Southern California - Kind of an odd question I guess

I figured this would be the best place to post this, please redirect me if I'm wrong.

I'm a first year Landscape Architect student at Cal Poly Pomona, and I live in Los Angeles (Echo Park). My first few projects are centered around the study of successful urban spaces. Successful is defined by the fact that the space is frequented (utilized) by people, not just aesthetically pleasing. The professors also stress as criteria that the site should have a "mythology" behind it.

My fascination with cycling culture, especially the urban commuter, has convinced me to attempt to incorporate these types of concerns into as many projects as possible over the course of my four years. I am well aware of the explosion in popularity of the fixie culture, but I don't want to narrow my focus to just one trendy aspect of a larger community.

For my current project, I was considering taking a look at what seems to be a way-point for messengers at the City National Plaza on Flower St, across from the library. I assume there are other similar (if not better) sites in the downtown area, but I am only familiar with this one. My question (aka plead for help) is, would anyone have any suggestions whether on topic or slightly askew?

The ultimate goal is to maintain a focus on the interactions between cyclists and automobile traffic when issues of urban planning come into play in my future projects.

Thanks

Just wanted to add that I do ride as well. Somewhat of a novice, and the first time I shot into downtown for my daily gym routine, I had more than a few bad experiences that kinda shook me up. I'm looking forward to some extra cash in December so I can get the bike I want AND a helmet that actually fits...

shoot me a pm. i'm out of town for a couple of days but i went to cal poly for architecture a few years back and can probably give you some help.

I'm not that familiar with the exact spot, but your focus on bicyclists seems a little limited; that's a 'vertical world', not flat suburban sprawl, that'll be used by a variety of people in different professions and for different reasons. Try going down there and asking why people are there, what they find appealing about that spot. You can start with the bike messengers, but might have to expand to other folks/professions to get some different points of view of the positive and negative aspects of the plaza and how it fits into the downtown area.

your focus on bicyclists seems a little limited; that's a 'vertical world', not flat suburban sprawl, that'll be used by a variety of people in different professions and for different reasons.

I'm not sure if I understand either the terminology or the comparison of "vertical world" to suburban sprawl - forgive me. Use by a variety of people is definitely an important consideration. When you say my focus on bicyclists seems limited, I don't mean to imply that I only want to make them a centerpiece; I'm just trying to carve out a possible niche to incorporate into my designs because I believe that the "Smart Growth" movement has the potential to produce much more desirable conditions in this city.

http://www.smartgrowth.org/about/principles/principles.asp?prin=4

Again, if I completely missed your point, I apologize lol.


Try going down there and asking why people are there, what they find appealing about that spot. You can start with the bike messengers, but might have to expand to other folks/professions to get some different points of view of the positive and negative aspects of the plaza and how it fits into the downtown area.

I do have to get over a few inhibitions and actually talk to people...I like walking by the bike racks and discerning which ones belong to office folk on the 43rd floor, and who the bikes with the nitto drops belong to ;p

If you're serious about considering the needs of bicyclists as a design professional, I strongly recommend—if you haven't already read it—the Guide for the Development of Bicycle Facilities issued by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, Task Force on Geometric Design.

It's only 78 pages, and the latest (1999) edition is now slightly dated, but I think it's still the best available guidance for creating successful designs that are safe and beneficial for users and the public.

You can order the Guide from AASHTO or find a PDF copy on the Web:

http://www.google.com/search?q=AASHTO+Guide+for+the+Development+of+Bicycle+Facilities

Skimming through the table of contents, that seems to be an excellent reference. Thank you very much!

How about viewing the master plans of cities that are pro active in their master plans?

Long Beach, but I don't know any mythological about Long Beach.

http://www.bikelongbeach.org/Default.aspx

The spot across from the library is not socially successful, but commercially. I think the messengers congregate there as a central location for their deliveries. Another may be the court house at 1st & Hill, but there the meeting point is, I think the motorcycles coming and going, again as a major point where papers are delivered.
Do you separate social from commercial. If there is commercial reason for a locations success is far different than social reason.
A social place I knew of was the diag at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. But it was socially popular due to the mythology, or reputation of being a meeting place, primarily due to the central location. To reach any point on the campus you generally had to pass that center point. Thus the theory that everyone eventually passed there.
In terms of bicycling in the city, as it, if ever becomes more socially acceptable, car drivers begin to tolerate bicycles on the road.
As long as american culture is based on overly large vehicles and a belief in waste, as waste as much gas as possible, it remains socially unacceptable to be out there on a bike and it long ago became sport to try to run bicycles off the road.
dc

"Vertical World" would refer to a dense city where tall buildings dominate (high land costs necessitate building upward), and you can find a variety of uses in either a single or neighboring buildings. Example would be the Trump Tower in NYC - it has residences on the upper floors and shops on its lower floors, and some offices sprinkled in the mix. And neighboring buildings would have similar shops a street level and residences or offices above.

Suburban sprawl - look at the neighborhoods around Cal Poly; tract upon tract of single famiily homes.

I took a few classes in urban planning as part of a MBA program (electives) but could never understand who decided what would go where when I actually worked for a city.

I kind of thought the open spaces in downtown L.A. were just there to allow persons in local buildings some 'breathing room' when they needed to get out of the metal-and-glass skyscrapers.

Haha, I guess its a moot point for this quarter. I was brainstorming ideas about possibly using the area where Bicycle Kitchen is on Heliotrope when the prof. came up and said..."K, you're doing Santee Alley".