Visions 2200 - A Perspective on the Future

Stairs

Stairs can provide a wonderful addition to the experience of living and visiting a city. They have been an integral part of cities on hills since ancient times. They will be part of the city of the future as well.

Stairs enable people on foot to move quickly and safely between nearby locations at different elevations. Stairs can provide one of the interesting physical details that make a city attractive and unique.

The Spanish Steps in Rome, Italy are a famous example of city stairs. They were built in the early 1700s to traverse a steep slope linking the Spanish embassy on the Piazza di Spagna below with the Piazza Trinità dei Monti and the church of Trinità dei Monti above. They were designed by Francesco De Sanctis after generations of discussion over how the steep slope to the church should be developed.

The stairs are a most popular Roman destination. This daytime panorama fully demonstrates the popularity.

Attributes of Spanish Steps

What makes these stairs such a success and what can we learn from their attributes in the design of future stairs in other cities?

  • Design - They are designed as an urban asset that attracts urban residents and visitors. To achieve this goal they should be carefully fashioned to (1) enhance their physical location and (2) respect the surrounding urban fabric.

  • Surroundings - A changing and interesting urban environment borders the stairs.

  • Solidly Built - They are built of solid materials (stone and high quality concrete are examples available today) that are easy to maintain.

  • Maintenance - As with so much that is beautiful in the urban environment, maintenance over time is crucial to continual success as an asset of the city. With their heavy use, even the stone Spanish Steps have been restored several times.

  • Connection - The stairs link nearby places people want to (1) walk to on an ongoing basis or (2) visit occasionally due to their character as a major attraction.

  • View - Stairs can be a place to view changing vistas of the city and its environs.

  • Landings - Landings exist on the stairs where (1) people may rest, (2) sit and enjoy the sun or (3) view the nearby surroundings.

  • Exercise - Stairs enable people to exercise their bodies in an appealing urban environment.

Telegraph Hill in San Francisco
The top row of images show the stairs up Telegraph Hill. The first three are stairs from the upper Grant street area of North Beach where the grade becomes too steep for a sidewalk alone. The last shows stairs ascending the east side of the hill above the Embarcadero. The two images at the bottom show views from the top - Lombard Street and San Francisco Bay.

The stairways leading up Telegraph Hill to Coit Tower demonstrate favorable stair attributes in an American city. With the possible exception of design and maintenance for some of the stairs, all of the attributes mentioned above are included. An unusual part of the urban environment adjoining the stairs is the wild parrots that live on the hill.

Given the views common on the hills of the city and the gardens and homes bordering most stairs, even stairways to 'nowhere' receive heavy use, if not to get somewhere, at least to provide exercise for the ubiquitous joggers.

Whitby
On the left is the stairway leading from the headland to the town of Whitby and its harbor. On the right is the Abbey of the same name sited on the headland above.
This coastal stairway was encountered during a trip to Yorkshire in England during the summer of 2006. This stairway is located in Whitby on the coastal side of the North York Moors. The stairway connects the urban settlement along the harbor with the abbey. Beside those attributes mentioned above, this stair presents a ninth attribute of a successful urban stairway:
  • Convenience - The stairway eases the way for visitors to the city.
In the case of Whitby, the summer tourist season finds parking a rare commodity in the lower city. However, the abbey ruins have a spacious parking lot for those willing to pay. The 199 steps provide a ready and scenic access for able-bodied abbey visitors to the city streets and restaurants.

San Jose's 'Tuscany Hills'
The image at the top gives a broad view of Communication Hill, on whose summit the 'Tuscany Hills' development is currently being constructed. The caption indicates the position of the stairs. The first lower images are looking up the stairs. The image on the left shows the stairs as they begin from the bottom of the hill. The next shows it further up where it was still under construction early in 2006.The image on the far right shows the view from the top.

The design of the stairs is grand in concept. The view from the stairs may not equal those visible from the actual hills of Tuscany, but it does present portions of the southern reaches of San Jose with the Santa Cruz Mountains appearing on the horizon. It does include seating at landings and the top of the stairs where people may rest and sit in the sun. The most significant attributes missing from this stairway are surroundings and connection.

It is a steep and lonely climb. There is no changing urban scene bordering the stairs. There is just a formal garden mimicking the Tuscany stereotype, not the individuality associated with the actual Tuscan scene. The designers did not place buildings climbing up the hill parallel to the stairway to give a sense of closure and changing perspective. There are no scenes which can evolve over time as gardens grow and homes change.

What will the intrepid climber find at the top to reward the effort? There is the view. A future park is in the offing. But there are no stores, restaurants, bars or coffee houses in the hillside community where the climber might rest, sip a brew or purchase items. There is not even a church to provide sanctuary comparable to the Trinità dei Monti on the plaza above the Spanish Steps. Although walking downhill with any purchases is preferable, there is not even the commercial magnet at the bottom of the stairs for the resident of the hilltop community.

Perhaps the community at the top will grow sufficiently large sometime in the future to support street level stores, daycare or a coffee house. The original city plan contemplated such an urban environment. If not, will the exercise opportunity for stairway joggers makeup for the missing surroundings and connections? Time will tell.
 

H Graem © 2006