Architecture can do only so much. Without sensitively designed streets, plazas, and landscapes — a so-called “public realm” — even great buildings end up as solitary objects, wonderful to look at but lifeless and forbidding.
This article from the February 2010 Architectural Record proved to be a good reference for my thesis. There has been a long term revitalization project in Dallas for the last 31 years. The project revived a moribund downtown into a "city of the arts". The project centered around Flora Street and is/will be comprised of a shrine, apartments, theater, performance hall, high school, opera house, and Symphony center. A large part of the consturction is done and although the area is very nice there is no street life, due to the lack of shops, cafes and apartment/condos.
This case study relates very well to my thesis in the fact that I am attempting to revive a rundown part of Columbus, Ohio to become a new district of its own. I have the same problems as this article where the area at one time was a stretch of car dealerships and parking lots. My area also has very little to no street life and at this point is in no way a destination point.
I think that the relations between some of the problems in the article are in direct relation to my site, although my site can still fix these problems. One major problem w/ the Dallas Art District is the lack of connection to the rest of downtown. The city didn't include this district on the stops of the light rail. My site is already projected to have stops of a light rail (making the real estate of my area a large selling point). The dallas art district also has little to no housing. Although its being considered in teh future, it is assumed that it would take several thousand residents to help make the Dallas Art District successful and full of life.
With that said I have more proof that the important programs to involve in a revitalization project are shops, cafes, housing, public events, etc. These few items are one of many things that need to be addressed if one hopes to have successful street life and make the area a destination for people to feel welcome in.
http://archrecord.construction.com/projects/portfolio/archives/1002dallas.asp
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