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Reading about New Urbanism and seeing first hand some great new TOD/mixed-used communities flourish, I can't help but feel these places don't have, for lack of a better term, "soul." That is, the unique sense of place that strongly identifies a city and gives its citizens an identity to go along with it. My question is that is it even possible for developers to create this in newer communities? Or is that something that just comes with time?
I even wonder if this matters to most people or if I am in a huge minority here. But I love old cities and regardless of their current condition it seems all of our country's old cities have a personality or character to call their own. I can't even quite put my finger on why this is but I suspect it has to do with unique architecture, long standing traditions, amazing public places, and institutions (sports teams, restaurants, festivals) that have been around a long time. If that is the case then I guess I have answered my own question and that no, newer developments have no chance of creating a sense of place since only time can really do that.
You can't set out to create soul, authenticity, character, culture. It is an inevitable product of human presence and experience, but it doesn't pop out free-formed. It must have time to grow from the community and the people who live there. The mid-century method of clearing out the old and replacing it with the shiny and new loses that intangible quality--the best you can do is maybe look at old photographs of what was destroyed. But in cities where the old was preserved, there are tangible links to the past, to the culture of those who came before, and if you're very fortunate, some of the old-timers are there to teach traditions to the younger folk. That's why infill in cities is so important--stitching back the urban fabric is a little less happy-making in an economic sense, but you retain the heart and soul of cities, which makes the product more unique and more appealing.
At best you can facilitate it by designing cities the old fashioned way--in a manner that encourages people to encounter each other in casual and social settings, both at "third places" and on the street (aka "walkability.")
Seriously though, while these gleaming new communities seem sterile and without much soul now, give it a decade or so and they won't seem that way any longer.
People give a place "soul". A much-loved place looks that way because of how people treat and/or interact with it, and there is usually several generations of people who did the same before.
We psychologically respond to a place that has a history of being loved, in other words.
01-25-2012, 04:56 PM
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That is a great thread subject question! It is a simple question but also a very clear and substantial question at the same time. It is also easy to give great answers to that question.
This is a list of factors that can make a city/town have soul:
1. The people in the city. The higher the percentage of people that have great souls themselves in the city/town, the more soul the city can have because people are the ones that influence how a city becomes in plenty of ways.
2. Vibrancy of the city and how exciting it is day to day and in its streets.
You could live in a city that has all those things, and most do, and still be very lonely b/c you don't have anyone to enjoy that stuff with. We really should be looking at what brings people together.
01-25-2012, 05:58 PM
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Originally Posted by Katiana
You could live in a city that has all those things, and most do, and still be very lonely b/c you don't have anyone to enjoy that stuff with. We really should be looking at what brings people together.
But that is not related to the thread subject question if someone is lonely or not.
Also, all of those things I mentioned for how a city/town can get soul are great ways to bring people together.
Most cities/towns do have most of those things. However, certain cities have higher quality stuff related to certain factors more than other cities, and certain cities having much more soul with certain things than others.
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