The Castle and Moat Model

Downtown development was originally dense. Buildings touched! The buildings that did not touch were arrange in such a way that they occurred regularly. These patterns made up the urban fabric.There was always something new to discover within a few paces.

In the 40's, parking lots started to catch on. Downtowns found it easy to purchase single family dwellings around the downtown and convert them to parking lots. This created an interesting pattern.

The fabric of the residential area is well and pleasant. People like walking through most residential areas. The downtown is relatively well and pleasant. It is not too bad walking through most downtowns (local downtowns anyways).  However walking from the residential fabric to the commercial fabric is no longer pleasant. There is a moat; a moat of uninteresting, hostile parking space. If I wanted to walk from Shooting Park Road to downtown Peru, I'd have to cross the parking lots to the north of the downtown. Pavement is usually uninteresting. It does not have a level of complexity that most humans can appreciate. Parking Lots, Driveways, Gas Stations, parking structures, blank facades, even just empty lots hold very little attraction for most.

The real problem is that no effort is made to improve the walking experience around these detriments. Sidewalks that surround these paved or unimproved surfaces are often left exposed. They are exposed to the sun, to traffic, to poor views. They need improving.

The following illustration is Peru's downtown. I (using remote sensing) determined that these streets are facing lots or structures, which are undesirable to walk past (possibly even drive past, come to think of it). 

Peru's downtown is ringed with a moat of sidewalks that people feel unease at using. Why not just stick to the residential area where there is shade and buffers from traffic? The only tolerably attractive stroll downtown would be from the Southwest. I wonder if there is any anecdotal evidence to support pedestrian traffic from the southwest... I know in my own dealing with Peru's downtown, I walk through Peru's residential fabric as far as I can go to the destination I have in mind and then penetrate the moat using the shortest perceived distance possible. Then I grab my goods and go. I don't linger or stay. It is not pleasant.

I started thinking about this the other day at a concert on Maud Powell Plaza. This really is not a bad plaza, but it seems underutilized. What about a pedestrian corridor on Putnam Street healing the divide between the North and the South (the Northeast's relations with the Southwest are probably unhealable, haha)?

To fix this, I would think the ideal solution would be to surround Putnam in structures--small, mixed use, very interesting structures. However, I'm sure capital restraints would make that a more long term goal. Temporary band-aids might include putting shade over the side walks, constructing walls using interesting materials, patterns, plantings, and artwork to shield less attractive views, placing repetitive objects such as trees or lampposts or planters on both sides of the sidewalk so that the pedestrian feels sheltered. Putting in benches, informal seating, or leaving space for food stands or spaces for events might even encourage some to visit these places to stay!

I hope to post again with a more detailed model.