Reconsidering the Urban Alley

Alyse Nelson takes a look at a handful of alleys that were transformed from crusty dumping grounds into beautiful urban spaces.

1 minute read

August 27, 2011, 7:00 AM PDT

By Tim Halbur


Nord Alley in Seattle is one of the success stories highlighted by Nelson in this picture-rich article. She emphasizes that transforming an alley doesn't take a lot of physical changes, just collaborative effort.

And the opportunity is significant, as report from a couple of University of Washington students shows:

"They studied downtown Seattle's alleys and determined that laneways cover almost half as much space as all of the zone's parks, squares, and existing pedestrian-oriented streets. In other words, reclaiming alleys could increase by almost half the pedestrian area of downtown Seattle."

Nelson also looks at alleys in Vancouver, San Francisco and Melbourne.

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