Stranger Danger

"A city sidewalk by itself is nothing. It's an abstraction. It means something only in conjunction with the buildings and other uses that boarder it" - Jane Jacobs

    What is a city sidewalk? Well according to Jane Jacobs, it's nothing. It's only a connection between the real urbanism of the city or town which are the buildings. Yet, Sidewalks are a very important infrastructure. sidewalks are to humans as roads are to cars and we cant use cars without roads so we cant walk and run without sidewalks right? Thats where my mind goes too when I read this. Sidewalks are one of the most important aspects of a city yet we take them for granted every day. We barely notice when sidewalks are in the right places and when we are using them for their intended purpose but the minute there is a mistake with them its because the most annoying and inconvenient obstacles in our day to day life. 

    Sidewalks are the fabric of shared space. They are what connect us to other people which, architecturally speaking, is something we attempt to do with every project. We want to design communities yet Jane Jacobs argues the dangers of them. Shared spaces are where people feel the most unsafe, it's where they get mugged, and it's where the most barbaric acts take place. So do we continue to push the idea of community even in cities where the community isn't necessarily the most friendly? That is something that we as architects need to figure out and think about more when we design for shared spaces because I think just simply labeling a random exterior as "park" or "community" can be dangerous if not designed intentionally.