by Marcus Hyde
Recently the Denver Post printed the article, “Study to revitalize Denver's 16th Street Mall seeks ‘linger’ factor,” by Steve Raabe. It put into words what most of Denver’s residents know, but have not verbalized: the 16th Street Mall is heavily invested in, and underutilized. This ought to be of great concern to the public, whose tax dollars are spent maintaining the place. Our public assets ought to be spent only on that which is enjoyable and beneficial for the public as a whole.
There is one fatal flaw, however, in how planners are attempting to make the mall more inviting to ‘“lingerers”: over-policing. In the urban planning classic, ‘The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces’, William H. Whyte points out the obvious truth--you cannot make an environment uninviting for some people, whom you deem “undesirables,” and expect it to be inviting to a more “desirable” crowd.
Whyte, who helped write New York City’s zoning code for plazas and parks, studied numerous such spaces around the city and interviewed hundreds of pedestrians who utilized those spaces to find out why some areas were popular while others weren’t. He found that when people were asked to verbalize what they liked about their favorite parts of the city, they said things like ‘It’s a retreat from the chaos of the city,” “It’s secluded,” “it’s quiet” and “it’s safe.” Yet, in reality, the parks and plazas that were most frequented by visitors, and the spaces that people hung out in longest, were in fact the busiest, most congested open spaces in the city, where there was lots of noise, people and surprises.
Whyte found that it was best for plazas to be adjacent to public streets, and to have lots of surface area for people to sit. It helped also if the seating was movable as that gave people the opportunity for choice in seating arrangements. Spaces were most utilized if there was both open space and activity, such as music or eating.
What doesn’t help? Security guards, police officers, regulations, and surfaces that people can’t sit on, lay on or relax upon. Whyte points out the obvious truth: while many people feel like urban spaces ought to be sterilized and clean and orderly, the fact remains that people are attracted to spaces that feel relaxing and natural. Having a police officer patrol the environment not only scares off drug dealers and thugs, but also makes the space feel uninviting for the common citizen.
The truth is that criminal behavior, such as drug dealing, happens in shadows and in dark places, precisely because there are not a lot of people to witness it. The remedy: make the space attractive so the space will be filled up with people. It’s as simple as that.
But city planning is often driven by fear and ignorance. And so cities pass ‘quality of life’ ordinances like the Sit/Lie ordinance, the camping ban and anti-loitering ordinances. And they hire police officers and private security to enforce those laws, assuming that once we get rid of “undesirables” who sit on the sidewalk and sleep outside and loiter, then we can make the space more inviting to the people we want to be in that space.
Unfortunately, it has the opposite effect, making spaces feel artificial and tense. I.e.: The 16th Street Mall. Nobody wants to hang out in a space where the police are watching to catch you sit down. And sadly, it says something about the moral character of a city, when people who have no other option than to sleep outside, and to exist in public spaces, are regulated out of a city center for the sake of business, even when it doesn’t actually improve the business climate.
The 16th Street Mall is not underutilized because of panhandlers and “undesirable people.” The 16th Street Mall is underutilized because there are not that many interesting things to do there. Small walking malls in Europe are busy because each store is unique and has a cultural history associated with it. The 16th Street Mall, on the other hand, has Taco Bell, Ross, 7-11 and Walgreens.
If you want to make the 16th Street Mall more interesting to people, let them sit, lie down, hang around and relax, regardless of economic status, appearances or any other status. And put something more genuinely unique than “The Tilted Kilt” on the mall. Otherwise, the 16th Street Mall will continue to be an embarrassing reminder of how Denver spends its money, and the Downtown Partnership will continue to look like a cut-throat organization that wants only certain types of people to enjoy their downtown.
There is one fatal flaw, however, in how planners are attempting to make the mall more inviting to ‘“lingerers”: over-policing. In the urban planning classic, ‘The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces’, William H. Whyte points out the obvious truth--you cannot make an environment uninviting for some people, whom you deem “undesirables,” and expect it to be inviting to a more “desirable” crowd.
Whyte, who helped write New York City’s zoning code for plazas and parks, studied numerous such spaces around the city and interviewed hundreds of pedestrians who utilized those spaces to find out why some areas were popular while others weren’t. He found that when people were asked to verbalize what they liked about their favorite parts of the city, they said things like ‘It’s a retreat from the chaos of the city,” “It’s secluded,” “it’s quiet” and “it’s safe.” Yet, in reality, the parks and plazas that were most frequented by visitors, and the spaces that people hung out in longest, were in fact the busiest, most congested open spaces in the city, where there was lots of noise, people and surprises.
Whyte found that it was best for plazas to be adjacent to public streets, and to have lots of surface area for people to sit. It helped also if the seating was movable as that gave people the opportunity for choice in seating arrangements. Spaces were most utilized if there was both open space and activity, such as music or eating.
What doesn’t help? Security guards, police officers, regulations, and surfaces that people can’t sit on, lay on or relax upon. Whyte points out the obvious truth: while many people feel like urban spaces ought to be sterilized and clean and orderly, the fact remains that people are attracted to spaces that feel relaxing and natural. Having a police officer patrol the environment not only scares off drug dealers and thugs, but also makes the space feel uninviting for the common citizen.
The truth is that criminal behavior, such as drug dealing, happens in shadows and in dark places, precisely because there are not a lot of people to witness it. The remedy: make the space attractive so the space will be filled up with people. It’s as simple as that.
But city planning is often driven by fear and ignorance. And so cities pass ‘quality of life’ ordinances like the Sit/Lie ordinance, the camping ban and anti-loitering ordinances. And they hire police officers and private security to enforce those laws, assuming that once we get rid of “undesirables” who sit on the sidewalk and sleep outside and loiter, then we can make the space more inviting to the people we want to be in that space.
Unfortunately, it has the opposite effect, making spaces feel artificial and tense. I.e.: The 16th Street Mall. Nobody wants to hang out in a space where the police are watching to catch you sit down. And sadly, it says something about the moral character of a city, when people who have no other option than to sleep outside, and to exist in public spaces, are regulated out of a city center for the sake of business, even when it doesn’t actually improve the business climate.
The 16th Street Mall is not underutilized because of panhandlers and “undesirable people.” The 16th Street Mall is underutilized because there are not that many interesting things to do there. Small walking malls in Europe are busy because each store is unique and has a cultural history associated with it. The 16th Street Mall, on the other hand, has Taco Bell, Ross, 7-11 and Walgreens.
If you want to make the 16th Street Mall more interesting to people, let them sit, lie down, hang around and relax, regardless of economic status, appearances or any other status. And put something more genuinely unique than “The Tilted Kilt” on the mall. Otherwise, the 16th Street Mall will continue to be an embarrassing reminder of how Denver spends its money, and the Downtown Partnership will continue to look like a cut-throat organization that wants only certain types of people to enjoy their downtown.
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