UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI Date:____________ I, _________________________________________________________, hereby submit this work as part of the requirements for the degree of: in: It is entitled: This work and its defense approved by: Chair: _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ An urban design based evaluation of Fountain Square, Cincinnati as a potential downtown location for successful outdoor cafes and restaurants. A thesis proposal submitted to The Graduate School at the University of Cincinnati in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF COMMUNITY PLANNING School of Planning College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning on June 3, 2005 By Aditi S. Mantrawadi Bachelor of Architecture, J. N. T. University, 2002 Thesis Committee Chair: Dr. Kiril Stanilov, Ph.D. Member: Prof. Menelaos Triantafillou, M.L.A Reader: John E Hancock, M. Arch., Assoc. Dean, DAAP Abstract Public plazas play a major role in the everyday lives of its users and serve as the settings for public life as ‘event landscapes’. Outdoor dining plays an important role in enhancing the quality of public spaces and urban life: by design and by people. The redesign of Fountain Square by the non-profit Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation seems an appropriate time to evaluate the potential of Fountain Square as an ideal location for outdoor cafes and restaurants using the form, meaning and use of Fountain Square, Cincinnati. The thesis analyses how people experience space in a plaza based on the criteria obtained from literature essential to understand the relation between the physical design of public plaza and outdoor cafes and restaurants, and how these criteria relate to each other to create a physical whole, and how they relate to us as users to form an ‘experience’. To, Cincinnati, OH - my first home away from home. Acknowledgements A lot of people have been part of my graduate experience at the University of Cincinnati – as teachers, colleagues and friends, and all have played a part in making these two years very fulfilling. I would like to thank my thesis committee members Dr. Kiril Stanilov, Prof. Menelaos Triantafillou and Prof. John Hancock for their confidence and patience. Their sound advice, encouragement and support have been crucial in the completion of this thesis. I thank my family in India for being a great support system. And to Dilip Chittajallu for pushing me to the finish line. Aditi Mantrawadi University of Cincinnati Table of Contents Chapter 1. Introduction.………………………………………………………….......... 6 Chapter 2. Research Design and Methodology……………………………………… 13 Chapter 3. Literature Review…………………………………………………….......... 20 Chapter 4. Literature Findings………………………………………………………… 51 Chapter 5. Site Observations…………………………………………………………... 59 Chapter 6. Evaluation of 3CDC Plans………………………………………………… 80 Chapter 7. Recommendations and Conclusions……………………………………… 85 Chapter 8. Bibliography………………………………………………………………… 92 Chapter 9. Appendix…………………………………………………………………….. 96 5 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION Humans are social animals. This is a statement often repeated and often proven. And it is our desire to be with other people that led us to build settlements, villages, towns, cities, and metropolises. The life that we have built for ourselves is the open and built ‘urban’ environment. It is also an accepted fact that our human lives are based on continuous events, activities and actions. Every action or movement has a spatial dimension, and needs a specific situation or environment to occur. Socializing is one of many activities, based purely on our emotional need, which requires a ‘space’, a physical and tangible environment. The city is a place where people meet, work and play; where culture and opportunities exist. Its built form, public places and streets provide a setting for the social and emotional growth of its inhabitants. The built form is essential to the identity of a city, described by its buildings – with their varied uses, shapes, sizes and style. But more than giving a visual identity to a place, the most vital feature of the built form is “the relationship of these buildings to each other and, most important of all, the spaces created between them” (Gruen 1967, 24). Thus, this built environment creates a setting for people to interact, influencing the kind of public life a city can support. Suzanne Crowhurst Lennard and Henry Lennard sum this concept best, when they says, “The essence of the city is found in its public urban spaces and its public life…urban public space is the single most important element in establishing a city’s livability” (Lennard and Lennard 1995, 1-25). Thus, the design of the public space is essential in creating the city’s identity as well as providing people with an environment where to enjoy a sense of community. In older European cities, this urban space – the market place and the plaza, or campo - was a part of the culture that grew spontaneously with the peoples and built environment. The built form around such social spaces was a mix of houses, shops, offices, and even government buildings, creating an area of high density, mixed-use buildings, lively streets and the market place at its center. The core of the urban settlement provided for an active social and community life with public spaces, markets, 6 pedestrian areas, cafes and restaurants. And the most common manifestation of this relaxing and meeting outdoor space was the outdoor café. These settings provided for a variety of activities such as celebrations, entertainment, eating, meeting people, or just sitting. Organic form and an inviting human scale were the two most important characteristics of the urban public space, inviting people to socialize and relax. This popularity of outdoor eating spaces and cafes in most of the traditional cities of Europe is explained by Christopher Alexander (1977, 437) when he says, “The most humane cities are always full of street cafes…people enjoy mixing in public, in parks, squares, along promenades and avenues, in street cafes. The preconditions seem to be: the setting gives you the right to be there, by custom; there are a few things to do that are part of the scene; and people feel safe enough to relax, nod at each other, perhaps even meet”. Outdoor cafes and restaurants have historically been, and even today have the potential to be, the centers of human activity in the public realm – whether the street or the plaza. As such, the role of sidewalk cafes as a public domain is multifaceted, serving as a gathering place for friends and strangers or a local place for a quick lunch or dinner an extension of their living rooms“…a noisy milling crowd in the bright outdoor room, small groups talking animatedly, individuals moving through looking for friends, loud greetings and embraces as groups of friends find each other” (Lennard and Lennard 1984, 12). Apart for providing a place to eat, these cafes are also a place for relaxation - to just sit and watch life go by on the street. They are a part of the built urban environment that has the quality of being ‘designable’ and the potential to attract people. Ray Oldenberg (1991) says, “The outdoor café legitimizes one’s extended presence in public, and creates an appropriate context for people watching”. The most common activities observed are eating and drinking together, sitting alone or with friends, conversation even with strangers, listening to other people, joking, gossiping and flirting. The food at the café encourages people to stay longer and creates a festive atmosphere. The presence of other people such as waiters or other customers encourages social spontaneity and provides an opportunity for people to interact. This interaction is not limited to interaction within the customers, but involves the waiters or waitresses and other regular customers. “The authentic café…represents a stationary version of the promenade a pedestrians’ depot so to speak – it serves as an extension of that mother lode 7 of sociability, the indoor café. A restaurant or café will not succeed if it cannot offer its patrons outdoor space for the better part of the year” (Rudofsky 1969, 308). Supporting people’s daily life - living, working and relaxing, the tradition of outdoor cafes and restaurants is observed to be strong in the European culture, especially in the warm and pleasant Mediterranean. Cities like Paris, Vienna, Rome, Florence, and Madrid have outdoor eating and socializing as a part of everyday life. The downtowns in European cities are famous for their sidewalk cafes, especially in countries like France, Greece and Italy. Social places like the plaza and the sidewalk café are settings for people to meet, sit, talk, and jus relax. Most social and public activities happen in the street and the numerous restaurants and sidewalk cafes lining it. The social culture in Europe is such that it promotes and encourages social life on the street, the result of a healthy and abundant human activity. Just across the Atlantic Ocean, the new American cities were planned in grids with segregated uses. The separation of home, work and entertainment reduced the interaction between these essential functions and, thus, among people. Suburbanization, technology and highways added to the effect by increasing the physical distances between the commercial and institutional downtown and the residential suburbs. ‘White flight’ and the coming of