g src=“http://www.cooltownstudios.com/images/madrid-plazadechueca.jpg” style=“padding-bottom: 8px; padding-right: 8px” align=left title=“Plaza De Chueca, Madrid, Spain”

Residents in the U.S. revel in block parties, whether they’re urban like Adams Morgan Day or residence-based in the burbs. It’s a time when you can roam the street freely without having to look both ways, and enjoying the street as one giant festive patio.

Still, having a block party in the U.S. is typically a major pain in

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La Rambla, which translates to ‘intermittent water flow’, is the iconic hub of Barcelona, a predominantly pedestrian-only plaza stretching nearly a mile through the historic center of the Spanish city.

The central area is filled with outdoor dining areas, merchant kiosks and countless strollers, bordered on either side by traffic-calmed two-lane roads for cars, which are then fronted with restaurants, stores and residences.  Servers (pictured) cross the traffic lanes to cater to customers in

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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

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The answer?  When you focus on designing great alleys.

Narrow, pedestrian-only streets (paseos) are becoming quite popular.  They help focus attention on people, the most interesting subject matter to the human eye.  This ‘people stage’ is made more dramatic with a terminating building(s).

Building facades that feature human-scaled, human-designed detailing are that much more appealing to - humans, especially if you intend to look at it longer than a minute or two.  The same goes for the

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We all know how nice it is to sit on our front porch or backyard when the weather’s nice.  We were meant to breathe fresh air and hear the sounds of everyday life rather than the sounds of the TV set or pot and pans banging in the background (like in small restaurants).  It’s easy on the mind and healthy for the soul.

Since cafes and coffeehouses are designed for lingering, the quintessential third place, providing outdoor seating is a must.  In our focus groups, half of the places that

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