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February 11, 2005
If only this were real...
Now this is a true piazza in design and proportion, just the right scale, surrounded by restaurants and entertainment, always full of people, and even located in the U.S. Unfortunately, the second and third floors are not offices and apartments and it's a tourist attraction in a Las Vegas resort on the Strip.
The point here is not to rip on all the things Las Vegas does wrong, but to learn from what happens when the top designers in the world focus on building places that compel people to walk into a place and exclaim, "Wow... let's stay here a while" - which is exactly what most people did. Resorts are one of the best laboratories of place-making innovation.
There is no reason why we can't build an authentic version of this, with local stores and vernacular architecture, with the same commitment to the comfortable human scale; lack of cars, parking and streets; and ring of cafes with outdoor seating. Ok, so most cities don't have the budget to hire the world's top designers, but they already did most of the research for you in built form.
Posted by Neil | Link to Article
February 10, 2005
A very cool town founder...
His name is Kiki Wallace, and he's the founder of a striking new town called Prospect located outside Boulder, Colorado, as introduced in yesterday's blog.
I've known him for a few years since the town first broke down - he was one of the first to get his hands on the VW New Beetle when it came out, and he could never attend a conference because he didn't have the patience to sit and watch speakers who talked about what he was already doing. Well, he couldn't really sit still regardless. The streets in Prospect, such as Tenacity Drive and Incorrigible Lane are not a coincidence.
In other words, Kiki Wallace is a visionary, an entrepreneur and a little bit of a cowboy, and we need more people like him building more places like Prospect (especially in urban areas) because there are more than enough people who want to live and work in them.
Posted by Neil | Link to Article
February 9, 2005
Finally, a contemporary new town
The irony is that of the hundreds of new pedestrian-oriented towns being built, hardly any of them look remotely, well, new. Most of them reflect the traditional styles of 1920s architecture, which is fine in the sense that much of that era produced some of the most beautiful towns in the country, but not so fine in perpetuating the myth that we can't produce even more beautiful towns with modern design and materials?
I experienced what is perhaps a sign of things to come last week when I visited the new town of Prospect in Longmont, Colorado, near Boulder. The colors were unique, the materials were contemporary, and the building designs were refreshing. Even the commercial venues and locations were progressive - with a hot new coffeehouse in the town center and a restaurant/bar (with lots of outdoor seating) in the middle of a residential neighborhood.
It's entirely different from the new towns being built, but its residents agree that it's also more fun, vibrant and just plain better.
How did Prospect come to be? More in the next blog...
Posted by Neil | Link to Article
February 8, 2005
The secret to Boulder's downtown pedestrian street?
Boulder's downtown pedestrian street (Pearl Street) is one of only a few in the U.S. that survived the regional enclosed mall phase that began in the 1960s and now ending. What's their secret?
Pearl Street's shops and restaurants account for only 30% of its square footage, all on the ground floor. A whopping 52% is devoted to private offices, mainly on the second and third floors, while the rest (18%) is government offices and other civic uses as churches, the bus depot, and police station. What this means is that there's a constant daytime population (e.g. office workers) to not only patronize the restaurants and shops, but just as importantly to provide a sense of life on the streets to attract visitors. Even housing is on its way, and that will provide the 24/7 population that helps ensure a high level of street vitality.
Image: This was taken at 11 pm on a weekday night in below freezing weather, yet there were still people walking the street, presumably to and from the late night entertainment.
Posted by Neil | Link to Article
February 7, 2005
San Francisco's hidden alley destination
As they say, "If San Francisco had a French quarter, Belden Place would be it." It's an intimate, human-scaled alley lined with cafes, tucked away between Bush and Pine, Kearny and Montgomery streets in the Financial District. The entire pedestrian-only street (paseo) is one elongated dining room, and a larger version of the ones in Sienna, Spain.
While they do celebrate Bastille Day in the alley, the day-day culinary experience is anything but exclusively French. On any given day, one can enjoy Moroccan kebabs, Spanish pan of paella, Italian homemade pasta, fresh seafood, as well as traditional French crepes, casseroles and seared meats.
Can you imagine an affordable version of these in your neighborhood? (maybe without the 50-story mass as the terminating building...)
Posted by Neil | Link to Article
