As one of the outcomes of last year's Project for Public Spaces workshop, the BIA encouraged several committee efforts to address various topics. One of these groups looked at the need to better define pedestrian paths up and down the city centers' hills.Local attorney Erik Bjornson and architect Ko Wibowo have been examining downtown's hillclimbs for several months now--finding them to be full of blind spots, sharp corners, empty benches, and otherwise unsettling elements. Using Jane Jacobs’ book The Death and Life of Great American Cities as their guide, the pair set out to find ways to increase area foot traffic and improve passageways currently pretty much avoided by pedestrians.
Wibowo has prepared a sketch of their improvement ideas, which include new retail spaces, widened walkways, and outdoor public seating. The pair also quit walking long enough to complete an interview with the Tacoma Daily Index. They have been invited to make a more formal presentation of their findings to the City Center Luncheon on February 9th.
Wow. You read Jane Jacobs. If everyone at the City of Tacoma who is involved in downtown and business district development read The Death and Life of Great American Cities we would all be much better off.
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