Quote:
Originally Posted by Londonee
Mate, no one is disputing this.
But this logic, if extended to every area of the city, would create self-centered, inward facing enclaves. It's the same reason we don't like gated communities like Naval Square or private garages fronting streets. Surely, it may be in the best interest of developers and homebuyers to have a private garage but it's not in the best interest of the neighborhood and the city at large. Is Penn no longer part of the city?
The 3 college houses in the quad are the most popular because it's an awesome, centuries old, irreplaceable experience. It has literally NOTHING to do with ground floor retail.
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As to your first point, both Penn and I agree with you to a great extent, which is why more recent construction on Penn's campus has NOT turned its back on the through streets, e.g., Singh Center for Nanotechnology, Skirkanich Hall (Bioengineering), Perelman Center for Political Science and Economics, Perry World House, New College House, etc. But that doesn't mean there has to be RETAIL in those buildings. It just means that folks driving through the Penn campus should feel like they're ON the Penn campus, and not in some commercial retail corridor behind or removed from the campus proper.
And as to your second point--do you really believe that the "awesome, centuries old, irreplaceable experience" of living in the Quad would be the same if it had ground floor retail?
