We’ve all seen at least one. The cold, windswept concrete. The lack of supporting, active land uses. The oversized, abstract orange or red piece of public art. The fountain with no friends. The utter lack of flexibility.
It’s the lifeless civic plaza, and it’s everywhere in America.
Like many cities that built new city halls of a particular, brutal architectural design (Boston, anyone?), the City of Dallas has previously attempted to add a sense of civitas to its most civic of buildings: City Hall. Indeed, legendary urbanist Holly Whyte developed plans for the building’s troubled plaza as early as 1983.
The problem?
The plans were never implemented.
Enter the Better Block crew and friends, who just recently brought their appealing low cost, tactical planning strategies to the plaza in an attempt to demonstrate the best of ideas included in Whyte’s plan. Check out the video below…especially if you are from Boston.
