Thinking Globally, Acting Locally

It's an over-used phrase, but it's taken on fresh meaning for me over the past year or so. A running theme in my thoughts about the world is a frustration at how people often overlook others. We certainly overlook people from the past, people from the future, and people from other cultures and countries.

But it's much worse than that. People in our own cities are overlooked. In our own neighborhoods, buildings, and even apartments!

Is it human nature to ignore the thoughts, feelings, and emotions of everyone but ourselves? Are we so survival-of-the-fittest that we can't become compassionate, empathetic, and considerate of others?

My boyfriend said to me last night that everyone is a carrier of love. And I added, a creator. Everyone has a story, everyone has a life, everyone has those feelings that you experience throughout the course of any given day. Through mere existence, we add brightness to the world through our relationships with one another. Why act selfishly and minimize that amazing gift?

Utilitarianism in public spaces

What is a public space (a street, a park, a sidewalk) if not utilitarian? Anything that takes from our pool of public money and creates something in the public realm must at least meet, as a minimum, the criteria for being utilitarian.

But, how are we defining utilitarian? In most cases, in the U.S., when we're talking about utilitarian streets we're talking about a street that lacks congestion and that moves motor traffic quickly and efficiently. There is certainly a place for these streets. By and large, highways/freeways/interstates and major regional roads should meet this criteria and actually, they necessitate little more. Even some urban thoroughfares are perfectly good streets, functioning just as they should, in this pure utilitarian manner.

However, when we get down to the local level, be it urban or suburban, streets require quite a lot more. To use an industry term, utilitarian streets in this setting are incomplete. Here, we need to broaden our definition of utilitarian in order to maintain a street's usefulness, functionality, vibrancy, and livability. In designing these local roads, planners must consider the needs of many other public space users:

• pedestrians
• cyclists
• shop owners
• tourists
• transit passengers
• taxis
• buses
• delivery trucks
• children/elderly

In order to serve these populations fully, the planner must forget the idea that streets are mere vehicular traffic arteries. He/she must complete the street by engaging all of its users through safety measures, flow efficiency, lighting, art, resting areas, facilities for shop deliveries and taxis, waiting areas for transit passengers, etc.

Without these facilities in place, these local streets are incomplete and in that sense, not utilitarian. These streets can become perfectly useless through this biased focus. At its essence, a street is a public space, a space funded by all and meant for all to use and enjoy. They are the veins through which the lifeblood of a city or town flows, and should be perceived as such vital signs of life as our very own heartbeat.

What's the pulse of your city?