Urbanity often requires more thought than money

Sometimes very unfriendly places can be made more hospitable not by some grand scheme costing tax payers millions of dollars. An example of such thinking is demonstrated in the picture below from downtown San Francisco in February 2004:

This otherwise sterile entry to an office has been enlivened by a flower vendor pedaling his goods under the dry canopy of this building. Obviously this vendor is here with the blessing of the building owner. This owner may have realized the building was drab and needed to bring some life to the entryway? Perhaps they realized they could get a few buck and make that unused space leasable floor area? Whatever the reason, it has created a point of human contact along the sidewalk and given a small business owner an instant storefront location.

In May of 2003 I snapped the photo you see below:

This is of a 7-11 convenience store in the Gaslamp Quarter neighborhood of San Diego. Yes, while on vacation I took a picture of a 7-11. I couldn’t help myself. This 7-11 actually adds life to a neighborhood rather than drain it away. Plus, since smoking is banned in public places in California I was actually able to walk into this 7-11 without choking. Bonus!

Below is another little bit of urbanity where you might not expect it – under a convention center!

Yes, I’ve seen Subway shops before and no Jared wasn’t behind the counter. The Washington State Convention Center in Seattle crosses over the road going from block to block – a better decision than changing the street grid. To add some street life and to serve pedestrians they’ve got a couple of very small storefronts and a flower vendor has set up shop between them. The shop to the far right is a pizza & gelato place.

One of the key points to this and the first picture is small places can offer excellent opportunities for adding street life, providing a needed service/product and giving someone a chance to start a business without major overhead required of a larger space.

Small doses of urbanity can be added easily and have a much bigger impact than their apparent size. On the other hand, some of the grandiose schemes that take millions of dollars and years to complete often have less of an impact than promised.

– Steve