{"id":1503,"date":"2014-02-23T10:10:56","date_gmt":"2014-02-23T15:10:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=1503"},"modified":"2015-02-22T08:50:40","modified_gmt":"2015-02-22T13:50:40","slug":"finding-the-soul-of-the-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=1503","title":{"rendered":"Finding the Soul of the City"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe soul of a city can be found by talking a walk\u201d\u2014the premise and inspiration for generations of street photographers. In the February 2014 Metropolis<\/i>, Jeff Speck, city planner, architect, and sustainable growth advocate writes about his book, Walkable City<\/i><\/a>, claiming such visually rich environments are \u201cbetter for your soul.\u201d<\/p>\n

Every Picture Tells a Story<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Walking is certainly a better way to get a closeup look at the life going on around you. He illustrates that point with scenes of timeless urbanism captured by some of the giants of the street photography genre\u2014Gary Winograd<\/a>, Lee Friedlander<\/a>, Vivian Maier<\/a>, and others. The daily activities that animate city streets produce layered insights about both places and people. In a vital urban scene, \u201cthe presence of difference\u201d\u2014in ethnicity, race, class, income level, occupation\u2014suggest endless story possibilities.<\/p>\n

These images may require a second, even a third look, but it is clear why such photographs are often used as writing prompts.\u00a0 What\u2019s going on between those two? What are they looking at? What are they thinking? Why did he wear that<\/i>?<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"\"<\/p>\n

Walkable \u2260 Happy<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Canadian journalist Charles Montgomery\u2019s book, Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Though Urban Design<\/a>, agrees that walkability may be a component of a healthy city, but alone it cannot make a city a happy one<\/a>. A more complex set of elements contributes to people\u2019s assessment of their own well-being. Photographers have captured these factors, too:<\/p>\n

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  1. elbow room (\u201cPeople like their space\u201d)\u2014think about how kids tag every graffiti-friendly surface, it\u2019s a way of claiming something distinctly, if momentarily, theirs; or consider the “reserved” parking place<\/li>\n
  2. green space\u2014and not just the occasional pocket park, but big swaths of it worthy of Frederick Law Olmsted, connected in continuous corridors, perhaps helping to explain the runaway popularity of the High Line, and<\/li>\n
  3. economic justice. In other words, a city cannot be happy when a large segment of its population is much poorer than the rest.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Quality of life may be high in great, high-status cities, but that \u201cdoes not translate into feelings of well-being . . . where social stratification creates a culture of status anxiety.\u201d\u00a0 Those tensions, too, are evident in photographs of many urban streetscapes.<\/p>\n

    \"walkability,<\/a>More:<\/p>\n