"I see you"
Jane Jacobs
interpretation of sidewalks and understanding of sidewalks in 1960 is
inspiring, and yet lacking change from today’s understanding. “Streets and
their sidewalks, the main public places of a city, are its most vital organs.”,
the way we understand cities today does not revolve around the power of a
sidewalk, it revolves around what is attached to the sidewalk (markets, hotels,
bars). The sidewalks just get us there. On the other hand, considering the idea
of neighborhood watch, Andy’s story of the alphabet streets come to mind.
Although we
all found it interesting and motivating that the people living on that street
took it upon themselves to open their door and call the people out that were
making their sidewalks unwalkable. This is not a unique circumstance, Jane
Jacobs says sidewalks are not only kept clean by the police, but “an intricate,
almost unconscious, network of voluntary controls and standards among the
people themselves”. I think this directly relates to time and how long someone must
live in a place to feel the need to change it, and I feel that this is what
took place on the street that Andy was referring too. The idea that giving
people a sense of ownership gives them the will to change the things around them
because they feel that they own that sidewalk just as much as they own their
home.
Well said. Though we as designers can't necessarily control what developers chose to build, I think we can help guide them to create user-friendly sidewalks/walkable areas that make people want to take ownership over them.
ReplyDeleteWell said. I think that the way we design impacts the urban fabric tremendously and in turn really effects the use of the sidewalk. At the end of the day, the sidewalk is getting us from one place to another. But if there isn't anything at the end of the sidewalk then its useless. We need to continue to create and design for the use of the sidewalk and allow people to maneuver throughout cities in a pleasant matter.
ReplyDeleteWhen Jacobs speaks about the fact that the sidewalks are the main public space I think it is interesting because like you mentioned, we see the main public space as what is attached to it but when I think about interactions in College or when I was working. The informal ones were always happening on the sidewalks. There are people that I would never talk to if it were not for the sidewalks: your mail man, the guy passing out news papers every morning, the people walking their dogs etc. I still think sidewalks (in cities that are walkable of course) are very important to social life. It is also interesting to see, in Haiti the sidewalks are the heart of social life too.
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