happy friday! ☀️ Last weekend we went to New York, so this entry is mostly dedicated to that :)
Read something
I’ve been listening to A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander, which is a continuation to the The Timeless Way of Building.
Whereas The Timeless Way of Building explains what a livable place is and presents a theory of how one is generated, A Pattern Language shares the concrete steps necessary to create one.
The book consists of 253 short chapters, each describing a specific design pattern. The patterns range from extensive (such as overall layout of the city) to small (presence of benches and flowers, for example). The patterns are laid out in order of dependence - the success of each pattern relies on the ones preceding it.
There’s a recurring theme throughout the book, which is the importance of widespread common spaces. Here are some patterns that focus on it:
31: Promenade
61: Small Public Squares
67: Common Land
69: Public Outdoor Room
80: Self Governing Workshops and Offices
…and many more
The goal is to get people of various backgrounds and life stages together and let them learn from each other and support each other.
While spaces like these exist, they’re not as widespread as they should be. Also, many are either built carelessly, as an afterthought, or are implicitly exclusive to a certain group.
For example, some apartment buildings might have a wonderful common area. However, if the apartment building itself only has studio or 1-bedroom units, then it’ll most likely have just college students or young professionals living there. They might still use and enjoy the common area, but they’ll probably not meet anyone much different from themselves.
Listening to this book made me further realize how real yet invisible is the separation between different groups of people. I used to think about it as a given, as something natural, even though it didn’t feel right. It’s incredible to see how design decisions (or oversights) create and reinforce this separation. What’s reassuring though is that it can be reversed.
Saw something
Herald Square! Even though I’m not a fan of crowded buzzing places (I get too overwhelmed too quickly…), I am a big fan of pedestrian plazas.
It’s hard to imagine that there were roads there just a couple years ago:
(By the way, if you want to learn more about this transformation, you might enjoy reading Streetfight by Janette Sadik-Khan).
Walked (or rather, ran) somewhere
While in New York, we stayed on Roosevelt Island. One morning we went on a run, going around the northern side of the island and then over to Broadway in Queens.
It was a pleasant run overall. There’s a park that covers most of the waterfront on the island and the majority of the bridge over to Queens has a protected sidewalk. The only so-so parts of the run were getting to the bridge (we had to go through a garage) and then running through a couple icky streets in Queens (think garbage, smashed cars, abandoned buildings). Broadway is awesome though and has lots of bagel shops, which is exactly what we were after.
A couple more notes on Roosevelt Island:
There’s no way to walk or bike directly from Manhattan to Roosevelt Island. You have to take the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge to Queens first and then the Roosevelt Island Bridge.
There’s a train though that goes to Roosevelt Island.
And even better, there’s a gondola! Just costs $3 and you get spectacular views of the city.
until next time ✌️