cascading fountain made the mall the place to go.  Amenities, though, were standard mall fare. Wire benches were placed in short rows with seemingly no more thought than to give tired shoppers – usually dads and grandfathers – a place to impatiently wait out the whole shopping adventure.   Nonetheless, you could count on a good crowd at the mall, especially around holidays.

Then in the late 1990’s, there was a boom of commercial development on the outskirts of the city.  Big box stores and their national-chain satellites gave Charleston shoppers more choices.  Despite the fact that you had to drive in crazy traffic to visit any of the stores in the big box solar system, the stores on the Corridor, as they are known by the locals, became the destination of choice.  The mall became the place that nobody went to anymore.

Last year, the Charleston Town Center changed its look, as well as its attitude toward shoppers.  After thirty years, the mall needed some updates.  Every square foot of flooring is either new tile or new carpet.  Old steel railing was replaced with a shiny new glass rail system.  The three-story waterfall is gone, and in its place is a more modest water feature.  Of course everything that didn’t move was painted.  But what really caught my attention was the change in seating opportunities.

The rows of wire seating have been replaced with clusters of upholstered, comfortable chairs.  Instead of worn-out dads waiting for the day to be over, you see couples enjoying coffee together.  Kids kicking back with their smart phones.  Now when grandpa takes a seat, he can lean back and actually relax a little.

The clusters are more social spaces, with spacing more encouraging for social interaction.  There are lots of cafe tables and even movable chairs.  Holly Whyte would be pleased.  It’s a huge improvement over the old seating patterns.  But you have to do it right.   I’ve seen other malls attempt the upholstered seating with less success.  You really do have to pay attention to how you arrange the furniture. 

No, the mall is not the perfect public space.  It’s still a controlled environment and interaction between socio-economic classes is limited.  It’s not a town square environment where freedom of expression reigns.  But something good is happening. Social spaces in malls aren’t created because of any sense of altruism.  Profit drives the design.  But mall owners and managers know that providing an overall enjoyable experience makes the shoppers more likely to return. 

New furniture at the mall includes the more sociable moveable tables and chairs.

Too cold to go outside?

A fire pit can provide just enough warmth – even on a day cold
enough to ski – to encourage outdoor socialization.

I don’t like cold.  I’ve been working on projects at Canaan Valley Resort State Park for a couple of years now and we finished just in time for the snow.  I visited the resort shortly after opening day.  It was crazy cold and the wind howled.  One thing I can tell you:  No matter how much I bundle up, winter sports are not for me.

As part of the improvements, we provided outdoor fire pits.  I was amazed at how much heat they provide, even on the really cold days.  Skiers gather around, warming their hands and talking about their adventures on the slopes.  That’s when I realized that you can have a social space in the dead of winter.

What does it take to enliven a public space when it’s so cold?  Maybe a fire in the town square is too much to ask, but there are other ways of attracting people.  First Friday’s are catching on in downtowns, as are artwalks.  Why not provide a temporary warming  place on those days?  Bring in some propane heaters, tables and chairs, hot chocolate or warm mulled wine, maybe some hot baked goods.  Encourage artists to populate the warming area with their work and pipe in some music.  Before you know it, it’s a party.

No need to let our public spaces go dormant for the season.  Even a warm-blooded person like me might bundle up and enjoy some mid-winter socialization.

Upper Big Branch Miners Memorial

Upper Big Branch Miners Memorial

The Upper Big Branch Miners Memorial is not the kind of public space that we usually discuss here.  We tend to focus on public spaces that are intended to be more social or recreational.  But the UBB Memorial illustrates the fact that not all public spaces are created for the same purpose or have the same goals.

Following the UBB explosion on April 5, 2009 that claimed the life of 29 miners, the community began to talk about how to honor the memories of those who died that day.  What began as a memorial grew into much more than that.  The UBB Miners Memorial became a place to remember, honor, and learn.

In writing Spaces for People, I’ve avoided projects with which my company is involved.  But because the UBB Memorial is such an important project, I’m going to break my own rule.  Rob Dinsmore, landscape architect (to be) at Chapman Technical Group, designed the memorial.  When Rob designed the project, he was not even two years removed from classes at West Virginia University. 

In his initial sketch, he envisioned the miners’ silhouettes on a granite background, cut to resemble the mountains of West Virginia.  When the UBB Memorial Committee saw the sketch, they knew they had found the design they were looking for.  Rob was then tasked with developing the site in a way that appropriately presented the granite monument and would accommodate friends, family and others who would visit to remember the lives of the lost miners. 

If the granite monument came about through a moment of inspiration, the site design was the result of meticulous space planning, an understanding of how people would move through the site, and detailed engineering to overcome challenges inherent with the site.  To begin with, the site is a narrow sliver of land between the Coal River and a busy two-lane highway.  Poor soils needed to be stabilized, utilities relocated, and objectionable views had to be screened. 

The final plan included a planter parallel to the road to act as a buffer, both physically, to keep road dust and salt in the winter away from the monument, and psychologically, to create a space within the space where people could view the monument up close without feeling like they were standing out on the sidewalk.

On the back side of the monument are the names of those who died, as well as other tributes.  Other panels tell the history of mining in West Virginia.  This back side of the memorial is a more contemplative space, a little more private.  A steel fence screens the objectionable view across the river while openings in the lower portion of the fence allow views of the flowing river.  The fence itself has an industrial feel, reminiscent of the hard-edged life of the coal miner.

While the final memorial changed very little from that first sketch, the memorial site grew as tributes to first responders were incorporated, as well as informational monuments detailing the sequence of events of April 5, 2009.

At the memorial dedication on July 27, there were tears and somber faces.  But there were also gentle smiles and quiet laughter as friends greeted one another and stories were shared.  That will be the future of the Upper Big Branch Memorial.  It is a very special public space serving a very special purpose. 

The back of the granite monument includes the miners’ names, tributes, and a brief history of mining in West Virginia. To the left, the steel fence blocks objectionable views, while still allowing the flowing river to be seen.

The UBB Memorial takes on a more somber tone at dawn and dusk.

Do you know the answer?

I recently moved, which is why I’ve not posted for awhile.  Moving, even when it’s just a couple of miles, will consume you.  Add to that some remodeling and your life becomes one project after another.  Not that you really care about all of that.

What you might be interested in is solving a particular puzzle.  In my new neighborhood, there’ s a whole lot of friendly chatting going on.  Within the first few days of living at our new house, my wife and I had met numerous neighbors (and their numerous dogs) and not just met them, but had lengthy conversations as they took a break from their walk up and down the sidewalk that runs in front of our house.

In our old neighborhood we had great neighbors (and even though we’ve moved, they’re our friends for life) but it took a while to get to know them.  Our old neighborhood had sidewalks, too, and lots of foot traffic and dog walking.  But the kind of conversations we had with strangers in just a few days at our new address were very few in the 20 years we lived in the old neighborhood.

Yes, the new neighborhood is slightly more upscale, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into friendlier people.  In fact, once you got to know the people in the old neighborhood, they were some of the nicest people you could ever know.  I don’t think it’s the people, I think there’s something about the physical characteristics of the new neighborhood that make it more conducive for chatting.

Take a look at the pictures below.

The old neighborhood.

 

 

The new neighborhood.

Do you know the answer?  Hint:  We’ve talked about this before.

UPDATE: Phil Evans was looking for the right thing when he was looking at setbacks. He said that they are “about” the same, which is true, but they are slightly different. In the new neighborhood the sidwalk is closer to the road, creating a little bit more space between the sidewalk and the houses. I believe there is enough of a difference to stretch the boundaries of personal/social/public space. In the old neighborhood, because the sidewalk is so close to the houses, the walkers felt (subconsciously) that they were invading personal space. It was uncomfortable. So rather than strolling by casually, they walked swiftly and with purpose. In the new neighborhood, there’s more of a feeling of being in the social space/public space range, where they don’t feel uncomfortable walking by. This comfort makes people more relaxed and more likely to engage strangers – or not. The choice is theirs.  See Space: from intimate to public.

That’s my theory.  One more parting thought/question…how social are the newer subdivisons with cul-de-sacs and no sidewalks whatsoever?

Thanks for playing, everyone. See you next time.