Reasons to be There
People like to do a variety of things at
different times. Someone might want to sit
outside with a newspaper, another might
be out for a brisk walk, another might want
to shop and is interested in wandering
slowly. A family might be looking for something
that involves their children. Perhaps
a person might want to have lunch while
listening to some live music.
Offering choices makes the world a
more interesting place to be and is more
inclusive of a wider variety of people. Good
urban design creates an environment with
variety and choice which contributes to a
feeling that a town has vitality and energy.
Yesterday … and Today
“In River Park [in 1940] informal socializing
spilled out into the street and into places of
commerce … The more gregarious or less busy
citizen might take an hour to negotiate one
block of Main Street, for there were always a
good many people walking or lounging along
it during daylight hours. … The old-timers
liked nothing better than to talk with the more
active people of the community and keep up
on things.
If one were to visit River Park today, one
would see quite a different place from that
which existed in 1940. … The people are largely
gone from the street now, as are the physical
amenities that earlier accommodated them.
The architecture of Main Street has
changed noticeably. The earlier storefronts featured
large windows and the majority of them
had outdoor seating, in most cases integral to
their architecture. Wide steps and Kasota stone
slabs that flanked the entrances were heavily
used by those who found them cool places to
sit in the summer. … Large windows and the
encouragement to lounge at the portals combined
to unify indoors and out and to encourage
a ‘life on the street’ as well. That outdoor
seating is all but gone now. The new storefronts
are tight against the street and their
much smaller windows allow little seeing in
or seeing out.”
From: The Great Good Place, by Ray Oldenburg
(Paragon House, 1989)
One of the landmark books examining how the urban
environment works (and doesn’t work), Jane Jacob’s
The Death and Life of Great American Cities (Vintage
Books Edition, 1992; originally published in
1961) includes much on the importance of variety
and choice.