Broadway + Couch Street: An Exercise in Urban Street Development

Integration ~ Vitality ~ Activation

This exercise examined the opportunities for pedestrian activation of NW Couch Street and NW Broadway in Downtown Portland. Both streets have been known for their unique character, but in time have lost their vitality. Through these sketches, I aimed to reintroduce the public at the street level in a way that gives these streets back their life. Broadway as a performance avenue benefits from extended sidewalks for people to see and be seen, with a parking lane and plantings on each side buffering the street. Additional ground spotlights enhance the stage feel and provide additional security. Couch Street maintains an avenue of the arts and offers culture and society to the city. Extending the sidewalk and opening storefronts increase activity and pull pedestrians in to art shops and galleries and they walk down the street.

These sketches also portray the opportunity intersections have to become more pedestrian-focused. Building bulb-outs at corners decrease the amount of roadway a pedestrian needs to cross, safely defines on-street parking, and gives space back to the pedestrian. The first space in each intersection can be given to food carts, transforming these spaces into mini-plazas.