In an inspirational essay about the undeveloped boundaries of the public domain (such as street-ends), Chuck Wolfe urges innovation in city spaces where we "blend the familiar with the edge of the unknown."
Jumping some 2000 years from the Roman finibus terrae—the edge of the known extent of the land in southeast Italy—to a hillside street-end in today's Seattle, Wolfe examines the way we think about "the end of the road." He argues that urban termini have always presented the humans with opportunities to shape ideas for change and transition.
A street-end, he, notes, may feature preservation of viewpoints, improvements such as public gardens, or enhanced safety measures (e.g., landscaping, lighting or fencing from danger). He describes city, neighbor and nonprofit efforts to improve shoreline street-ends and viewpoints where public rights-of-way come to rest.
He describes one example:
Old and new ideas meet here, along with examples of city life. Here we see safety enhancements -- signage and a railing -- complemented by graffiti, and a custom lost and found for a knit hat left behind. Today's urbanist may also see a future gondola station, a walkable destination, or the potential for sustaining natural pockets amid the built environment. But what compels such vision?
In response, Wolfe suggests that, as with the finibus terrae, "such edges, and views, will always inspire us to create tangible and useful meanings for the spaces beyond."
FULL STORY: Urban Edges and How to Define the Spaces Beyond
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Chuck Wolfe champions urban observation, emphasizing "ghosts" that are important to the authenticity of today's urban change, like oral histories among indigenous peoples passing on cultural traditions from one generation to the next.
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Chuck Wolfe underscores the importance of a holistic view of urban places, referencing themes of common experience, aesthetics, feelings of happiness, safety, or security—a basic narrative of the city that often goes beyond first impressions.
Recalling Our Basic Pride of Place
In the fifth of his "place-decoding" series from France, Chuck Wolfe recalls how we carry with us the ability to mine pride from place, even in places that are, perhaps, least expected to shine.
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Does Highway Removal Make Cities Healthier?
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Tree Equity Score: The U.S. Needs 522 Million More Urban Trees
As climate change intensifies the urban heat island effect, poorer neighborhoods bear the brunt of tree canopy inequity.
Camiros
City of San Mateo
San Francisco County Transportation Authority
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
City of Salinas
Village of Park Forest
Mid Valley Partners
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Hand Drawing Master Plans
This course aims to provide an introduction into Urban Design Sketching focused on how to hand draw master plans using a mix of colored markers.
