Jane Jacobs’ Legacy

Urban planning pioneer Jane Jacobs died yesterday just before her 90th birthday, leaving a legacy of planners inspired by her beliefs that designing for people is critically important for the vibrancy of communities.

Her groundbreaking book The Death and Life of Great American Cities was written at a time -- the early '60s -- when American society was falling in love with both the automobile and the promise of grand "urban renewal" projects. For many politicians of the era, bigger was better; but the result was the destruction of human-scale environments. Replacement large-scale, bold projects often ended up making communities less successful, not moreso (such as Boston's City Hall Plaza).

Jacobs put into words what many people believed instinctively, but couldn't explain: Highways through the heart of cities are bad and kill off neighborhoods. Mixing commercial and residential use in human-scale, distinctive neighborhoods works better than suburban sprawl.

"In the '50s, American cities were generally considered messy, undesirable things. Suburban life was considered the ideal. Jane Jacobs fought valiantly in defense of plain, old-fashioned, urban life," New Yorker architecture critic Paul Goldberger told the Los Angeles Times.

It was a radical notion in the post-war era, when emerging technologies and industrial prowess seemed to make everything possible, and spanking new suburban communities were seen to be vastly superior to older cities.

"At a time when both common and inspired wisdom called for bulldozing slums and opening up city space, Ms. Jacobs's prescription was ever more diversity, density and dynamism — in effect, to crowd people and activities together in a jumping, joyous urban jumble," the New York Times notes. "Indisputably, the book [Death and Life...] was as radically challenging to conventional thinking as Rachel Carson's 'Silent Spring,' which helped engender the environmental movement, would be the next year, and Betty Friedan's 'The Feminine Mystique,' which deeply affected perceptions of relations between the sexes, would be in 1963."

Most of those who fight to save close-knit neighborhoods from big-box retailers, who work for pedestrian-friendly streetscapes, who battle for walkable communties, have been inspired by Jacobs' groundbreaking work.

What Killed a Phoenix Neighborhood Business District?

"The 1970s were cruel to the Melrose neighborhood's stretch of north Seventh Avenue: The street was widened," begins an article in the Arizona Republic about the area's renovation. "Seventh Avenue, Councilman Tom Simplot said, became a minifreeway."

It's a cautionary tale for what not to do when faced with traffic problems in a downtown business district. Improving through-traffic flow cannot be planners' sole focus when roads go through retail districts.

Today, though, Melrose is coming back, the Republic says -- in part because "over the past several years, federal funding has been used for streetscape improvements to create a pedestrian friendly feeling for the shopping district within the well-traveled thoroughfare."

That means things like "shade structures," benches, outdoor art, and planned outdoor patios for restaurants.

Designing solely for cars, without also ensuring an attractive, appealing pedestrian streetscape, is usually a recipe for disaster in a neighborhood business district.

Quality of Life Doesn’t Just Happen

"Quality of life doesn't happen as a byproduct of a free market," said Harriet Tregoning, executive director of the Smart Growth Leadership Institute in Washington, according to an article in the Charlotte Observer. "You have to be deliberate. You can't just fix it afterward. I don't know of too many communities that have been able to turn a big-box space into a park."

While of course some people still want huge homes on enormous lots in car-mandatory exurban-sprawl communities, demographics are pointing to less, not more, demand for such housing. "In 30 years, proportionately fewer households will have kids, she said," the article notes. "More homeowners will want townhomes or homes on smaller lots located near downtown or other urban amenities. Young professionals and retirees alike will want access to mass transit." Thirty-five years from now, an estimated 30% of U.S. residential demand will be for large suburban houses.

Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal notes that mega-mall developer Mills Corp. is struggling. "While a typical large mall draws customers from a 10- to 20-mile radius, many Mills malls are so big they need to draw from a larger area to attract enough customers. As a result, Mills became more vulnerable to new competitors, including outlet centers, discount stores and the hot new model -- open-air 'lifestyle centers,' which adhere to a 'Main Street' approach, with stores opening onto a street, says Steven H. Gartner, president of Metro Commercial Real Estate Inc., a Conshohocken, Penn., retail consultant. And high gas prices made shoppers less willing to drive long distances for a deal on a pair of blue jeans," the Journal reports.

"In other words, downtown main streets are 'in' again," says CoolTown Studios. "Still, like anything, it's wise for main streets to understand what made these malls successful for so long, and that's largely attributable to combining retail with entertainment. What were food courts in malls can become dining piazzas in downtowns. Multiplex mall theaters can move to main street. Even indoor recreation like climbing walls and simulated-experience arcade games can find a welcome home in cities rather than in the megamalls."

It's something Framingham needs to remember as it looks to revitalize downtown. Quality of life doesn't just happen, and neither does a vibrant business district. You need planning, an appealing mix of retail and residences, and a pedestrian-attractive streetscape to tie it all together.

When Pedestrians Take Over the Streets

In many cities like New York and Montreal, streets are regularly closed for various festivals and parades. Things like Montreal's jazz and comedy festivals add significantly to quality of life (despite the annoyance for vehicular traffic) and also often attract tourists. It's much less frequent that suburban streets are closed off for events that revolve around foot traffic. But here, too, such events can attract tourists and add to a special sense of place that makes living in a neighborhood something special.

Yesterday's Boston Marathon showed us yet again that it is indeed possible to turn over our roads to pedestrians from time to time. The Hopkinton-to-Boston route was a 26.2-mile-long outdoor party. In Framingham, there was a multicultural festival after the race ran through. In towns all along the course, people were throwing private and public parties. This is what a slice of Commonwealth Avenue in Newton looked like during the race:



Note all the spectators lined up along the grassy area at right. There were numerous lawn barbecues and parties, both in the public spaces and in peoples' front yards. A friend who lives in this neighborhood, far from complaining that her road was blocked and she couldn't drive anywhere for the afternoon, kept commenting how much she enjoyed the sea of humanity. Others were giving away water not only to runners, but fellow spectators who were thirsty.

Patriots Day is a joyous, special time all along the course. And it's no coincidence that the cars are temporarily removed from some public streets that day so pedestrians can reclaim our public space.

Where in the ‘Built Environment’ Can You Go to Enjoy a Nice Day Outside?

I don't mean finding a park or a trail to go hiking, cycling or running. My question is: As the weather (finally) gets nice out, where can you go to enjoy it by strolling around and/or sitting outdoors in a manmade environment? That question goes to the heart of whether a streetscape is truly pedestrian-appealing.

In Boston, Back Bay is an outstanding option -- extremely attractive streetscapes, sidewalks and buildings designed for maximum appeal when on foot, and plenty of outdoor cafes where you can stop and spend some time outside eating, drinking and people-watching. Parts of the waterfront near the North End are also nice for outdoor strolling amidst the buildings, with lots of benches where people actually do want to stop and sit.

Quincy Market is another place thronging with people when the weather gets nice, as is Harvard Square in Cambridge.

In MetroWest, though, options are somewhat limited for spending an afternoon outdoors in a manmade environment. Concord center is a top choice, with a truly appealing streetscape, and outdoor dining at the Concord Inn in nice weather. But even some of the other nice, revitalized downtowns aren't designed for enjoying a beautiful spring afternoon walking around, if you include "some sort of attractive place where you'd truly want to stop, sit and enjoy a nice day" as part of the equation.

That's a key issue I hope Framingham officials consider when someday there's serious work to revitalize downtown. Simply sticking more residences and stores down there won't itself create that kind of magnet environment to draw people. You need great storefront design, thoughtful placement of stop-in-the-nice-weather destinations, infills of businesses that were built far back from the sidewalk (few things kill your streetscape as effectively as too many parking lots fronting the sidewalk), landscaping between sidewalk and traffic, and so on. You also want your storefronts and sidewalks designed to encourage outdoor seating in nice weather, a great way to bring life to your streetscape.

In yesterday's Globe Calendar, there was a review of an outdoor cafe in Belmont: "Syrian-born Vivian Abkarian has had a hair salon in Belmont’s Cushing Square for almost seven years. Her Salon de Paris took up too much real estate, she decided one day, so she divided the place in half. One part still houses her salon, and the other has become Cafe D’Or, or 'golden cafe,' " the review starts off.

"Abkarian gave the place a French name because she pictured people eating at sidewalk tables in mild weather the way Parisians do at their neighborhood cafes. Since the cafe opened, she says, 'when I see people sitting outside on a sunny day, I feel like I’m sitting in Europe.' " We shouldn't have to cross the Atlantic in order to experience the joys of sitting at an outdoor cafe on a nice spring day.