Quality 2. Short blocks
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Numerous little side streets and short cuts are a staple of the West Village Jacobs loved.
Photo: Lisa Vosper | Jacobs said long blocks tend to attract only large, standardized stores. For an example, try all of W 34th Street.
Photo: Wenyi Huang |
Block size might seem, on first blush, a rather inane topic to anoint as a crucial determinant of urban health. However, in her thorough, straight-ahead way, Jacobs made a strong case for its importance. The argument can be boiled down thusly: People don't like walking down long blocks and will avoid them if at all possible. Anyone who has ever been forced to trek the extended stretches between avenues in Midtown West knows this to be true. (Fun fact: TONY employees have to walk these avenues every day.)
The practical effect of this long-block avoidance is that people walk only along the blocks on which they live or work. Neighborhoods with long blocks will therefore have one or two well-trafficked commercial fares (usually the streets leading to a subway) and a bunch of streets people use only because their destination lies there. Short blocks offer people more navigation options from point A to point B. This distributes the pedestrian traffic more evenly and creates more viable locations for the multifarious neighborhood shops that Jacobs craved.
