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:Urban intensity
At Texture, we may write a lot about what goes on inside buildings
(specifically, shops, bars and restaurants), but it's what goes on between
buildings that really makes or breaks a city. One of Wellington's
main strengths is that its compactness, diversity and density makes
for a lively public realm, and IntensCITY week (coming up next month)
offers us all a chance to celebrate and critique the urban spaces
that make up the inner city.
What makes a good urban space? IntensCITY will offer plenty of
exhibitions, debates, art installations and competitions to help
explore that question, but I've got a few of my own ideas. For a
start, the ingredients for a successful public space in the inner
city are very different from what makes a good suburban park: the
latter is about open expanses of grass and getting away from people;
the former is about intimacy, vitality and encouraging social
interaction. Urban spaces are at their best when they are compact,
well-defined, layered, sheltered and offer a range of activities
(both commercial and informal) around the clock.
Such a space doesn't have to be a park or even a square, and in
fact the most important urban spaces of all are streets. That may
seem strange to those used to traffic-clogged city streets, but a
pedestrian thoroughfare or a street with light traffic and wide
pavements should be as pleasant a place to linger as any plaza.
That's why, to my mind, Cuba Mall is a much better public space than
Waitangi or Frank Kitts Park: it offers something for everyone. You
can have a coffee at Plum while kids play on the mini-playground; check out the new stock at Mandatory or Rex Royale on your way into Matterhorn; play a
musical instrument or get involved in a political protest; bump into
friends queuing at Good Luck while on your way from Scopa to Mighty
Mighty; or just sit back in the sun and watch the crowds flow by.
Parks and squares are also vital contributors to the public realm,
and one of the big challenges in Wellington is how to reclaim spaces
currently taken up by cars and give them back to people. There are
plans afoot to close the slip road at the corner of Courtenay Pl and
Taranaki St, allowing the pavement to join with the existing triangle
of land, thus creating a small park or square. Imagine what else
could be done! For instance, if the cars were to be evicted from Swan
Lane carpark, we'd have a fantastically sunny public space with room
for Floriditas and Imbibe to spread out their tables, while allowing
plenty of room for new landscaping.
Great urban spaces aren't set in stone, but evolve over time in
response to the people who use them. The best example of this in
Wellington is the Left Bank: I know it's not exactly pretty, but it's
an example of what I call “ad hoc urbanism”. Places like Satay
Village and Offbeat Originals have been modifying the lane to suit
their customers, laying out tables and putting up temporary shelters
to incrementally define a space that's as much a creation of small local businesses
(not to mention graffiti artists) as it is of architects or planners. Some decry the resulting “shanty
town” appearance, but isn't that exactly what we find so charming
and alive when we go travelling among the markets of Europe or hawker
streets of Asia?
Keep an eye out for more information on IntensCITY, including the
locations of art installations and the chance to vote for your
favourite public space. In the meantime, there are some photos of good (and not so good) urban spaces in the gallery.
Posted Saturday, August 25, 2007 1:19 PM
by Tom
- Tagged as: news, urbanism
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