Radhika Mohan

Urban Design is a Universal Language

Posted by Radhika Mohan, Nov 09, 2011 2 comments


Radhika Mohan

Radhika Mohan

It’s no secret that cities are becoming larger and more diverse. The newest 2010 Census numbers speak for themselves:

  • Over 80% of our current population lives in a metropolitan area;
  • The Hispanic population grew by over 40% in the past ten years, now making up 16% of the total U.S. population;
  • The Asian population in the country also grew by over 40%;
  • Those identifying themselves as “two or more races” increased by over 30%;
  • Nearly 50% of the U.S. Western region’s population is minority.

What is it about cities that attract such diverse groups to one place?

I think on one level it is about comfort- as humans in an age of globalization and displacement, we find comfort in communities that feel like home. Cities are able to remind us of our heritage through access to specialized foods, clothing, and other goods and institutions: think of Chicago’s Devon Avenue, Philadelphia’s Italian Market, or even Tampa’s historic Ybor City.

Amongst all these different demographic and census groups, languages, and modes of communication that exist within cities there is something we all can understand about places and that is consistently aided with urban design.

In many ways, urban design is a universal human language, something that can traverse our differences and connect us all through visual and sensual interventions.

As an example, I will draw from my own neighborhood in Washington, DC: Columbia Heights.

Not too long ago, if you were to exit the Columbia Heights metro stop, you would have been confronted by sizeable empty lots--an undeveloped wasteland resulting from the race riots of the 1960s. DC’s Office of Planning and many others worked to create a strong transit oriented development at the station anchored by the metro, big box stores coupled with smaller retail amenities, new residential communities, and an integral urban plaza with artistic lighting and paving treatments.

The most interesting part of this scheme is the way in which the plaza is used in so many different ways by diverse groups of people.

Columbia Heights Plaza

On Saturday mornings the Columbia Heights plaza becomes a farmers market, on hot summer Sundays it turns into a community dance class that attracts the best showmen of the El Salvadorian population, and throughout the week you can hear the laughter of neighborhood children playing in the water and the chatter of residents meeting up for ice cream, burritos, or coffee.

At any given point during the week, the Columbia Heights plaza is a cross section of the community in which it resides.

A major reason for its success is the way in which it was designed--it speaks a universal language to the diverse group of neighborhood residents that says:

“let’s meet up here”
“play here”
“converse here”
“eat here”
“relax here”

The strategic siting and design elements of the plaza create a playful vibe that informs the actions that take place there and helps to create a sense of place and heart for the diverse community of Columbia Heights.

The plaza design negotiates the diversity of social groupings through a common physical language anchored by visually artistic treatments.

Through examples like the Columbia Heights Plaza, we must remember that the charge of urban design is to serve as a universal language for places so the diversity of people that inform cities feel comfort in where they live.

What examples of this type of urban design do you have in your city?

2 responses for Urban Design is a Universal Language

Comments

November 09, 2011 at 10:50 am

According to Mandee Roberts, this post has no place on an arts blog: http://blog.artsusa.org/2011/11/03/architects-stay-out-of-the-nea-jobs-r...

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November 09, 2011 at 11:30 am

Not to speak for her, but I believe Mandee meant that architects skew the data when comparing job salaries, etc., not that architects or the subject do not have a place in the arts.

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