As some of you may know, I recently went on a two-week vacation and
during my vacation I visited Europe. In a job like mine, it’s hard to
ever stop working. This vacation was no exception. Everywhere I went I
was looking at how the buildings meshed with the urban landscape, paced
off street and sidewalk widths, and observed how the people interacted
in highly urbanized spaces. I learned some interesting lessons about how
Europeans function in highly dense cities.
Public space
is essential and revered. Public space is a defining part of European
cities. Although it varies based on the density of the city, within
bigger cities you can find some type of public open space within 700
feet of walking from almost any point. Public space defines
neighborhoods, businesses, and allows high densities of people to
happen. Public space is highly revered to the people of the
neighborhood. It serves as the living room of the entire neighborhood. A
place for people to meet before heading to another destination, a place
for neighbors to talk and catch up on the latest news, or simply a
place to sit while you finish eating your lunch. At anytime of the day
or night, you will find people utilizing these public spaces.
Public art is key to uniqueness. Something else you will find in
public space if art. It may be an ancient statue, it may be a beautiful
fountain, or it may be a detailed mural or mosaic on the side of a
building, but it’s still public art. In some of the cities we visited
remnants of the Roman Empire were featured as the public art, but in
others it was more modern styles that matched the neighborhood
architecture which were the featured public art. Regardless of
the specific style or type, each public square featured something new
and different unique to that public space.
Architecture
is art. Speaking of public art, in many of the cities we traveled the
architecture of the buildings also served as public. Well over a
majority of the buildings were over 100 years old and consisted of
highly detailed facades including around the cornice, window castings,
window portals, and the main portal (the entry doors). The buildings
in-and-of themselves were beautiful art for the public to consume and
enjoy. Each building was different and unique, but they all had a
similar style and one design element to pull them all together. Many
would even have statues carved into the facade of the building or
standing atop the facade. Imagine if all of the buildings in our
downtown had the same attention to detail and decoration as does the
upper part of the Kress Building. This gives you a glimpse of what every
building looked like.
As I was talking with a local
guide about the detail and heaviness of the buildings he made a comment
that struck me. He said, “Why would you put so much time, money, and
energy into constructing a building that is plain and lifeless and is
only usable for the next 100 years? The original builder gave this
building it’s own character and made it big and strong enough so that it
could be used by future generations over the next 500 years.” In
today’s world, I think we are too focused on function of the building
and how the immediate generation intends to use the building rather than
ensuring that a building is not only beautiful, but constructed to last
for decades or even centuries.
Streets are designed to
accommodate everything, but especially people. Because many of the
cities we visited were founded during the Roman Empire or during the
Middle Ages, they were designed in a way which was most convenient for
pedestrians since motor vehicles did not exist and even horses would
have been expensive for traveling at the time. Many of the narrow 15 to
25 foot buildings had entrances that sat directly on the edge of the road. The
road also had to accommodate pedestrians, bicyclists, mopeds, cars, and
small delivery trucks all in a width of an average of 15 feet (that is a
little wider than one lane on the Interstate)! These cities also had
larger, busier roads, but the concept was the same, pedestrians ALWAYS
have the right-of-way, followed by bicycles, followed by mopeds, then
cars and trucks. Bicyclist rode among mopeds, cars, and trucks. The
lanes were narrow and many time the road shoulder was the sidewalk, but the
relationship among all users was clearly understood. Everyday certain
streets would even close after 5:00pm and restricted to only pedestrians
or bicycles.
Mixed-uses is a standard not an
exception. Lastly, in America it is common to separate our land-uses --
shopping and restaurants in this part of the city, houses and apartments
in that part, and warehouses and factories over here. In every city we
visited, however, this concept was upside down. Most buildings were 3 or
4+ stories tall (and built to last for decades or even centuries) and
had offices, shops, and restaurants in the first story of every building
while living spaces in the form of (from what I could tell) condos or
apartments. Large industrial uses were separated typically on the
outskirts of the city, but smaller light manufacturing did happen within
the city so long as they could operate in a very small space and there
was little to no impact on other neighbors.
During the
trip I realized how highly organized and new American really is. At the
same time, it made me proud to think how amazing our country is that we
have the resources and wealth to be able to accomplish what we have in
our short time as a nation. America truly is a great nation. Our
greatness, however, comes from being open to new concepts and ideas and
from this trip, I’ve learned that our friends across the pond have some
great ideas on building cities. Let’s take some of these ideas and build
on them. Let’s talk about it!
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