After the galleries were built in the 1980s, they steadily lost customers to the city’s shopping malls and became desolate - a problem that was compounded by a surfeit of entrances which made the square appealing to muggers. A great square, on the other hand, can be a source of civic pride, and it can help citizens feel better connected to their cultural and political institutions.ĭespite being anchored by one of the busiest train and bus stations in the city, the Las Condes plazas and commercial galleries in Santiago, Chile had become a place to pass through as quickly as possible. While a poorly planned or maintained park can a place of fear and danger, thus repelling people, business, and investment. Create Squares and Parks as Multi-Use DestinationsĪ great urban park is a safety valve for the city, in which people living in dense urban areas can find breathing room. Pedestrian walkways link parts of the city that used to be controlled by rival gangs, and murder rates have plummeted. New schools were built, and older ones improved. Parks, sporting fields, and libraries have been constructed nearby. Plazas at the bases of the pylons supporting the tram have become lively neighborhood centers with food vendors, seating, and landscaping. When constructing the Metrocable, the city took the opportunity to invest in improving the long-neglected hillside barrios. Residents of the traditionally marginalized settlements now have quick access to the city’s main subway system - a connection that used to entail a daunting walk up and down hundreds of steps or a lengthy minibus ride. The aerial tram system serves the neighborhoods on the city’s hillsides, formerly some of Medellín’s most crime-ridden and gang-infested areas. The Metrocable in the Colombian city of Medellín is a good example of transportation that enhances street life and contributes to social cohesion. We have the ability to make different choices - starting with the decision to design our streets as comfortable and safe places for everyone - for pedestrians and bicyclists as well as drivers.Ī plaza at the base of a Metrocable pylon in Medellín. They are products of very deliberate choices made to shape our communities to accommodate the private automobile. More traffic and greater road capacity are not the inevitable results of growth. If you plan for people and places, you will get people and places. Placemaking is based on a simple principle: if you plan cities for cars and traffic, you will get cars and traffic. Here are ten ways you can help strengthen the social fabric of your community and jump-start economic development by creating and sustaining healthy public spaces. A key part of the puzzle, though, lies right at the heart of the world’s urban areas: its public spaces. Joan Clos, Executive Director, UN Habitatīuilding inclusive, healthy, functional, and productive cities is perhaps the greatest challenge facing humanity today, and there are no easy solutions. What defines the character of a city is its public space, not its private space.-Dr. #PROJECT HALLOWEEN IMAGES AT NEIGHBORHOOD ENTRANCES FULL#*For the full report, download UN-Habitat's "Placemaking and the Future of Cities" here.
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