Distinctive Amenities

Thinking again about this Next Metro post, I wanted to talk about what kinds of things can contribute to urban feel beyond transit and housing.

In this post I want to focus on what I'm calling distinctive amenities: things that are normal in one city that might exist in others but aren't typical elsewhere in the same way, giving a sense of place to the city. On a larger scale we might think of separated red bike paths in The Netherlands or free public restrooms in a lot of US cities; but here I'm trying to zoom in on single cities. Again, I'm not claiming these elements are fully restricted to only this city; I'm claiming they are distinctive of that city in how common or normal they are when they might not be so elsewhere.

1. Public Wading Pools in Minneapolis 

This is the amenity that inspired this list: lots and lots of public parks in Minneapolis have little wading pools in them: unstaffed, use at your own risk spaces that allow children (and to a lesser extent adults) to cool off in summer.

Now, we had such a thing in my neighborhood park in Seattle growing up, so it's clearly not unique. But the maintenance and even expansion of the system city-wide feels distinctive, at least among US major cities. It's not something you'd necessarily consider if you were designing Minneapolis from scratch, but it gives the parks, and thus the city, a feel you don't get elsewhere.

An example in Linden Hills Park.

2. Library Hours in Lincoln

This isn't an element of the built environment, but it's nevertheless significant, I suggest, to the urban sense in Lincoln, Nebraska: the public library hours there are longer, especially on Sundays, than in many comparably sized or even larger US cities. My wife still has to catch herself about libraries likely being closed Sundays, for example, or closing early on Sundays, even after decades of living outside the city.

Is it the major feature of Lincoln? Of course not. But that's part of the point. It doesn't require a major building plan or a 30 year city development to create distinctive elements of living in a certain place. And things that make a difference to the urban feel for those living there don't necessarily have to be big or ostentatious.

A related library example not significant enough to get its own listing: the mobile book truck for the Davenport libraries gives out free books all summer in the city parks. That's not something everyone does; it's something every city could do, but actually doing it is different.

3. The Blocks in Barcelona

Barcelona's cityscape is designed around a very particular block structure that cuts the corners of squares to increase visibility and mobility, while retaining the insides of blocks for public space. This is a more famous example than the above, but that's part of the point too: this isn't an unknown thing I wish to try to spring on the world, it's a natural part of how cities evolve. 

These distinctive blocks are both identifiable and well-designed. But they're not actually unique or inimitable. A city could use the design! But they often don't, and so this becomes part of the typical, distinctive Barcelona experience.

What is unique or distinctive about your city? What makes the city itself, and what makes it livable, and pleasant, and even exciting? These are important elements of urbanism above and beyond density, transportation, and other typical elements of the urbanism package.