Is public space the true expression of city culture?
My sister had been living in Tulsa, Oklahoma for about two months when I asked her what she thought of the place.
“Car is king,” was the first thing she said.
Rather than discussing the architecture, or the weather, or the people, she first noted the layout of the town. Buildings were far away from each other, there were little to no spaces for pedestrians to gather and rest, and the exteriors of buildings all seemed unwelcoming and unpleasant to wander past.
My sister’s first impression of Tulsa reveals how important infrastructure is. It can quickly set the scene for a city’s culture. How comfortable residents feel window shopping, traveling by foot, or spending time outside is dependent on public space design.
One component is alleyways, which have become an increasingly popular topic for city planners. Alleyways offer an exciting challenge, they contain valuable space, but are often neglected and distrusted by citizens. Revitalized alleys have been shown to increase business exposure and promote clean energy and better health.
In each city, planners, usually aided by non-profits, approach this problem differently. San Francisco embraced the disheveled nature of alleys and filled them with beautiful murals, thereby celebrating the space with color and art, but not necessitating maintenance or better hygiene. Detroit aimed to address weather issues such as drainage by creating semi-permeable alleys with plants placed in between the bricks.
How each city addresses this alley problem reveals a lot about its culture and values. Especially when comparing two different tactics, such as Chicago’s Activate program and Fort Collins’ Old Town revitalization program.
Chicago creates interest in the alleyways through events. Interactive art, music, and festivities fill the alleys for six nights between May and October, in order to get citizens exposed to and familiar with the alleys. By bringing people in, they can begin to understand their importance to communities, and their potential to strengthen the space even further.
Chicago’s approach isn’t permanent the same way reconstruction would be. It requires annual planning to book different artists and events. But the approach is effective at increasing interest in alleyways. According to an International Downtown Association report, the Activate program has drawn over 30,000 attendees since its inception in 2013. This wave of people has been responsible for $1.7 million in an estimated economic boost to downtown businesses.
Chicago’s revitalization approach reflects a lot about the culture of the city. Rather than spending time shutting down alleys to rebuild them, Chicago would rather build on top of the existing space. It shows a cultural value of movement and development over waiting and redeveloping. This makes sense for a dense city. With 11,960 people per square mile, residents are used to higher levels of disrepair in public areas and tire easily of seeing even more construction. (For comparison, Fort Collins only has a population density of 2,932 people per square mile.)The city of 2.7 million people has a stronger entertainment and nightlife industry, as well, so people are more accustomed to and interested in seeking out fun special events in their town.
Compare this approach to Fort Collins’ revitalization. Other than a new interactive mural behind Prost Brewing in Firehouse Alley, there is less push to bring interactive events.
Instead, Fort Collins has decided to take a careful, methodical, and subtler approach to alley revitalization.
Rather than adding to the alley, the whole space is redesigned. Everything from the paved ground to the name of the alley is considered and planned. Things like walkability, bikeability, and rest spaces are given thought. Names are given to the alleys in order to encourage Fort Collins citizens to see them as streets and not liminal spaces in between buildings. Bike racks decorate the sides of the walls just as frequently as murals do. Beautification features such as foliage and lighting have dual purposes. Planters both help absorb carbon from the air to aide Fort Collins’s environmental practices, and lighting increases pedestrian and bicyclists safety. Benches allow for pedestrians to rest or meet up with friends in the alleys. Even the patterning of the sidewalk tiles is considered to create subtle “lanes” for each form of transportation from pedestrian to motorist.
The hygiene in the spaces is improved by revamping the entire trash collection system, in order to precisely and systemically keep the alleys clean and inviting. Dumpsters are consolidated into one closed off area in order to keep them out of the actual alleys as much as possible, saving pedestrians from the unappealing trash odor in the summer.
Fort Collins’ revitalization is an involved process. Alleys have to be blocked off for months to allow for the construction. But once it’s complete, it’s relatively easy to maintain. It’s a longer-term solution compared to Chicago’s’ alleys, more structural rather than event-based.
This reflects the cultural value of forward-thinking and practical planning in Fort Collins over intrigue or entertainment. Fort Collins is smaller than Chicago, so the public can be satisfied with less large events. Big events like Bohemian Nights and Tour de Fat usually satisfy the city-wide desire for release every year. We prefer simple leisure and spending time outside, and desire clean and pleasing areas to do that. Our simple reconstructed alleys meet that desire. They also support our love of the outdoors by bringing more greenery into the downtown. Fort Collins people love foliage just as much as we love public art, and a simple planter placed inside an alley addresses that need.
Comparing alley revitalization programs is niche, but can be a fascinating lens to view culture through. Culture expands past social customs, past popular activities and trends. It embeds itself into the design of the city, the design that will steer the direction of the city attitude for decades to come. Our city plan sets the scene of who we are and what we hope to be in the future.
