Most
well-used public spaces are owned by the public. When I talk with others of creating more energized
public places in the North Bay, the initial assumptions are publicly-owned parks
and downtown plazas.
Much of the
reason for the assumption is that privately-owned public spaces in recent times
are often dismal places.
As has been
documented by William
Whyte and others who have looked at the plazas of Manhattan, people
rarely linger in most plazas owned by private corporations. The problem is that the corporations were
induced to provide public spaces in exchange for additional building
height. But having provided the spaces,
they had no interest in maintaining a plaza which people actually used. So they sought design solutions that would
make the plazas as dreary and unfriendly as possible. As a result, few folks find enough enjoyment
to hang around.
Here in the
Bay Area, the plaza in front of the Bank of America Building in San Francisco
is an example of an unfriendly public space.
But there
can be well-designed and well-used public places that are privately-owned. Corporations that followed the concepts put
forth by Whyte have often energized their plazas. Examples in Manhattan include the CBS
Building and Rockefeller Center.
Here in the
North Bay, although not as fully energized as some may have hoped, Theatre
Square Plaza is an example of a privately owned public plaza that offers some vitality.
Yet one more
example, this one again in the state of New York, is Larkin Square in Buffalo.
The Project
for Public Spaces, an organization that is well-aligned with the work of Whyte,
interviewed the Zemsky family who own Larkin
Square. Having revitalized their obsolete industrial
buildings and finding that they didn’t need as much parking as they had
anticipated, the family began looking for other uses for the land that
remained. Trying to build a place that
they would themselves enjoy and learning from the usage as the public space evolved,
Larkin Square was the result.
The
lunchtime office worker crowd, fed by a restaurant in the square, is typical of
many better public spaces, but where Larkin Square excels is in the evening,
when food trucks and free music can attract crowds of more than 1,000 people.
As Leslie
Zemsky notes, the family couldn’t always justify the costs for Larkin Square
based on the projected bottom line, but they were sure that building the square
as an engaged public space would provide benefits to the family. And they were right.
In
describing the success of Larkin Square, the Project for Public Spaces notes
their eleven
steps for building great public
spaces. I’ve linked the eleven steps before,
but they’re worth reviewing again relative to Larkin Square. The concept of triangulation, the idea that site
features can be configured such that strangers are induced to begin
conversations, is particularly intriguing.
I’m writing
about Larkin Square because the Congress for the New Urbanism will meet in
Buffalo this year. The 22nd annual
conference, better known as CNU 22, will begin in Buffalo in a few days. Having enjoyed and learned much at CNU 21 in
Salt Lake City last year, I’ll be in Buffalo this year. And with the conference closing party in
Larkin Square, I’ll have a chance to look around the square myself.
Based on the
CNU 21 experience, I expect to rub shoulders for five days with inspirational
urbanists and to return with lots to share, much of which will quickly find its
way into this space.
As always,
your questions or comments will be appreciated.
Please comment below or email me.
And thanks for reading. - Dave Alden (davealden53@comcast.net)
Have a great trip. I recently saw a video about Buffalo (probably due to a link from you) that completely changed my image of that city from a picture of an industrial dead-zone smothered by Great Lakes snowdrift to a realization that the city has a proud architectural and urban design tradition. Looking forward to your thoughts and comments upon your return.
ReplyDeleteSteve, thanks for the good wishes. I believe the video to which you refer is "Buffalo, America's Best Designed City". I don't know if it was prepared solely for the approaching CNU 22, but it might as well have been because it aligns perfectly with CNU mission. For those who want to view the video, I provided a link in my October 25 post of last year. The post can be found in the archives.
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