How Would Jane See It? The Widening of Alston Avenue and its effect on East Durham - a Jacobean analysis By: Arlene Gillman
“The ballet of the good city sidewalk never reapeats itself from place to place, and in any one place is always replete with new improvisations . � Jane Jacobs - The Death and Life of Great American Cities
The trust of a city street is formed over time from many, many little public sidewalk contacts... Most of it is obstensibly trivial but the sum is not trivial at all - Jane Jacobs*
How Would Jane See It?
*courtesy of goodreads.com
The widening of Alston Avenue and its effect on East Durham - a Jacobian analysis
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In the Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jane Jacobs set forth her theories about the nature of city life. Ms. Jacobs was not a planning professional - she was a resident of New York City’s Greenwich Village with superb powers of observation. She formulated her theories in reaction to planning orthodoxy at the time, which saw “urban renewal” as being the answer to what powerful people in New York and elasewhere viewed as “problematic” urban areas. Ms. Jacobs did not see cities as problematic - she saw them as places in which one could encounter the full panoply of the human condition. They were not places that needed to be torn down and made better - nor were they to be buried under highwys intended to allow people to “escape” them. They were to be valued for their diversity, variety and vitality - which was most notably reflected in the life on city streets. Today the theories that Ms. Jacobs fomulated in this seminal work have become, to some extent, planning orthodoxy. Planners strive to build neighborhoods that will foster an intricate “street ballet” - the urban dance that Ms. Jacobs saw as arising from dense urban environments that foster continuous street activity at different times of the day and night throughout the year. The accepatance of Ms. Jacob’s observation - that highways create border zones in which street life can wither has resulted in cities around the country assessing their elevated roadways and in many cases tearing them down. There have also been attempts to lend some empiricism to her theories - which as previously noted were based largely on observation. In this study I have attempted to look at East Durham through Jane’s eyes. East Durham is an older section of Durham located just east of downtown It boasts a passionate citizenry who value its sense of community and who want to tackle its problems, including the threat of gentrification due to its proximity to downtown Durham. In the next few years this area will see significant change in the form of several major transportation projects. I chose to look at one of them, the proposed widening of Alston Avenue (State Route 55) from the Durham Freeway to Holloway Street, which form the southern and northern boundaries of my study area, as reflected on Page 3. The Alston Avenue widening project bears looking at for a number of reasons. From a purely Jacobean perspective it raises the question of whether it will cut the western portion of the study area off from the rest of East Durham. The road widening project also needs to be considered because of the history surrounding the construction of the Durham Freeway. When that road was built it significantly altered the Hayti neighborhood which, as reflected on the maps contained on Page 4, had been segregated by race, and redlined, at least as far back as the 1930’s. Although the current project has nowhere near the scope of the Durham Freeway and the State has attempted to take the views of East Durhamites into account in designing the road, it nevertheless will alter the streetscape of East Durham. As reflected on Page 7, in spots it will accomodate five lanes of traffic and will be more than double the size of the existing road. From a Jacobean perspective East Durham has the potential to foster an active street life. It may not have the volume of intersections contained in Grenwich Village but it still boasts over one hundred and fifty, and hence the potential for encounters between its residents, as valued by Ms. Jacobs. The western edge of the study area (which contains the largest number of uses and the greatest variety of uses) already appears to have the potential for a significant street ballet. As the State moves forward with it’s project it may want to consider whether the current configuration of pedestrian and automobile space best serves the street life of this area. Instead of allocating pedestrian areas in three 10 foot portions (sidewalk and medians) why not aggregate all that pesdestrian space in one 30 foot median which could take on some of the aspects of a linear park. Or maybe create one truly wide sidewalk. Finally, with all the road projects currently occuring in and around this neighborhood - including the planned introduction of a light rail line - the State my want to consider whether this road needs to be widened at all.
Study Area* Albright
Albright Liberty Village Golden Belt **
Old East Durham
Edgemont
Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody� -Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities How Would Jane See It?
*Information courtesy of Durham Hoods and the citizens of Durham **Franklin Village
The widening of Alston Avenue and its effect on East Durham - a Jacobian analysis
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Historic Context “Massive single uses in cities have a quality in common with each other. they form borders, and borders in cities usually make destructive neighbors” - Jane Jacobs - The Death and Life of Great American Cities
Redlining Map of Durham - Circa 1935
Aerial Photo of Durham showing placement of the Durham Freeway -1972
How Would Jane See It?
Map of Durham Organized by Race - 1937
The widening of Alston Avenue and it’s effect on East Durham a Jacobian analysis.
Charting the Street Ballet Sunday
Monday
Tuesday Retail/Wholesale (9) Houses of Worship (7) Day Care Centers (2)
Wednesday
Offices (2) Schools (3) Third Places (6) Industrial Workplaces (6)
Thursday
Friday
How Would Jane See It?
Saturday 12A
1A 2A
3A
4A
5A 6A 7A 8A 9A 10A 11A 12P 1P 2P 3P 4P 5P 6P 7P 8P 9P 10P 11P
The widening of Alston Avenue and its effect on East Durham a Jacobean analysis
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Intersection Density Albright
Map of Greenwich Village (where Jane Jacobs live in the 1960’s) - 192 intesections
Map of Study Area - 153 Intesections
How Would Jane See It?
The widening of Alston Avenue and its effect on East Durham - a Jacobian analysis
Alston Avenue Section Study
*
Current Streetscape
Proposed Streetscape
Commercial Section - South Alston Avenue between East Main Street and Morning Glory Avenue - Los Primos Grocery to Durham Rescue Mission
Residential Section - North Alston Avenue Between Taylor Street and Wall Street
How Would Jane See It?
*Sections are intended to show the increase in the size of the road and the allocation of pedestrian and auto space. Topography was not taken into account at this time.
The widening of Alston Avenue and its effect on East Durham a Jacobean Analysis
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