Malls with Planted Areas

shut-ins and patients in rest homes and the future to sow and reap. Bureau of convalescent hospitals take a new lease the Census reports for 1970 show that on life by becoming involved in helping 19 percent of the U.S. population is set up indoor greenhouses, making seed 55 years old or older. The highest collections, and watching the plants projection figures forecast this per- grow in a dish in which seeds have centage dipping to 18.8 percent in been set in a constantly moistened 1980 and rising to 19.8 in 1990. The sponge. Others may be interested in total numbers are expected to rise ap- growing herbs in a window box. preciably; six million more in 1980 In Therapy Through Horticulture, than in 1970 and another increase of Watson and Burlingame suggest many three million in 1990. opportunities for volunteer help. How- No matter whether the retired gar- ever, they advise volunteers to ap- dener be hale and hearty or creaky proach homebound and infirm patients in the joints, he or she can remain with caution and empathy. They pre- active within limits. scribe advance consultation with hos- Younger people are wont to ask pital authorities and occupational retirees "What do you do with your therapists. time?" A well-nigh ideal response is: The authors point out that many pa- "I grow ñowers, shrubs, vegetables." tients have extremely limited strength To lift a parody from the Sun City- and that others may resist help until Youngstown News-Sun— rapport is established. "Old gardeners never die. They Plenty of oldsters will be on hand in just spade away." a bright new look for shopping— malls with planted areas MAIN STREET U.S.A. is UOt like it WaS and highways, sometimes many miles when our great-grandparents tied up in length. It tends to form a large at the hitching rail on Saturday morn- gridiron, particularly when encouraged ings for their weekly shopping. That by strip zoning, which dominates ur- was a pleasant, bucolic, elm-shaded ban and suburban areas and creates a scene. Then came the automobile, the system of de facto neighborhoods. population explosion, the supermarket, This is the shopping environment suburban sprawl, the shopping center, most of us are familiar with: crowded freeways, and the decline of central streets, bright lights, a confusion of cities. signs, buildings of all sizes, shapes, and There are still towns in the United styles lined up higgledy-piggledy, un- States whose main streets look about as predictable and complicated parking they did a century ago. But there are arrangements, with little or no green not many like that. Today we have vegetation. these four basic types of shopping The urban downtown—in the cen- environments : ters of cities and metropolitan areas The commercial strip—in smaller the commercial strip tightens up, be- towns this is still a few blocks on Main comes continuous rows of buildings Street. In suburban areas and on the opening directly on the street, of any outer fringes of larger cities and metro- height from one to many stories. It politan areas the strip expands and becomes mixed with more business, proliferates along most arterial streets entertainment, and light industrial uses, 292 has much worse traffic and parking traffic and converted into pedestrian problems, and there is even less green- malls. ery. However, in many cities, such as All of this combined experience has Los Angeles, a high percentage of made it possible now for us to decide, downtown area has been converted to in any community, what kind of a parking lots through the tearing out of shopping environment we would like old buildings. to have, and how we might go about Suburban shopping centers, which getting it. It is no longer a question of have grown rapidly since World War II. more parking, sign control, or decorat- These are not commercial strips, but ing Main Street with hanging baskets rather are concentrated groups of of ñowers, and trees in pebbly pots. stores, selected carefully for the antici- We now know how to study entire pated market area, and surrounded by shopping areas, including both public ample parking. Usually they are put rights-of-way and private commercial together by one developer-architect property. We can make plans for reno- team which assembles land, financing, vating, rehabilitating, redesigning, and/ buildings, and commercial leases to pro- or redeveloping all or parts of them, duce functioning centers. as the owners, tenants, and city officials The suburban shopping centers are may agree. far enough out from downtown areas All four types of shopping areas can to find adequate land at reasonable be studied in this way—commercial prices. They are made possible by free- strips, downtowns, the older shopping way, highway, and/or rapid transit centers which may not be up to newer systems which make them easily acces- competition, and renewed downtowns sible to many thousands of potential whose programs may be incomplete, or shoppers. Because of the convenience not sufficiently advanced. of one-stop shopping and ample park- One fundamental decision must be ing, they present serious competitive made at some point in any such shop- problems to the commercial strips and ping area study: Is it enough to pro- downtown areas. vide adequate shopping and parking A small percentage of these sub- space, or will the addition of planted urban shopping centers goes beyond pedestrian spaces increase the area's the bare minimum of grouped shops competitive potential? with adjacent parking space to pro- For those of us who like plants and vide more or less elaborate planting gardens the answer may seem obvious. and pedestrian mall or garden spaces. But for many hard-headed merchants, Downtown renewal areas—some developers, and marketing economists downtown commercial areas have en- it must be proven that the addition of deavored to meet the shopping center planted spaces will actually increase challenge by physical renewal pro- the business volume by attracting more grams. Parking districts have been customers. formed to create adequate parking As usual, figures can be used to prove areas, either by clearing land or by both sides. High quality shopping building multi-level structures. Build- centers with elegant pedestrian spaces ings have been renovated, rehabilitated, have excellent business results. So too or replaced with newer and better struc- do poor quality centers with minimum tures. Sections of downtown, or entire pedestrian spaces, when they occupy centers, have been reconstructed as new strategic locations. Redeveloped down- shopping-business complexes. Down- town mall areas like Fresno and Bur- town streets have been closed to auto bank in California improve business. But old downtowns may also do well with more parking and with better Author GARRETT ECKBO, a landscape merchandising. architect, heads the San Francisco ofiice Current environmental and ecologi- of Eckbo, Dean, Austin & Williams. cal concerns are creating an atmosphere 293 Right, Fulton Mall in Fresno, Calif. Below, the Kern Mall extension. in which the visual quality of shopping areas may be considered important for its own sake. If the other aspects of shopping area planning receive proper consideration, visual quality—including planted pedestrian spaces—will cer- tainly not be bad for business and prob- ably will improve it. Nothing would help the quality of life in urban and suburban America more than if all shopping areas of all types were to become involved in serious competition in order to provide quality shopping environments. What do we mean by a quality shopping environment, including planted pedestrian spaces? We mean one which has not only attractive and con- venient buildings and adequate parking, but also high-quality circulation spaces between them and connecting all of them. By high quality we mean some or all of the following: —Ample walking space wherever we want to go, without conflict with cars. —Planting of trees, shrubs, vines, flowering plants, grass to create a garden atmosphere. —Spaces with comfortable seats, out of the way of circulation, where we 294 may sit, relax, rest, recuperate, enjoy in Fresno, the Kern Mall extension v^as the shopping scene, and gather our conceived as a part of the continuing forces for further participation. effort to provide both a refreshing and —Integration of shopping activity viable pedestrian-oriented shopping en- with pedestrian space development, vironment in downtown Fresno. The and v^ith displays, exhibits, kiosks, and newly completed extension, constructed action programs. over what was Kern Street, provides a —Integration of community activity vital link connecting restaurant and with shopping development by means lodging facilities to the core of the of art shows; social, political, and marketing area, and will support the cultural events; communication centers; growing community as other extensions and spaces where groups may meet. are joined to the mall system. —Play areas for children. Major mall elements include a large —Integration of planting with cir- open center, sierra boulders, a fountain culation, social, and sitting spaces, and with a stepped pool, and curved linear other garden elements like fountains, planting areas. pools, canals, sculpture, mosaic, shel- Riverside Mall, a four-block pedes- ter, lighting, communication systems. trian mall with two minor cross malls, Following are some exciting Cali- was completed in 1966 at a cost of fornia examples of quality shopping approximately $800,000. Constructed developments. on what had been a major thorough- Fulton Mall in Fresno has exceeded fare in Riverside, the 100-foot width all expectations in its social, economic, provides ample space for large planting and esthetic success. Ten blocks of elements and grade changes within the Fresno's downtown streets were cleared planting and seating space.

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