Visions 2200: Walkways and Stairs

The best way to experience and make sense of a city is by foot. An aerial view may help you comprehend the broad impact of a city on its environs, but it fails to fully communicate what life is like for individuals living within its boundaries or suburbs.

Walkways

Residents of America's cities and rural areas usually travel by car outside their home. Walking to a restaurant, grocery store, doctor's office and even a park is not the norm. The routes taken are usually fronted by single family homes of varying quality and interest. Seeing and actually talking to someone standing on the sidewalk (if there is one) is not a common experience. The front porch common 100 years ago seems to have disappeared, or if exists is vacant. Central cities are usually the only place where you frequently encounter people in the flesh or activity not related to home maintenance. Retirees taking a daily stroll on sidewalks bordering streets cutting through the neighborhood or kids playing in the front yard or street are the people most likely to break this pattern.

Italy

In the Italian images below can be seen "walkways" of a different sort which attract visitors from across the planet and, when tourist crowds diminish, support a relaxed lifestyle and strong community spirit.

Venice

Venice contains a wondrous multitude of walkways along and occasionally over its many canals. The Plaza of St Mark is frequently covered by masses of tourists drinking in the view across the waters of the grand canal and the buildings and statues defining the vast space. H. Graem © 2018

Florence

Florence contains a market within a bridge spanning the width of the Arno River through which you might wander among the many stalls selling a variety of merchandise. Within the city one will find a more temporary market akin to the 'farmer's markets becoming more popular in American cities in recent times. H. Graem © 2018

Rome

Wandering through the Roman Forum was a favorite custom of Romans some 2000 years ago. Today's tourists get to enjoy a more truncated experience. The Spanish Steps are a favorite visitor hangout not entirely welcomed by current residents of the city. H. Graem © 2018

San Francisco

All is not lost in this land of my birth. Some California cities have created delightful walkway environments. San Francisco, the city an hour north of my home, has created walkways that are filled with a vibrant city life. Thankfully, other cities are becoming more aware of this need in their planning and evolving built places.

San Francisco's Chinatown neighborhood has wide sidewalks in certain areas. These images taken at dusk illustrate the neighborhood activity that can occur when people take advantage of the situation. On the left is a grocery store with certain goods set up for display on the sidewalk. On the left some local men are involved in some activity. Perhaps a game of chance? The right image finds a number of local musicians set up on the sidewalk in front of a restaurant to entertain passersby. H Graem © 2018

Stairs

Stairs can provide a wonderful addition to the experience of living and visiting a city. They have been an integral part of cities on hills since ancient times. They will be part of the city of the future as well. Stairs enable people on foot to move quickly and safely between nearby locations at different elevations. Stairs can provide one of the interesting physical details that make a city attractive and unique.

The Spanish Steps in Rome, Italy are a famous example of city stairs. They were built in the early 1700s to traverse a steep slope linking the Spanish embassy on the Piazza di Spagna below with the Piazza Trinità dei Monti and the church of Trinità dei Monti above. They were designed by Francesco De Sanctis after generations of discussion over how the steep slope to the church should be developed.

The stairs are a popular Roman destination. This daytime activity fully demonstrates the popularity.

Attributes of Spanish Steps

What makes these stairs such a success and what can we learn from their attributes in the design of future stairs in other cities?

Design - They are designed as an urban asset that attracts urban residents and visitors. To achieve this goal they are carefully fashioned to (1) enhance their physical location and (2) respect the surrounding urban fabric.
Surroundings - A changing and interesting urban environment borders the stairs.
Solidly Built - They are built of solid materials (stone and high quality concrete are examples available today) that are easy to maintain.
Maintenance - As with so much that is beautiful in the urban environment, maintenance over time is crucial to continual success as an asset of the city. With their heavy use, even the stone Spanish Steps have been restored several times.
Connection - The stairs link nearby places people want to (1) walk to on an ongoing basis or (2) visit occasionally due to their character as a major attraction.
View - Stairs can be a place to view changing vistas of the city and its environs.
Landings - Landings exist on the stairs where (1) people may rest, (2) sit and enjoy the sun or (3) view the nearby surroundings.
Exercise - Stairs enable people to exercise their bodies in an appealing urban environment.

Telegraph Hill in San Francisco

Telegraph Hill Stairs

The stairways leading up Telegraph Hill to Coit Tower demonstrate favorable stair attributes in an American city. With the possible exception of design and maintenance for some of the stairs, all of the attributes mentioned above for the Spanish Steps are included.

The images to the left show the stairs up Telegraph Hill. The first two are stairs from the upper Grant street area of North Beach where the grade becomes too steep for a sidewalk alone. The last shows stairs ascending the east side of the hill above the Embarcadero.

Given the views common on the hills of the city and the gardens and homes bordering most stairs, even stairways to 'nowhere' receive heavy use, if not to get somewhere, at least to provide exercise for the ubiquitous joggers.

Whitby

This coastal stairway was encountered during a trip to Yorkshire in England during the summer of 2006. This stairway is located in Whitby on the coastal side of the North York Moors. The stairway connects the urban settlement along the harbor with the abbey. Beside those attributes mentioned above, this stair presents a ninth attribute of a successful urban stairway - convenience.

On the right is the stairway leading from the headland to the town of Whitby and its harbor. On the left below is the Abbey of the same name sited on the headland.

The stairway conveniently eases the way for visitors to the city. In Whitby, the summer tourist season finds parking a rare commodity in the lower city. However, the abbey ruins have a spacious parking lot for those willing to pay. The 199 steps provide a ready and scenic access for able-bodied abbey visitors to the city streets and restaurants.

San Jose's 'Tuscany Hills'

The design of the stairs is grand in concept. The view from the stairs may not equal those visible from the actual hills of Tuscany, but it does present portions of the southern reaches of San Jose with the Santa Cruz Mountains appearing on the horizon. It does include seating at landings and the top of the stairs where people may rest and sit in the sun. The most significant attributes missing from this stairway are surroundings and connection.

It is a steep and lonely climb. There is no changing urban scene bordering the stairs. There is just a formal garden mimicking the Tuscany stereotype, not the individuality associated with the actual Tuscan scene. The designers did not place buildings climbing up the hill parallel to the stairway to give a sense of closure and changing perspective as gardens grow and homes change.

What will the intrepid climber find at the top to reward the effort? There is the view. Some hilltop parks have been completed. But there are not yet stores, restaurants, bars or coffee houses in the hillside community where the climber or jogger might rest, sip a brew or purchase items. There is not even a church to provide sanctuary comparable to the Trinità dei Monti on the plaza above the Spanish Steps. Although walking downhill with any purchases is preferable, there is not even the commercial magnet at the immediate bottom of the stairs for the resident of the hilltop community.

Hopefully, the community at the top will grow sufficiently large sometime in the future development phases to support street level stores, daycare or a coffeehouse. The original city plan contemplated such an urban environment. If not, will the opportunity for exercise by stairway joggers make up for the missing surroundings and urban connections? Time will tell.

The image at the right gives a broad view of Communication Hill, on whose summit the 'Tuscany Hills' development is being constructed. The position of the stairs is indicated.

The tower sticking up at the top of the hill was constructed in the past to improve communication in 'Silicon Valley', thus the name of the hill.

Visions 2200

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Walkways and Stairs