Good Grief.

Last week I took the El down to Belmont and made the short trip to Intelligentsia Cafe. I enjoy their coffee and an occasional baked good, and as there are always a few open seats I stay a while and read or sketch. I also enjoy the Lakeview neighborhood.

I believe that my mind is naturally tuned to "Good" places. I define "Good" as places that have many of the devices that make places livable, interesting, engaging, and livable. These are the neighborhoods that are always lively and filled with activity, the places one goes if they wish to people-watch, or are just out for the evening without plans to see a movie, play, concert, or other form of entertainment. Good places are entertainment. But they are so much more, and what they are changes from year to year, season to season, even hour to hour. Many people like Good places, and they flock to them for many reasons. I am trying to understand those reasons, and what effect the built environment has on the making of Good places.

I believe that the Lakeview neighborhood, specifically the Broadway-Halsted corridor between Addison and Diversey, is a Good place. Rather, they are made up of several Good places, placed in a line and connected by short lengths of less-good places. As a result much of my thinking on what makes Good places comes from the 5-10 minute walk between the El stop and the Coffee Shop. This is by NO means the best or only Good place in Chicago, but given the frequency of my trips for caffeine, I have certainly developed a bias.

My quest to find Good places has been going on for years, in one way or another. While I was studying in Paris, the purpose of my entire fellowship was to form a pattern-book of sorts, but over the length of my time in Paris, I came to realize that cities as a whole are much more nebulous; that Paris, or Venice, or Las Vegas, or Kandy, Sri Lanka, or New Orleans, or Chicago, do not have a singular language or set of patterns that make them Good. Each of them follows certain a certain dictum of form, space, and hierarchy, but these in and of themselves do not guarantee Good places. The answer is nebulous.

So I offer a change of direction. Instead of Good places, let's look at Good spaces. This is the built environment; the making of space, the articulation of edges, and the ephemeral thickness that exists between them. A scaffolding for Good places.