Streetscape in Manama, Bahrain... (Photo by Paul Brady) Some former blog entries (click here and here for examples) provide reasons for why it would be a good idea to implement a more pedestrian friendly and less car dependent set-up in Kuwait. In this submission some suggestions of precedents from various European cities are given for what this might actually involve. Features that could easily be adapted into the local context. The aim here is not only to provide some examples of how to expand the repertoire of what transport (ferries and water-taxis, rickshaws, bicycle lanes, etc.) and public places (streets, squares, neighbourhoods...) might entail, but to hopefully aid in initiating some discussion and thought regarding what the optimal solutions might be, and how to go about realizing them. A summary of some of the main instances are listed below.
Shared Streetscapes
As counter intuitive as it might sound, there are some very successful precedents of areas where pedestrians and vehicles share a space. Some of these have been carefully planned, as in various applied examples found in Holland and elsewhere, other are a bit more organic and ad-hoc, as those found in Rome. They all, however, accept the ambulatory (pedestrian) dimension as a fundamental fact on the ground. Something which is still somewhat lacking in Kuwait.
Above and below - A pedestrian crossing and street in Rome, an ad-hoc pedestrian and driver shared space...
Ferries and Boat Taxis
Kuwait City is wrapped around a bay, which in its shape would lend itself perfectly for sea-faring transport. Yet, as it stands, to my knowledge there isn't a single ferry or boat-taxi service available in Kuwait (beyond the more touristy ferry to Failaka island). Water transport is a fantastic way to get around and, considering the daily 'jam-jarring' on most of the city's traffic arteries, it probably could also be quicker. And what could be better on the way to work than enjoying the sea-breeze whilst savouring a freshly-squeezed orange-juice or a just brewed cup of tea (as is the habit in Izmir, Turkey).
Views from the Izmir water-bus...
A freeloader on the roof...
On a more ambitious note it might be interesting to consider developing an inland canal network for Kuwait, perhaps taking its cues from those done in the UK and Holland a century or two ago. These would not only provide a pleasant and cooling urban intervention, but could also increase the land value of any properties flanking such waterways. They could also provide alternate means for transport of both people and goods as well as a natural way to cool down adjacent areas.
Left - A small (cooling) water channel flanking a main pedestrian path at the Alhambra, Spain. Right - a canal in London's Little Venice...
Car-less Transport
Those usually classified as pedestrians fall, in fact, into a number of sub-groups. These secondary categories, which can be defined according to their travel speed, distinguish those that walk, from the joggers, skaters, roller-bladers, and bicyclist - all viable means for getting around. There are whole cities, such as Copenhagen, which are designed around the use of the bicycle where they, as means of transport, are given priority over cars. New York, London, Singapore are cities which are planned and built around the notion of pedestrian movement.
Split sidewalks in Helsinki, where the pedestrians and bicyclists each have their own, clearly demarcated, lane...
There are alternatives means to the car for getting around. Beyond some of the ways listed above, re-thinking and improving existing means and facilities can make a substantial difference. Updating the buses, the bus-stops, and the logistics of how their routes are organized could make a substantial contribution to resolving the current traffic crisis, or just cleaning up the street level surfaces and paraphernalia would make a big augmentation to how the city would be used and perceived. A modern city's image is about more than its (shiny) towers. The impression it gives, its mien, is made up of the collective assembly of all its various elements - availability, ease and quality of transport, its urban plan, its cleanliness, its safety and reliability of services, the availability and variability of stimulation, are some of the elements that contribute to a city's success...
Regardless of how shiny and bright the towers in the distance might be, the streetscape remains the main venue through which we move within our urban environments. With its potholes, garbage, broken or missing curbs, random street-works, arbitrarily parked cars, the 'facts on the ground' remain somewhat bleak in Kuwait...
The (underground) central bus-station in Helsinki, which forms an extension to a n adjacent public square and linked shopping mall. The buses are accessed through a set of automated gates, somewhat similar to those found in an airport. The bus schedules can be viewed on a large light-board (as seen on the right hand image above), which also tells you to which gate you need to go (image above on the left)...
Lit street signs in Vilnius provide clear and easily noticeable means to orient yourself in the city's, occasionally maze-like, old-town...
A path up to a open town square in Helsinki. Sometimes there is no need to improve what is already there...
Shading and Cooling
There are an abundance of precedents for how the ambient temperature of a place can be improved, most of them realized with some careful contextual planning (laying out routes according to local breezes, planting shading trees, building size and orientation, etc.), but also some semi-passive applications such as having a channel with running water along the curb of a pedestrian path, or even, as can be seen below, covering a whole high-street with large shading canvas to lower the ambient temperature below...
A covered shopping street in Malaga...
Shaded shops in Manama (Photo by Paul Brady)...
Ivy covered courtyard in Izmir...
Tree shaded paths. Left - the steps leading up to the Acropolis (with the architect Greg Lynn in the foreground). Right - the path leading up to the Alhambra.
A tree shaded parking area at the Alhambra...
Small Town Squares
A small town or neighbourhood square should act as an extension of ones private space. It should, in its domesticity, form a 'nook', of sorts, in the urban plan of a neighbourhood which is predominantly designed to perform as an extension of the day to day activities of a city – a place where the children can safely run around whilst still being passively supervised from the neighbouring buildings (a rendition of Jane Jacob's ideal), a place to have a short breather and some time for one self, a place eat ones lunch or have a picnic, or just somewhere to meet up for a chit-chat - that also could have the flexibility to be used for neighbourhood parties, a small concert, or an ad-hoc movie night...
A small neighbourhood square in Vilnius...
Local 'domestic' squares in Benalmadena (Spain), and Bargo (Finland)...
Local Conveniences
For a neighbourhood to function it needs neighbourhood conveniences, quick, evening and late night spots, a small food-stall, coffee-shop and convenience store, a laundry and dry-cleaning, a hair 'saloon' (salon), and perhaps a news-stand and a bakala. Somewhere one can quickly run when in need of a bottle of water or a shaving-kit, without having to use a car to do so.
A neighbourhood shop in Izmir...
A bakala (local shop) in Kuwait...
A kiosk in Helsinki...
The Value of Well Designed Details and their Considered Execution (pride in the everyday)
From the smallest to the largest, all elements in our urban environments need to be thought through regardless of scale. An overall appreciation and quality of life can partly be achieved by applying care and high expectations in the way everyday things are realized. This might entail, for example, that equally high expectations and craft are applied in the realization of a gas-station as to the building of a museum, or the same degree of consideration is given the design of a neighbourhood for diplomats as the extended quarters of the labour-force that serve them. This doesn't necessarily mean such undertakings would results in similar designs, but that the same level of thought and consideration is given, regardless of design brief.
A, very beautifully detailed and accurately realized, soffit at a road-side gas-station in Latvia...
Door-knock at the Alhambra...
Stone paving in Helsinki...
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