That Great Street

It’s 10 am on Monday October 3,2016 and I have just finished my morning history class at DePaul’s loop campus and have the rest of the day to myself. I remembered that I still have to do my exploration this week. I opened up my laptop and look at the assignment “Go to your favorite block on your favorite street in Chicago.” I immediately thought of State Street. State Street has been my favorite street without a doubt since I was a child. When my family used to come and visit my aunt and uncle they would always take us down State Street.

One of the things that makes State Street so nice to walk down is the fact that it is not just concrete and pavement. State Street as small additions of nature to make walking more interesting. The splashes of green make what would normally be covered in gray feel more enjoyable to walk.

My favorite place to stop is at the corner of State and Randolph Street. Stopping here allows you to see both the Chicago Theater and the Oriental Theater

When I was walking I tried to look for examples of hostile design and it wasn’t not until I was coming to the end of my walk that I realized these were not for decoration. It was then that I noticed a homeless man putting his jacket on the fence to make it less uncomfortable.

Jacob says that “punctuation” and “focal points” are important because they can bring life to an area. He goes on to say that if people find a place that they find nice that it will change the image of the area to be nice. This can be powerful because lets say there is an area that no one goes to, but one day someone decides that area is actually nice and they go have a picnic. Other people that see the picnic with begin the think it is a nice place as well and this will hopefully continue till it is a popular area. This will overall create a nicer neighborhood. Jacob also says that they should be deliberately created but instead allowed to happen naturally.