Quote:
Originally Posted by pilsenarch
Dude!? Haven't you ever been to Rome? (where all the public spaces are filled with trees, grass and picnic tables)
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Yes, I've carefully studied many of Europe's great plazas. But as already noted, Chicago has neither the climate nor the café culture of Italy. Putting down granite pavers around a fountain will not cause the Piazza Navona to suddenly spring up any more than drinking espresso will turn me into Michelangelo.
Nor do we need even more windswept parade grounds where troops of blackshirts can drill unimpeded; we already have Federal Plaza, Daley Plaza, and a half-dozen others under private control like IBM Plaza and Pioneer Plaza. What we lack are plazas that attract people to them, places to sit and enjoy the view (whether it's the surrounding buildings or the river traffic), people-watch, let children off their leashes to play nearby, be refreshed by small quantities of inexpensive food and drink, patronize buskers. Exelon Plaza has always been a nationally known exemplar, Connors Park and Green Bay Triangle are good retrofits, and Pritzker Park, Riverside Plaza, and Pioneer Plaza have potential.
William Whyte and Richard Hedman were not ivory-tower academics. They did extensive empirical studies of what works and what doesn't in North American climates and culture. I trust their predictions more than I do the architect who improbably populates the rendering of the plaza with dozens of happy people—always including a little girl carrying a balloon.