Process Work
Thesis
During the semester I worked with Jane Jacob's book Life and of Great American Cities. The goal of the project was to illustrate the book with pictures that explain each chapter. I handled chapter 14 which dealt with forces of declines in cities, specifically with how borders affect city vitality. More information can be found below.
THE CURSE OF BORDER VACUUMS
Massive single uses are harmful to city vitally for several reasons; they form borders and halt cross use. As a result, they form dead zones and breed destruction to the surrounding context specifically at its perimeter. This can be combated by using ideas such as seams, promoting cross use in cases like parks by having its activities pushed to its perimeter, or by having the neighboring context have a great intensity of life to beat away the grayness that borders bring. Shown above is this idea of combating borders through a diversity of street life and by pushing the border's activities to its perimeter. This acts as a seam and brings life to the city rather than creating greyness.
“The root trouble with borders as city neighbors, is they are apt to form dead ends for most users of city streets. They represent, for most people, most of the barriers.”
-Jane Jacobs