Can Streets and Sidewalks define a City's Greatness ?

 

King Street on a busy day, Charleston, SC

                                           Where is the human interaction with the sidewalk? 

This week's most poignant reading to me was Jane Jacob's text, from her book "The death and life of great American cities." As an architecture student, it is always hard to bring politics into design because of fear that our opinions might not align with other, but should they?

After spending a year in Charleston by example, I always tried to understand the very fabric of the city not from a historic standpoint but from a perspective that emphasis on the future of that place and what it would be like. If we agreed on the fact that Charleston is a great city by example, why don't I feel the same as someone who was born there or someone who was blown away by the city's rich historic stratification that not only include buildings and memorials, but also streets like King Street and a vibrant waterfront like The East Battery. 

How would this place be relevant to Jane Jacobs view?

The truth is that it might be hard for me to give a direct opinion to that question because maybe I don't appreciate history or maybe I have a lack of understanding concerning the foundations that made Charleston what it is today. Honestly I don't have an answer to that, and I do think that Charleston is a beautiful city but is it great, probably not. 

During my time there, I was able to bike through neighborhoods that were rather "not safe" but let's not get into that conversation since most of us already know the big divide that exist in that place and its history as one of the most important cities in American history.  Fortunately, Jane Jacob made an outstanding remark when she said, " To keep a city safe is a fundamental task of a city's streets and its sidewalks."

That made me think about the many things that I saw while in Charleston, and by example, being on King street, I could only see consumerism, not engagement between people, and yes "Tourists." Did they feel safe, maybe yes and maybe not. I can't tell because of the dichotomy on that big avenue, vehicles and human interacting with each other with no barrier that divide the twos.

However, following Jane Jacob's point of view, my interpretation is that engaging the street and people depend on how people themselves interact with each other when they share the street or the sidewalk, and it doesn't happen in Charleston sadly. But yes many would contradict that statement although I see it from a designer point of view.

Another example is that Charleston does have many small roads and beautiful porches but can we say that there is an interaction between the porches and the streets, probably yes, but what about human interactions with the porches in general, there is none, there is a void between the people walking on the sidewalks of Charleston and the many porches that follow along as we pass by. 

One last example is that it was weird when I passed by an alley and saw a wall full of graffiti painted all over it, and I asked myself, does this disturb the fabric of the city, yes, it did, but does it make it less safe, probably not. The funny thing is that the wall was located in a place that was very close to King Street, but that wall had a different way to interact with people who passed by, and although there was a different feeling in contrast to aesthetic and characteristic of the building surrounding that wall, safety wasn't a concern to me.

My point is that architecture can be disruptive to an environment and I agree with Jacobs on the fact that human interaction with the sidewalks can be a catalyst in how great a city is. In the case of Charleston, which I love,  I don't see that interaction, but i can see the void that exist between the sidewalks , the streets and human even when it is packed. 

In Andalusia, Spain or Marrakech Morocco by example, it is interesting to see the interaction between people and the streets, and people and the buildings at the same time. Would that be an engaging model, couldn't we say that would be an applicable example to what a great city can be like?

busy street of Andalusia, Spain