Treating the Symptoms - A Critical Review of ... - Civic Exchange

Left: Langham Place, blank facade on Portland StreetSuperblocks As stated above, large site URA developments often involve bulky podiums and buildingover streets. This combines several smaller blocks into one large one.Urban designers have noted that very large blocks are rarely able to sustain outdoor streetlevelvibrancy. A neighbourhood consisting of large blocks will offer fewer routes from Ato B than a neighbourhood consisting of small blocks (assuming one cannot pass throughthe middle of blocks). There are fewer opportunities to turn corners, thereby reducing thelikelihood that users of different streets will cross paths. 160 The diagram on the right showsthe possible routes from a bus station (A), to two different office buildings, B and C. In thesmall block scenario, there is one possible route to B and three possible routes to C. In thelarge block scenario, there is only one route to B and C each. If a shop owner wants to setup in a place where he can capture foot traffic to both buildings, then there are many moredesirable locations in the small block scenario than in the large. There is also more totalstreet frontage, as small blocks have a lower permeter-to-area ratio. A second problem isthat even when large blocks are permeable, such as in the case of shopping malls, there areusually few entrances and exits, and pedestrian traffic is drawn in to the internal networkof air-conditioned corridors. 161 This does not necessarily reduce overall vibrancy, but it doesmean that the vibrancy takes place indoors in a privately-owned space, isolated from thesurrounding neighbourhood. One rarely finds many people or shops on the outside of a largeshopping mall — instead, their perimeters are used for servicing functions, such as refuse collection, fire exits, electrical and pump rooms, car park entrances, and vehicle drop-off points. 53