Below are some random comments about different public spaces in the Hall of Shame.

“People have told us that a lot of people use this square as an open space on certain days. But sporadic use does not make a great square.”

“Hard to find, hard to see into, and unfriendly to navigate, this is not a park that was designed to encourage pedestrian access.”

“There are often lots of activities that draw people into the park, but it seems to do little good. Once the activity or event is over, people scatter, fearing they may be left alone.”

“Fences and walls meant to provide safety instead make the place feel like a cage – it’s forbidding to walk into. Benches have metal dividers; trees were seen as obstacles to visibility and so are limited and not optimally sited.”

Some of the spaces in the Hall of Shame look like good design on the surface.  Some obviously took a lot of money to build.  And yet they don’t work.

How do the spaces in your town work?  Do any of the comments above apply?  It’s a hard truth that many of our public spaces fail in their primary function.

Concept plan for Slack Plaza developed by Origin4Design.

In the past, I’ve used Charleston’s Slack Plaza to illustrate some of the challenges facing public spaces.  If the concepts developed recently by the Pittsburgh design firm, Origin4Design (O4D), are ever implemented, I won’t have Slack Plaza to kick around anymore.

As part of the EPA’s Greening America’s Capitals initiatives, O4D was charged with developing a plan to revitalize Slack Plaza and adjacent areas using sustainable design principles.  One of my concerns with the program was that it might focus too much on green building techniques and not enough on creating spaces that people might actually use.  Origin4Design did as well as anybody could have done in addressing both issues.

One of the challenges with plazas is that they are great when there are lots of people, but lose their sense of scale and intimacy when the crowds dwindle.  In the O4D design, while there is plenty of room to accommodate larger crowds, there are also smaller pocket spaces, along with abundant seating opportunities, both of which are essential for a place to become social.

O4D also addressed one of the more critical issues of Slack Plaza, that of people just passing through.  As a link from traditional downtown Charleston to the Charleston Town Center, Slack Plaza is an important pedestrian link.  The current plaza forces pedestrians to walk a gauntlet that can sometimes be scary, as they are funneled through a narrow passageway between planter walls and the old fountain.   Violations of personal and public space rules make the walk very uncomfortable.  The O4D plan provides ample public space for those just passing through, which by itself is a critical improvement.

The basic functional changes are spun in a tapestry of creative thought.  Edges have the same freehand flow that was born on charrette tracing paper.  Pavement designs are spirited and fanciful.  Lighting is not restricted to poles with box fixtures, but reflect an atmosphere of fun that is apparent throughout the O4D design.

The final design of Slack Plaza is as organic and free-flowing as the concept sketches.

Because the EPA only funded the concept development, there is currently no money to actually implement the design.  Hopefully, we’ll see some movement on the project before the dust accumulates on the bound copies.  At any rate, the Origin4Design is a good start.  Good job, guys.

Images provided by Orgin4Desgin.  You can see the entire Slack Plaza report at the EPA website.

We need to think the same way in developing public spaces.  Are we enhancing the customers’ experience?

The customers are the residents of your city.  The visitors to your city.  The businesses, too, are customers.

Too often I see good ideas for public spaces poorly executed.  “We need a place for people to sit,” I can imagine a civic leader saying.  So he opens the catalog and picks out an institutional bench that will withstand even the most determined vandal.  Next, he will meet with another staffer and walk along the sidewalk and with little consideration of how people behave or the patterns of sun and shade or opportunities for social interaction, they will pick locations for the benches.  Then benches are cast in concrete where they will remain, for better or for worse, until the next good idea comes along.

Stores and restaurants go to great lengths to make sure customers enjoy their experience.  They value their customers.

Cities should value their customers even more.  They should take their good ideas seriously and get the help they need to make sure they are executed properly.  Before everything is cast in concrete.

The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, once known as the Weston State Hospital.

On a recent trip to north central West Virginia, I heard an ad on the radio inviting visitors to the Halloween tours of the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in Weston.

Oh, we like to be scared.

We went to theme park haunted houses as kids.  We love scary movies and tv shows.  Being scared can be great entertainment when we know it’s not real.  In the back of our minds, we know that the scare will end with no harm being done.  Tours of abandoned prisons and mental hospitals play into that.

The old hospital in Weston is classic, scary building architecture.  Seems like it was made for a Hitchcock movie.  It’s also kind of awe-inspiring.  It’s not just one building, but a sprawling campus that reflects the treatment philosophy of the day.

The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum (its original name) was designed using the Kirkbride plan, which followed the theory of “building as cure” and was meant to provide humane conditions for patients who at the time were chained to walls in jails and almshouses.  Originally planned for 250 patients in 1858, it housed more than 2,400 in the 1950’s.  As conditions continued to deteriorate and treatment philosophy evolved, Weston State Hospital (its final name) closed in 1994.

That’s only 17 years ago.  I would guess that there are many people who lived at Weston State Hospital who are still alive.  There are undoubtedly many family members who can vividly recall the heartbreaking visits to their loved ones at Weston.  They are not interested in make-believe haunted houses.  Their hauntings are real.

I go by the old hospital occasionally.  I see big, empty buildings and a huge expanse of yard.  It’s easy for my imagination to go back to the 1850’s and see a new building, lush lawns and newly-planted trees, benches along the sidewalks.  I can imagine that it was a marvelous place, all things considered.  Doctors and patients strolling in the grass, finding a trace of humanity as they reach out to each other in the comfort of God’s creation.

Nothing like that now.  Standing on the lawn, I feel empty.  Like this place is no place for people.

At one time the Weston State Hospital was a beautiful place, but its scars are many and deep.  We should be thankful that it existed.  We should be thankful that it no longer does.

This past summer I was privileged to attend the weddings of two of my nieces, Hope and Hannah.  Both took place in the greater Cincinnati area, one in Covington, Kentucky and the other in Fairfield, Ohio.  Both weddings were beautiful and my nieces married great guys, Jonny and Rob.

Hope’s wedding in Ohio took place at the Fairfield Community Arts Center, adjacent to Village Green Park, which served as the setting for the post-wedding photographs.  It’s a really beautiful park with lots of water, lush landscaping and interactive sculptures. For a photo-op, it was hard to beat.  Even an amateur like me was able to capture some halfway decent images.

It’s obvious that more than a few bucks were spent on Village Green Park.  With all the spraying water, it seems perfect for kids.  And there are nice spaces for adults, too.

There will always be kids at Village Green Park. And a dog. Always.

But here’s what I left the park thinking about.  I was there on a perfect summer evening, and yet, if you subtract the visiting wedding party, there were only a handful of people in the park.  It made me wonder how much it’s really used. I know it’s hard to judge a place when you’ve only been there once for about twenty minutes, and maybe more visits would reveal a different reality.  I hope that’s the case because a park that nice needs to be enjoyed by lots of people. And as you can tell by the photo below, the wedding party had a good time.

Village Green Park inspires play even in older kids.

What about you?  Where do you like to go to hang out and be among other people?  Is a beautiful park with lots of cool features enough to attract you?

Photos by the author.