In the first part of this series we toured a section of streets in Atlanta that offer nothing for pedestrians and are completely devoid of human life. In Part II we looked at two such blocks in Raleigh. The problem isn’t limited completely to those two blocks, however. There are several other areas of downtown Raleigh that are on the verge of being problematic.

The accompanying map labels problem blocks for pedestrians in downtown Raleigh. Block borders that contains extended walls and service entrances are labeled in red while blocks borders that contain empty parking lots are shown in pink.

Sidewalks around the NC Museum of History, Department of Revenue, Wake County Courthouse, and City of Raleigh parking garage are some of the areas that need help. Clearly, though, the McDowell Street corridor is in danger of become a high-traffic canyon of misery.

One major contributor to the southern end of this terrible pattern is the new convention center and its adjacent parking garage. Large venues like sports arenas and convention centers pose an ironic dilemma. While they attract large groups of pedestrians downtown, their enormous non-functional exposures create spaces that repel pedestrian life. When the experience is placed in a tight, one acre based grid, there is no room in the facility’s perimeter for pedestrian-oriented programming. Such facilities often create giant vacuoles to the daily urban experience. Careful planning in the surrounding blocks can mitigate these effects.

Both the new convention center and adjacent parking deck facility have three, walled sides, and both will eventually have interests for pedestrians on just their Salisbury Street facades. The convention center’s McDowell Street facade will eventually be opposed by an expansion of convention space, but will be a small outdoor amphitheater in the meantime. The north and south sides of the convention center (pictured) are already a half canyon and a full canyon, respectively. It is imperative for future development on the NE corner of Cabarrus and McDowell to feature pedestrian-friendly programming.

Moving north we find the aforementioned county properties bounded by Martin, Salisbury, Davie, and McDowell. Aside from small entrances on Salisbury, this complex acts as a pedestrian-repelling fortress. The new courthouse design needs to include something for McDowell St. pedestrians near the Martin Street corner. Two blocks to the north we see the AT&T building, and the need for a pedestrian experience in the new Lightner complex which was outlined in Part II of this series.

As one reviews the linked map, it is apparent that many future development opportunities actually exist in this corridor. As these properties are redeveloped it is imperative for architects to understand their roles in righting the fading pedestrian experience on McDowell.

There are golden opportunities in other areas such as the areas of Hargett/Bloodworth, Blount/Edenton, Hargett/Harrington, and Edenton/Dawson/McDowell. As mentioned above, architects should think of creating microneighborhoods with their designs. Surely some service entrances are needed, but it is imperative that they not line up consecutively so as to form complete blocks of boredom.

Zooming out from the map reveals an interesting pattern. We think of downtown proper as an orthogonal square of roughly 150 blocks. In fact the urban form seems to be a diamond-shaped, 45 degree offset pattern.

The next step in this series will cover a few existing problem areas that can be healed.

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