'Reading' Pasadena
‘Grid/Street/Place’ co-author offers a playbook for a new urbanism
By Joanna Dehn Beresford 02/04/2010
Where is the old red barn? My eyes widen and my jaw drops as we approach the intersection of West Road, Westlawn and Lindberg boulevards, where wild fields of grass grew, where my father cultivated corn, tomatoes and unruly blackberry bushes, where the blue farmhouse stood beyond a weathered fence, and the red barn, smelling of hay, horses and musty leather harnesses, lured the neighbor children. Where is the red barn now?
Childhood can’t just vanish, can it? Or, maybe it’s always vanishing, every night when you go to bed and wake up again the next morning. Last week, I felt my childhood suddenly vanish as we were traveling through Ohio and driving slowly past the expanse of open lots-for-sale where the barn used to be. With the old barn gone, I thought: there go my mother and father toiling outside our adjacent home, and my brother playing pick-up baseball in the barnyard, and me and my friends smoking our first cigarettes in the weeds. I think we all disappeared with the creaking doors and walls that were torn down … when? While I was gone. Now they’re building a bunch of new houses there.
Urban planners don’t look back the way other people do. They may look back with interest, but probably not with the longing that I felt at my old street corner. My friend Nathan Cherry, architect and vice president of RTKL Associates, a global design firm based in downtown Los Angeles, grew up in that same hometown, and I drove by his old house too. It looks the same. There was a wintry landscape because of the season, but otherwise it was warm and inviting.
Nathan recently published “Grid/Street/Place – Essential Elements of Sustainable Urban Districts” with colleague Kurt Nagle. This is an amazing text, a sort of “playbook,” according to Nate, that represents various aspects of new urbanism and, among other things, Kevin Lynch’s concept of a legible city. Nate sports a prodigious background academically, professionally and geographically — he’s traveled through more than 30 countries on practically every continent. He can hold his sake with just about any Asian businessman. More importantly, he writes and thinks with passion. And he’s also a smartass, which characteristic I forgive because he’s almost the first boy I ever loved with my full 12-year-old heart. Here’s what he said when I asked him what happened to my old red barn?
“I think it was made into paper pulp for my book.” There’s progress for you.
Really, a seminal guy like Lynch — urban planner, author and educator influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright — did fascinate himself with time, history, and the emotional and psychological aspects of place. My friend Nate, like most designers on the cusp of the current planning wave, also reveres deep, spatial resonance as an integral part of a functional city.
“Responsible growth,” says Nate, “and compact living should include ‘growth boundaries’ around metropolitan areas. If we think of landscape as a regional system that benefits everyone, then we preserve farmland, just as we maximize the use of urban development.”
According to Nate, Pasadena is an extremely legible city — and he should know, because RTKL has been a partner in Pasadena’s urban renewal and, specifically, the liberation of Colorado Boulevard: They helped to open the armature of City Hall, the Central Library and Civic Auditorium to commercial and residential segments beyond.
“A legible city is all about making access and axes available to public use,” Nate explains, “which means clustering, walkability and the integration of uses so villagers can take advantage of the village.”
In deference to Richard Florida’s notion of a healthy, creative class, Nate says: “There should be no such thing as ‘difference’ in our cities. We have to allow the subversive to occur. As planners — and residents — we consider the components that can promote creativity. How can we structure place so that all the good chaos can happen?”
Exactly. How can we do that?
“We tend to live without really understanding the impact of our actions. That’s no way to live an intentional life. It’s much more empowering, I think, to pursue an examined approach — to make different and better decisions. Why should I care about my neighbor?” asks Nate. “Because my neighbor today is my kid tomorrow, that’s why.”
And my old red barn? I dunno. Maybe some of those boards did make it into the fibers of Grid/Street/Place. That would be OK. In fact, that would be pretty cool.
Contact Joanna Dehn Beresford at truewrite@yahoo.com.
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