before she repeats "Is it safe?" and I really don't know what to say.
The temptation to go into a Marathon Man riff at this point proves that I am a Bad Person, I suppose.
Seriously, I think Jane Jacobs has it nailed, in the comment - I think it's in Death and Life of Great American Cities, that places are safer when there are people around who have legitimate business there, and that therefore if one wants to make one's bits of city safe, encouraging mixed usage such that there are people there who have legitimate reasons to be on the street as much of the time as possible should be part of your strategy. I've certainly never been more aware of how isolated I was in the case of anything bad happening than when walking through the financial district of Washington DC at 11 in the morning on a working day; everyone in their offices, streets like something out of The Omega Man. I can see how this approach fails in the case of that poor young woman being picked up by what she thought was a cab, though.
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Date: 2005-01-19 03:27 pm (UTC)The temptation to go into a Marathon Man riff at this point proves that I am a Bad Person, I suppose.
Seriously, I think Jane Jacobs has it nailed, in the comment - I think it's in Death and Life of Great American Cities, that places are safer when there are people around who have legitimate business there, and that therefore if one wants to make one's bits of city safe, encouraging mixed usage such that there are people there who have legitimate reasons to be on the street as much of the time as possible should be part of your strategy. I've certainly never been more aware of how isolated I was in the case of anything bad happening than when walking through the financial district of Washington DC at 11 in the morning on a working day; everyone in their offices, streets like something out of The Omega Man. I can see how this approach fails in the case of that poor young woman being picked up by what she thought was a cab, though.