Urban Authenticity
Former Street transformed into a pedestrian plaza!
I was having lunch with a interior designer friend of mine the other day. While we were discussing what was going on in our lives and businesses, she brought up her upcoming trip to Serenbe. For readers not familiar, Serenbe is a planned development south of Atlanta based on new urbanist concepts combined with sustainability. We both commented that while it seemed to be a nice place to visit, it was just that. The reality is that it is merely a superbly marketed suburban enclave that has a definite entry price point. As my friend said “you don’t see the gardeners or cleaning people living there”. Let alone the artists who’s mecca the website would like you to believe it is. Its just not an “authentic” experience.
This chance conversation echoed an ongoing conversation I’ve been having with another friend, a self described “urban traveller” and kitchen designer. We have been meeting biweekly for coffee in a shop in Glenwood Park, another new urbanist development in Atlanta. Like Serenbe, Glenwood Park is a new development combining residential, live/work spaces with a retail district based on an earlier lifestyle pattern. It is an excellent concept, and well executed, but somehow misses the boat. Now entering it’s fifth year, the retail district is still fairly inactive and lacks activity. It has a few restaurants, but no distinctive retail identity. The few spaces that have been leased have been service oriented. Any retail that has attempted to open, quickly fades away. Many of the spaces have never been leased. It has an over designed, stage set quality to the public spaces that is frequently characteristic of a development planned at once. This quality is also a predictable outcome given the developmental controls that are in place.
Public Bocce Ball Court at center of Glenwood Park Retail Area
In both of these examples, what is missing is the authenticity of a place that has developed naturally over time. Part of this is the result of their both being created as a piece to meet a developer’s vision of what should be. Contrast this with a center that evolves naturally to meet an actual need. Places that develop over time have their own character. Part of this is due to the fact that there is no single entity in charge of design. Each parcel is an individual reaction to a perceived need. To a large extent this character is created by the individual needs of the owner or user of the space. On a more subtle level, it is defined by what is created in the “leftover” spaces. Those unique corners where two adjacent and distinct visions don’t quite mesh. The offset stagger of two facades that become a place for a cafe table or pocket garden. Maybe a place for a piece of public art or a simple bench to sit and observe. These are the happy accidents that really define a place. They are where human ingenuity and creativity merge and create something special. In planned developments happy accidents can’t exist, there isn’t any room for them.
Saturday afternoon, Glenwood Park Retail District
Juxtaposed against these examples are two others, also in Atlanta. Little 5 Points and Virginia-Highland. Both are historic neighborhood retail centers that once housed everything the surrounding neighborhoods needed. Groceries, movie theaters, drug stores, etc. With the rise of the suburbs and strip center shopping in the 1960’s these neighborhood centers severely declined. An intown renaissance of the surrounding residential neighborhoods combined with a major effort by local business owners enabled both these districts to reemerge as the vibrant areas they are today.
Little 5 Points has become a destination for those seeking out an urban bohemian experience. It is an artsy, edgy enclave of restaurants, shops and live theater. It’s storefronts are vibrant, exuberant and exhilaratingly discordant. It is home to one of Atlanta’s oldest and best Natural Food Groceries. It has actively developed and embraced an alternative and expressive culture, celebrating it to success. As a result it is busy day and night- without any large scale daytime office or hotel component nearby. It has become a destination in itself.
Little 5 Points Shops
Another equally popular Atlanta destination, Virginia-Highland, developed as a slightly more upscale but equally vibrant district of restaurants, shops and music venues. It’s street scape is perhaps less exuberant and more “tasteful” than Little 5 Points, but each shop retains it’s individual character expressed through signage and displays. With an increase taste level comes the requisite increase in price point. The striking thing is that these neighborhood centers are within 2 miles of each other and revived almost simultaneously as their surrounding neighborhoods were rediscovered as desirable places to live. They were an organic outgrowth of the surrounding communities.
Color – storefront material of choice.
Another commonality is that they each developed a clear identity. It was that readily identifiable personality that attracted other like businesses and consumers to explore a previously abandoned infrastructure. They each celebrate individuality and from that celebration emerged a distinctive “place”. Through their renaissance they have introduced several generations of Atlantans to a more traditional and unique retail experience, an authentic experience not replicated in the typical Mall or “planned” development. In a Mall or “planned” development, there are design guidelines or controls in place that reinforce the Mall or Development identity over the individual shop owner. In most instances the overriding identity is bland and indistinct. The resulting space is one that has literally been designed to death!
All parked up, now here to shop- Glenwood Park Saturday
Does this mean I think new urbanism is a failed concept? No, I think it has a great deal of validity. Now that there are several communities that have been designed to those guidelines, perhaps it is time to critically examine what has been built to determine what actually works and what doesn’t. What is necessary is perhaps a fresh look at how those visionary principles can be applied to create a more authentic experience. To my mind that means more emphasis on creating a total human experience and perhaps a little less time on facade design. After all that can and should take care of itself.