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August 12, 2005 - The Street

Often it is hard to pinpoint exactly what is the essence of the urban experience. Most often when asked, people will give responses that seem entirely logical: the parks, the restaurants, the different cultural institutions and experiences that a city houses; however, I think that quite often the urban experience is enjoyed on a much simpler level, but one that is pivotal to it: the street.

On a certain level, the idea that the street is crucial to the success of an urban setting is quite intuitive. At some point in our travels, we are normally pedestrians, whether we walk from our origin to our destination points, walk from the bus stop to where we're going, or even just from a parking garage to the stores we mean to shop at. Yet all too often, we neglect the streets in our urban design, neglecting to capitalize on the vital role they play in the city.

Naturally, urban design is one of the greatest areas of deficiency for our streets in most cities. Usually this takes the form of inappropriate building massing or positioning. Walk through almost any "Central Business District" (a shopworn term that attempts to mask the destruction of downtown by building office towers by assigning a mono-functional term to denote the success of the undertaking) and you'll often find massive buildings that darken the streets and create wind tunnels. Alternately, you may find them set back in a "park-like setting". Although this appears to be a nice compromise to having buildings that are too tall against the sidewalk, too often it takes away the definition that minimal setbacks give the street and more often than not result in an underused greenspace that functions as little more than ornamentation.

Many other factors can negatively impact on commercial areas. Often sidewalks are not adequately buffered from the adjacent roadway, creating a sensation for pedestrians of walking down a highway shoulder. Ideally a commercial strip should feature buildings that are built out to the sidewalk, or at least have activities such as patio dining, and feature a buffer between the street and the road. This can take several forms, from the most basic - parked cars - to landscaping or furniture and ornamentation. Sidewalks should also be wide, to accommodate different uses for the space at the same time. The overall effect should be to create a well-defined space that feels safe and stimulating.

In new residential areas, the street is often in great distress. In a society that seems to be devolving into a mass of individualized beings, houses are literally turning their backs on the street in many cases. In the suburbs of Ottawa for example, houses are still being approved for construction that turn a blank wall to the street, or face into private courtyards, blocked from any relation to the street by noise barriers or privacy fences. This of course works against the safe neighbourhood, whose security is based on the eyes on the street. Additionally, ridiculously wide streets mandated by fire departments and engineers often turn what should be quiet places for children to play games like street hockey or football into speedways that double as shortcuts from clogged arterials.

As tempting as it is to blame the sometimes woeful state of street life on bad urban design, the deeper problem is often social. In the last 75 years there has been a plethora of innovations in society that have served to weaken street life in cities. Mass automobile use has certainly robbed our streets of the pedestrian life that once teemed in many towns and cities. The television and internet have turned markets away from social outings like going to the movies, a play or the library in favour of staying at home. The perception that time is at a greater premium than ever before often means that people are less likely to partake in simple pleasures like strolling along the main thoroughfare or a tree-lined street for the sake of taking in the sights and sounds of the city. Clearly, if we want our streets to be vibrant places where people and ideas collide to create a quantum of social and intellectual stimulation, then we have to reevaluate our priorities and make a commitment as individuals and as a broader society to street life and social life in general.

Looking through the pictures I've taken and posted on this website, the choices are clear: looking at the pictures I took in Detroit last fall, you can hand your city over to mass automobile use and racial prejudice, thereby ending up with ghettoes and derelict streetscapes that nobody wants to use; Indeed, I can't think of a photo opportunity I had in the downtown core that would have included people outside of my class. Alternately, you can pick the middle road like Ottawa, where there is increased attention on streetscapes (Richmond Road has been redesigned to be more vibrant as has Bank Street through Ottawa South and several urban design guidelines are at varying stages of development for different communities, but where the suburbs are still relegated to the car and anti-urban streetscapes and have a modicum of street life. The other option is to take Toronto's example and nurture street life so that it becomes a meeting ground for different cultures, different ideas and different people, thereby making it a central part of most people's daily lives.