Buffalo, NY Sidewalk

 

The way the grass and plantings overhang the sidewalk. Trees for shade. Everything is green, but nothing is perfect. Trash cans are out. Trash day today? Maybe tomorrow? Homes with porches built close to the sidewalk. Single family? Maybe Buffalo Doubles? Definitely carriage houses behind. 

Leave the palm trees alone!

Palm trees get a bum wrap these days. People say they don't provide shade, they aren't native to Los Angeles, they use too much water etc. But I think palm trees can sometimes play a role in defining public space and the "outdoor room" on the street and they make good accent trees. And certain types of palms, when clustered together can provide a decent amount of shade. In the example below the enclosed mall does not front on (or interact with) the sidewalk. The palm trees on this block help to make up for that lack of building frontage and provide a comforting sense of enclosure for pedestrians. They also add height and visual interest. It would of course be better if the building opened to the the sidewalk rather than relying on a landscaping band-aid. (Side note: That bus stop blocks the entire sidewalk and should be moved a few feet into the landscaped area.)

Let the trees do their job.

These trees are so close... This species is planted along Westwood Boulevard. They are very easy to trim into little gum drop shrubs which happens more often than not. However, these examples show that if you keep trimming the trees up they eventually are taller than the business signs and do not obstruct visibility of potential customers driving in their cars. Now if they would just let the canopy fill out this would be a lovely, comfortable place to walk at all hours of the day. 

But this neighborhood should go one step further. Rather than worrying solely about potential customers speeding by in cars they should create a pedestrian paradise. The kind of place people wander through just to enjoy the space and then happen upon the shops and cafes that line this street.  The kind of place with "sticky streets" as urbanist Brent Toderian describes them.

 

Related

If you want to encourage people to walk...

It really doesn't take much. Sometimes it's as simple as keeping the sidewalks level and planting some trees.

Who says palm trees don't provide shade?

Palm trees sometimes get a bumb rap, but if the right type of palm is planted correctly it can filter the sunlight nicely. And filtering the sunlight is really all that's necessary. It's not necessary to create a solid shaded canopy to make walking a pleasant experience. You just have to soften the effects of the sun.

Random Seating

One of the things that they teach you in planning school is that seating in public spaces should be moveable. People should be free to drag a chair to the shade or to the sun or up to a table where friends are sitting. This fellow decided the Starbucks patio wasn't to his liking so me moved a chair to this sunnier, grassier location. (I've seen this fellow do this on more than one occaision.)  Does this feel awkward when you see it?  What if there were several other people doing the same thing? 

 

What if the trees were kept, the grass paved, and then many tables, chairs, and umbrellas were placed in the parkway? That seems more appropriately urban for this parkway along busy Westwood Boulevard in Los Angeles.

 

Parking Lot Shade

Many cities require trees to shade parking lots, but very often the trees are pruned very aggressively so they never have their intended effect. (This is known as "topping.")Trees are over pruned for a variety of reasons. Sometimes the trees are seen as an obstruction to business signs or they are considered a legal liability so they must be pruned back to eliminate any possibility of a branch breaking off. This picture shows shade trees that have been pruned to remove the branches at the lower part of the tree while maintaining the shade canopy. Notice how the entrance to the store is still visible to customers. They could also solve the problem of business visibility by pushing the store to the edge of the sidewalk and placing the parking behind it as was done with the grocery store across the street. 

Do you care if there is shade in a parking lot? Do you look for shaded parking spaces?