Do people use those vast green lawns at office parks?

Fresh Bilge is driving through Atlanta:

"The downtown area appeared quite extensive; major buildings are not closely bunched. I imagine there must be some appealing spaces between them, but I couldn't tell from the road."

Just out of curiosity, if Alan Sullivan had pulled off the Interstate and seen a nice lawn between some widely-spaced buildings, would he have been prompted to park his car and stroll about on the lawns?

I suggest "No." (At least as a general proposition; Sullivan as a unique long-distance traveler may be a plausible exception.) The tower-in-the-park sounds appealing but in fact, if you watch how people actually behave, not how they think they would/should behave, then you find such plazas and large setbacks usually bereft of people.

Of course there are exceptions: office building plazas inhabited by people on a nice spring day and of course real parks. But the large building set amidst a large lawn is not a people-attracter, even though it lives-on in popular imagery, and that's all this post is really about: the momentum of popular imagery.

In fact people gather in tight and contained spaces like shopping malls and narrow urban streets.

Just think about it: when when was the last time you were driving through a suburban office "park" distrct and you saw more than a lone jogger using the grounds? But the F.L. Wright/LeCorbusier model of the city still sounds good -- except that it doesn't really sing a clear tune.

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Exception: They actually seem to use the lawns at Microsoft in Redmond.

Comments

[bkmiller]

I think Jim Kunstler has a good take on the uselessness of much of this ornamental "open space." It's vague, undefined space that isn't very comfortable for users-except as an ornamental background/foreground for the trophy building(s).

[Hans from Toronto]

Some people still haven't figured this out yet?!? Yikes! You have quite the task set out for you, David.

Or maybe I've just gotten used to central Toronto where everyone understands that simple fact.

[Earl Avenue]

I am interested in starting a completely green city or more accurately transforming an existing city into a green refuge for "the rest of us". I need help, ideas and people who are willing to innovate. Contact me.

[The Green Guru]

Hmmm...is a tree valuable if there is no one there to sit beneath it? How very myopic to consider green space invaluable if not in use. In an era of very real urban heat islanding, it's critical to incorporate as much green space as possible to couteract all the radiant heat sources like concrete, steel and asphalt in the urban setting. Progressive cities are now pushing for rooftop gardens even, completely inaccessible to anyone outside of the buildings tenants, as a way of continuing to reduce energy use and radiant heat. Purification of air, cooling power, habitat for birds and wildlife. Who cares if people use it. Monuments to ornamental imagery as their sole purpose..puh-leaze