Looking at these photographs of Lisbon taken from carfree.com
I’m struck at the details of architecture, density and design that makes the city so vibrant and humane:
1) A narrow residential street with four story apartments over retail stores abuts a streetcar line. The sidewalk is paved in a mosaic pattern, and a hanging lantern lights the walkway. Spotlights above the first floor are directed upward to illuminate the buildings.
2) A retail/residential street with wavy paving: Awnings are pulled out to shade the shops from the afternoon sun. A vast contrast to the sun baked stupidity of most LA boulevards. The street is narrow, which helps cool it. A bakery advertises “Baguetes” and its glass display case is open and visible to the passerby.
3) A retail street with a mosaic paving: It is specifically for pedestrians, like the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica. Except that in Portugal, there are apartments above the street, keeping the neighborhood vibrant 24/7. It is not just a theater for retail, but a design for an entire city of living. The continuity of the “street wall” provides an architectural unity. There are no “mini malls” and cars pulling out of garages to run over pedestrians.
4) Another image shows a bright yellow streetcar and an older woman ascending the hill alongside. Cobblestoned streets, laundry hanging from the balcony…..not exactly an inducement to pull people out of their homes in Calabasas. But the streetcar going up hill would be perfect for such neighborhoods as Echo Park, Highland Park and Eagle Rock.
So much of what was done in LA 50 years ago was wrong. We should have kept the narrower streets instead of widening them. We should have built low and dense. We could have expanded, not destroyed our Red Cars and streetcars.
We are learning that everything we know about the “city of the future” was written 1,000 years ago.
Here in Van Nuys 