Why Alleys Are the Most Important Spaces in a City

this video is brought to you by brilliant allies are like the unsung heroes of urban planning and design and to be quite honest i think it's part of what makes chicago so great and so easy to live in that might sound flip or too easily skipping over some of the more important aspects of a city like this one like it's tall buildings it's public transit or it's waterfronts but by the end of this video i hope that you'll start appreciating allies almost as much as i do or at least see them for the complex and vital urban spaces that they are chicago has the largest network of alleys of any city in the united states there are almost 1900 miles of alleyways within the city limits looking at a map of the city with all of them highlighted in blue looks like capillaries spreading through the human body every city is built up from a typical block which is unique to that city the size and shape of this fundamental building block it affects almost every aspect of how the city works and feels a standard block in say manhattan is about 264 feet by 900 feet or 80 meters by 274 meters from the center of the street to the center of the street parcels of 100 feet but up to each other back to back in a long repetitive series the block shape in new york is relatively long and narrow and the city that's produced by repeating these units ends up with a distinct grain that interrupts movement in one direction at a much greater rate than in the other direction the narrowness in the east-west axis also means that a building could relatively easily stretch from the entire distance of the block and if it doesn't there isn't any room left over between building lots in this direction buildings are surrounded on all sides and they struggle to get access for deliveries or for light and air in chicago on the other hand a typical block is 330 feet by 660 feet or 100 meters by 200 meters it's more squarish than it is long and narrow and this makes the differences in traveling in different directions in chicago much less dramatic so going north south doesn't end up feeling like it takes forever to get to the next block or the stopping point and in the other direction it doesn't feel like you have to stop every couple of steps the reason the blocks can be more squarish is because that 330 foot width is broken up by an 18 foot wide alley public way the slice divides the properties in the short direction of the block and it forms a mid-block barrier and a passage that allows accessibility to the backsides of every lot officially the space is used to separate waste removal and deliveries from the primary pedestrian and other traffic on main streets it provides a fire break between structures so flames don't spread so easily the space also allows for supplementary circulation airflow and light on the backside of buildings in residential areas it's where the garages go eliminating the need for driveways that break up the sidewalk informally though the space is used for all sorts of things like garage parties or places to launch fireworks a place to hook up or a place to hide all of your junk public sentiment around alleys have changed over the years and their evolution is fascinating as they are repurposed in response to the way that the overall city evolves they also operate simultaneously at vastly different scales from solving large-scale logistical problems of urban flows to more human-scaled opportunities for occupation and allies have survived the transition from horses to cars and they've gone from being called gangways an outmoded but straightforward name for the undesirable inhabitants that would do their business here all the way to becoming celebratory party spaces with city sanctioned events the very first layout plan of chicago from 1830 this drawing called a platt shows a series of blocks broken up in the confluence of the three branches of the chicago river streets are named after presidents or explorers and run in cardinal directions and the block numbers which start at kinsey and dearborn sit inside the 18-foot gap between the property lines these alleys run east and west on the east side of the river and north and south on the west side this plan comes about 20 years after the first layouts of manhattan and represents an important invention and improvement that was described to enable the city to evolve of a mass-produced services and mass-produced access one of the civic accomplishments of the century by 1900 over 98 percent of chicago's residential blocks had alleys and remain so for the next century but by world war one allens were starting to be considered a waste of space and an invitation for crime this attitude lasted in most of the united states for decades and development during this time and onward in chicago often didn't include alleys for these reasons alleys were the domain of the working class folks like garbage men peddlers and trades people there are spaces for horses and lined with coach houses which provide stables and apartments for their keepers it's also where horse manure was stored before being carted away alleys are basically where you put everything undesirable so that everything desirable can live on the street they were dirty places and served as septic systems of the city with latrines and water wells kitchens and even cold deliveries in working class areas though alleys were a space to start a business or for public gathering in these areas it wouldn't have been uncommon to find a small manufacturing space or repair shops lining an alley or apartments or a children's play areas once the average citizen started to own cars the wealthier folks didn't necessarily want to drive along the alley due to their past associations instead automobile owners preferred just parking on the street or using front loaded driveways and this trend followed in most urban areas planned post world war ii originally alleys were unpaved and lacked connections to storm sewers many would have been paved with belgian wood blocks this material and application is called nicholson pavement and it was a cheap way to create a durable outdoor service while it was cheap it did require a lot of maintenance and never really produced a very good flat surface today much of the wood block surfaces in chicago are paved over but at aster street you can still see some of that original system there is something intimate and comforting in regards to the scale of an alley even though they exist for urban scale design considerations their execution is on a much smaller and more intimate level william volker says to move through alleys today is almost to move through another place in time through a sort of quiet valley between close forms their scale and variety of elements can be quite comfortable while some find this kind of privacy within a public space of the city comforting it also makes a space susceptible to being co-opted for illegal activity and crime as i mentioned earlier allies might also be called gangways a term that developed during the crime-ridden days of chicago when al capone ruled the streets and the alleys that supported them alleyways often work as places where regulations are less likely to be enforced this can either be a negative or a positive thing depending on how you look at it all these qualities add up to making alleys an important setting for narratives that take place in a city in books plays tv and film and grady clay says about allies that they tell a story even if there is an edge of danger there's something romantic about them you might see the seedy side of allies portrayed and say batman where the caped crusader ventures into the places that normal citizens shouldn't go the domain of villains and criminals [Music] hold on but of course allies weren't invented here in chicago or in batman they've existed in other parts of the world for hundreds of years before they were ever deployed in that 1830 planning drawing of chicago and in those cultures allies have found new more positive narratives given that these cultures had a little bit more time to figure those out in wong kar wise modern classic in the mood for love produced in hong kong the alley is like a character filled with all kinds of textures sights and sounds as the protagonists brushed up against one another along their journey toward an affair the alley is an intimate place of meeting and while is largely out of sight in this film it's a place for a different kind of illicit activity in asia and europe the alley has been around much longer and in some ways have developed a more advanced attitude toward them or at least a very productive way of utilizing them in china hutongs are a type of narrow street commonly associated with northern chinese cities like beijing they're subject to the protection and even reconstruction after years of overlooking their importance and a certain amount of demolition and in japan the shinjuku golden gai is a lively place with dozens of bars and clubs and eateries squeezed within the tiny urban space in the united states we're starting to recognize the opportunities of allies to produce a more robust and vibrant urban experience even though they were originally built for horses and were adapted for cars they've always seemed to find a way to be useful and in some municipalities including here in chicago we're making a concerted effort to be able to explore what they can become today in chattanooga tennessee for instance you have programs like the passageways initiative by river city company who worked with the design practice sports to create a permanent installation at 10 east 7th street in downtown chattanooga sports's molly hunker and greg corso designed a wrapping green corkscrew made of steel tubes the project physically connects visitors with a single gesture that produces a number of different kinds of conditions along its length it connects wall and ground and sky into one spatial composition while at the same time it breaks down the overall space into a series of more intimate spaces or what they call urban rooms along the whole length of the object you get informal lounge and seating areas many stages or areas for moving screenings or even dance floors here in chicago the chicago loop alliance has also sponsored a series of events set within alleys found in the loop that initiative is called activate and includes a temporary physical intervention designed by port architecture and urbanism the design is sort of like a demountable triumphal arch it can be built taken down and rebuilt at the mouth of almost any alley in the city this is possible because of the common 18 foot width which was set at the outset of chicago's planning the vinyl wrapped scaffold structure becomes site specific with each installation when a photograph of the unique alley location is taken before the party this image is then printed and wrapped around the arch and it creates an uncanny visual trick the archway then provides a permeable barrier that offers spatial definition for the party and a barrier to entry that can be monitored while the construction camouflages the party behind it the line down the street and the music spilling out hints at the intensity of different activities inside once you enter you're treated to local art and music and performances as you begin to take part in the transformation of the urban environment alleys aren't as glamorous as streets or parks or plazas in the suite of urban public spaces that you might encounter but just because they aren't as glamorous doesn't mean that they're any less important in fact their combination of humble function and intimate spatial qualities they form a unique mixture that can be easily replicated in more formal or ceremonial spaces brilliant has generously supported this video and i wanted to tell you a little bit about how i got started using brilliant in my spare time to be able to brush up on some skills and 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Channel: Stewart Hicks

Views: 626,800

Keywords: Gangway, urban design, great cities, chicago, alley, alleyway architecture, design, architecture student, architecture design, architecture lecture for beginners, architecture 101, architecture documentary, architecture concept, architecture theory, stewart hicks, architecture talk

Id: O12po86Gh-I

Length: 13min 16sec (796 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 02 2022

Reddit Comments

[u/wkndmnstr]

I'd recommend all of Stewart Hicks' videos. Primarily a lot of architecture focus, but they're well done and are informative.

[u/Mr_L1berty]

very nice developments!

as a european when he said "they're increasingly becoming public spaces" it got a raised eye brow from me. I was imagining exactly what he showed what alleys are in Europe. Very narrow, comfy walk-only ways, where you can walk, and maybe one other thing, and that's it.

I value them for being shortcuts to other venues, however sometimes they are venues themselves, but not for people to gather, but because there's a restaurant there.

Cool to see developments overseas

[u/Different_Ad7655]

Depends what you mean by alleyway. In Philadelphia there are lots of so-called little alleys that are streets as well as in Boston but in an early 19th century Street matrix they were laid out as service streets. Where I live in New Hampshire in a Mill City the alleys still function as that but some of them have also sprouted some pedestrian life and bars. I always thought they were kind of cool when I was a kid because of the dimensions that they are so small and narrow only one vehicle wide.

[u/PlasmaSheep]

Seeing how New Yorkers pile mountains of garbage on the sidewalk is enough to make anyone appreciate alleyways.

https://twitter.com/kmiraski/status/1229783448086294530

[u/throw0101a]

Not just alleyways, but the dimensions of the block as well IMHO.

I can see how having a more more square-ish shape (100x200m vs NYC's 80x275m; 330x660' vs 270x900') helps with general flow.

[u/Ass_feldspar]

I just visited Savannah GA and was reminded of how civilized alleys make a city feel.

[u/krazykoreankid97]

So that they increase the numbers of robbery and murders thus a reduce cost in rent! /s

[u/Hollybeach]

Many alleys in older parts of East and South Los Angeles were vacated by the City/County because of gang crime.