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Mikael Colville-Andersen/FlickrBicycles form a large share of the trafficin Copenhagen and now there is anattempt to encourage longer commutesto the city.

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The residential megablocks of thepast few years didn't work outfinancially or in terms of urbandesign. Here's a better idea,crafted to a Capitol Hillopportunity and inspired by an

September 02, 2012

What makes a great public space?Many cities have lost these spaces, but cities such as Copenhagen, Barcelona, andPortland have shown how to revive them, thus reviving downtown life.

By Jay Walljasper

It’s a dark and wintry Thursday night inCopenhagen, and the streets are bustling. Thetemperature stands above freezing, but winds blowhard enough to knock down a good share of thebicycles parked all around. Scandinavians areknown for stolid reserve, but it’s all smiles andanimated conversation here as people of manyages and affiliations stroll through the city.

A knot of teenage boys swagger down the mainpedestrian street. Older women inspect shopwindows. An accomplished balalaika player draws asmall crowd in a square as he jams with a veryamateur guitarist. Earnest young people collectmoney for UNICEF. Two men pass, pushing a piano.Candlelit restaurants and cafes beckon everyoneinside.

“Cultures and climates differ all over the world,”notes architect Jan Gehl, “but people are the same.They will gather in public if you give them a goodplace to do it.”

Cut, now, to scenes from the Republican NationalConvention in Tampa the past week, and theDemocrats’ upcoming convention in Charlotte nextweek. Love them or hate them, those peoplepacking the convention halls – convening fromdifferent places and backgrounds – have cometogether to take part in rituals that, for better orworse, help perpetuate our democracy. What doesthat have to do with a cold Copenhagen street?Only this: Democracy requires public places wherepeople can congregate. Further, people are drawnto public places where they find other people. Weall need those public places – good public places.

Architect Gehl, an urban design professoremeritus at the Danish Royal Academy of Fine Artsand international consultant, describes howCopenhagen’s central pedestrian district opened in1962. Back then, cars were overrunning the city,and the pedestrian zone was a way to bring vitalityto a declining urban center. “Shopkeepers protestedvehemently that it would kill their businesses,” herecalls, “but everyone was happy with it once itstarted. Some now even claim it was their idea.”

The pedestrian district is now the thriving heart of areinvigorated city.

Copenhagen’s comeback gives hope to peoplearound the world who want to make sure livelypublic places don’t disappear, even in this era oframpant traffic, proliferating privatization, andcommercialization.

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Amsterdam neighborhood.A century ago streets almost everywhere werecrowded. Now many are nearly empty. Walkingthrough the center of certain North Americancommunities can be a profoundly alienatingexperience, as if the whole place had beenevacuated for an emergency no one told you about.

The decline of public places represents a loss fardeeper than simple nostalgia. “The street, thesquare, the park, the market, the playground are theriver of life,” explains Kathleen Madden of the NewYork-based Project for Public Spaces, which workswith people around the world to improvecommunities.

Which hare-brainedeconomic policyworks best for you?(8)McKenna tries todraw some sharpdifferences oneducation (11)Sparing Bellingham'sgrand old granary(4)Once upon a timeconventions meantsomething (6)What makes a greatpublic space? (6)

What makes a great public space? | Crosscut.com http://crosscut.com/2012/09/02/architecture/110342/what-makes-gr...

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What makes a great public space? | Crosscut.com http://crosscut.com/2012/09/02/architecture/110342/what-makes-gr...

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What makes a great public space? | Crosscut.com http://crosscut.com/2012/09/02/architecture/110342/what-makes-gr...

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What makes a great public space? | Crosscut.com http://crosscut.com/2012/09/02/architecture/110342/what-makes-gr...

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