Shape the Spaces

A tip for designing comfortable spaces…

Perhaps the most counterintuitive discussion in planning, this may be the step that is most often gotten wrong. People enjoy open spaces and the great outdoors. But people also enjoy, and need, a sense of enclosure to feel comfortable as pedestrians. Public spaces are only as good as their edges, and too much gray or green— parking or parks— can cause a would-be walker to stay home.

Speck, Jeff (2012-11-13). Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time (p. 72). Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Kindle Edition.

Photo above: Amsterdam (© Silvia G. Tavares)