What Makes a City Attractive?

Many in Boston share a visceral reaction to the lack of variety that exists in the swiftly rising  Seaport section of Boston. The complains of "a sea of indistinguishable glass boxes" come from those in the design community and those who just spend time living, working or enjoying Boston's Seaport District.  We point to other waterfronts and cities around the world who have streetscapes developed over hundreds of years and wonder... "why can't new development in Boston look more like that?" 

While we can all admit that these two images are striking in their differences and the desires to achieve or even replicate streetscapes as they exist in Amsterdam, we're not Amsterdam, or even Oslo.  It's important to understand some of the reasons behind why we may complain about the scale and design of the Seaport and learn how we can build urban streetscapes that work on the "human scale." 

The School of Life has done a great job of explaining the economic and regulatory drivers behind how cities develop and how we interact, live, work and fall in love with cities.

The 6 principles on how to build an attractive city. (as described by The School of Life) 

1. Not too chaotic, not too ordered. Organised complexity. Between chaos and boring.
2. Visible life.
3. Compact. Squares: a square must offer containment but not claustrophobia.
4. Orientation and mystery. Balance between big, straight boulevards and little warrens of streets.
5. Scale. Ideal city block is 5 stories high. Tall buildings reserved for something special, worthy of prominence.
6. Make it local. Cities need to have strong characters.