Why Alleys Are the Most Important Spaces in a City
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 มิ.ย. 2022
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Alleys are the unsung heroes of urban planning and design. And, to be quite honest, they’re one of the things that makes Chicago so great and easy to live in. But, alley's haven't always been seen as contributing value to the urban environment. Using Chicago as a case study, this video explores the role of alleys in shaping the city, from urban design invention to problematic wastes of space, to renewed interest in their ability to foster equitable and diverse social spaces.
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Architecture with Stewart is a TH-cam journey exploring architecture’s deep and enduring stories in all their bewildering glory. Weekly videos and occasional live events breakdown a wide range of topics related to the built environment in order to increase their general understanding and advocate their importance in shaping the world we inhabit.
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Stewart Hicks is an architectural design educator that leads studios and lecture courses as an Associate Professor in the School of Architecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He also serves as an Associate Dean in the College of Architecture, Design, and the Arts and is the co-founder of the practice Design With Company. His work has earned awards such as the Architecture Record Design Vanguard Award or the Young Architect’s Forum Award and has been featured in exhibitions such as the Chicago Architecture Biennial and Design Miami, as well as at the V&A Museum and Tate Modern in London. His writings can be found in the co-authored book Misguided Tactics for Propriety Calibration, published with the Graham Foundation, as well as essays in MONU magazine, the AIA Journal Manifest, Log, bracket, and the guest-edited issue of MAS Context on the topic of character architecture.
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Whenever I go to New York, I miss the alleys of the Midwest. From my point of view the biggest advantage to alleys is that they take trash and deliveries off the street--unlike in New York where trash bags are piled on the sidewalks and delivery trucks are always double-parked.
Adds to the esthetic for sure. In my area most delivery trucks avoid the alleys...
Soviet microdistrict vs usa suburbs
I'm in a small midwest city and just moved from one side of town to the other, our new neighborhood doesn't have alleys and it kinda sucks. There's plenty of room for one behind our house, instead we all get an extra bit of unusable lawn to mow....
@@carkawalakhatulistiwa Suburbs suck, are a drain on the state and exist only because of cars.
Compare the esthetics, cost and disruption of water, sewer, power, and telephone lines in a street vs. an alley. The foresight and enablement toward evolving infrastructure is awe-inspiring.
6:46 the etymology of "gangway" is not related to organized crime, it's actually from Old English "gangweg" ("walk"+"path").
It's also the word for those metal walkways in factories not sure if any gangs operated there.
This jumped out at me because I remember realizing at some point that "gangway" is probably related to the Dutch "ingang" ("entrance") and turned out I was right.
'Gangweg' looks to be a completely dutch word to be honest. A 'gang' in dutch is a very small indoor passage, like a hallway, or very small tunnels underground. 'Weg' is the dutch word for road. That would make a 'gangweg' a very small outdoor road.
Maybe the criminal groups were called gangs because their home territory would be such a 'gangweg'?
@@hendman4083 yeah "gangweg" looks completely Dutch but Old English in general looked a lot more similar to its Germanic cousins.
The English word "gang" (group of people) is indeed related to the Old English "gang" ("to walk") but not through "gangway"/"gangweg". It seems to just have meant a group of people who travel together.
@@sateviss7711 Ok .. thanks for clarifying. 👍
Soviet microdistrict vs usa suburbs
@@sateviss7711 "gang" in Dutch also means "way of movement", similar to your Old English "to walk". Again, this looks very Dutch. And with the Dutch presence in Eastern US I would not be surprised the local usage there originates with Dutch instead of Old English. Unless you can point to usage of "Gangway" in the UK.
I freaking love alleys in the context of single family home areas. Why we accept having facades ruined with huge garages and garbage having to be put in front of the home is bonkers to me. Bring back alleys.
Or alternatively just give us neighborhoods where we don't need a car to go everywhere. It makes both the alleys and streets better.
Edit: TOP 3 unintelligent replies to me:
"the country is too big to do that"
"middle class suburbs will be gentrified"
"why are you talking about rural areas?"
Bring back back alleys!!!
money. Alleys take up more space.
@@RhonyHart Than what?
The view of most new developments from the street is that of a storage facility with well over half of a house's front elevation dedicated to garage doors, and windowless gables.
8:49 here in Japan, narrow streets that may count as an "alley" in the U.S. are very common. For instance, large shoutengai (long covered shopping streets) often have offshoots packed with shops and signs and events. And they're not always grungy, either. Even in suburban neighborhoods, lots can be separated by little side streets, where you may find someone running a business out of their home like a produce stand or cat cafe. I think narrow streets have their root in the winding city landscapes that are the norm here (outside of Kyoto, which sought to emulate the grids of prominent Chinese urban centers).
A lot of it have to do with illegal rebuild after the war at which government officials were turning blind eye as well as that a lot of streets in urban areas are simply covered rivers and canals. Which is also apart from hilly terrain reason why it's not just plain grid everywhere tho grids also can be found on flatter later (after war) developed parts of cities.
Soviet microdistrict vs usa suburbs
Y'all do dense living environments very well, but like us you stick-build houses and tear them down after 30 years. I get it....earthquake zones. I just want you to be better than us so I can point at you and say "Lets do it like the Japanese. They're so smart."
In Melbourne, Australia, the city council revived the alley ways between buildings by allowing building owners to make openings into the always. These places are now a lively hub of small cafes, wine are, galleries, and shops.
they have been around way longer in europe, asia historically has not been that dense, it’s only really since the latter half of the 20th century that asian populations and economies began to boom, everything used to be a lot less closely packed together and way more rural, even just about 150 years ago or so, while in europe dense cities with narrow streets existed centuries prior
In Melbourne, Australia, we call Alleys, Laneways, and they were (pre covid) the biggest selling feature of the city for decades. Textures, street art, pop-ups, music festivals, hidden bars and alfresco restaurants made them rad.
Not sure they say 'laneway' in BC except when referring to a 'laneway house'. 'Laneway' sounds nicer in that respect.
Melbourne laneways are the best. Specially around Flinders Lane
@@katharineelizabeth7689
You selling a house on Flinders Lane?
@@b_uppy LOL nope, that is the center of the city. It's mostly commercial buildings and maybe serviced apartments. Basically no individuals owns those buildings, it's mostly owned by companies or investors. I use to occasionally go there for lunch.
As a regular visitor to Melbourne I love your laneways...the wall art around the Forum is great, for example. I've also noticed some spaces (EM) are being been used to extend dwellings, restricting access.
I've always struggled to explain why I'm so uncomfortable in NYC. This almost immediately made me go "Oh, right. Alleys". I love alleys. They're spaces where we can exist without the constant eye of everyone, but still be out in public with our neighbors and friends. They're great
You gotta find apartments with outdoor spaces whether shared or personal, the first air bnb i stayed in there was a brownstone with a little back yard that a had a little pool and patio, it was perfect
@Don K this is my standard fit
Everything about NYC is a struggle. It’s the worst urban planning in the world.
I grew up in Chicago and when we used the term "gangway" we were referring to the small sidewalk in between buildings that leads from the street to the backyard or alley. My understanding is that the term comes from ships and doesn't have to do with what we call gangs.
Here in Jerusalem, there are many nonlinear alleys that connect the back of houses, and that is usually full of greenery, fruit trees, seasonable herbs, and flowers. It gives a very enchanting walkthrough and also a place to breathe and have a bit more of a quiet and cozy neighborhood feeling
That bit at 10:05 to make people feel safer about entering alleyways, almost like doorways into something not quite so empty space is a really intelligent and interesting way of combining human psychology and urban development! I wish more cities would do this!
this ol' geezer grew up in the alleys of the far north side (from Andersonville to Rogers Park) in the 1950's and 60's. Our posses traveled the city through the alleys on our bikes and used the empty garages as our workshops and gathering places. we often knew where our friends lived by what the back sides of their 3 flat apartment buildings looked like rather than their fronts on the street. tell us more about all those wooden stairways at the backs of buildings. i've hardly ever seen that feature in other cities.
Here in Montréal, just about every residential building had wooden balconies and stairs until the fifties. Garages in the alleyway had sheds on top with as many stories as the apparment across the yard. Every level had access to their shed story by a sort of suspended gangway connecting each balcony to a corresponding door in the shed. An inner stairway in the shed was the only way down in the back of the homes. The city had a program to dismantle all these dizzying structures ad they were deemed a fir hazard, being all wooden structures. Still some remain today.
Soviet microdistrict vs usa suburbs
Soviet microdistrict vs usa suburbs
I’m glad this video exists to give me faith into Alleys, As european I never felt 100% safe beeing pedestrian in USA: in one hand the Alleys seems afterthought and unsafe, in the other hand the driveway were design to be the main road and were design for cars, so when you are walking around you feel stuck between 2 places you don’t belong.
I know historical center of European cities seems chaotic and are an hot mess to drive in… but as pedestrian it seems more natural and organic (or maybe it is only because I’m more used to it due to my culture)
You know, despite being designed for cars, many American cities have worse traffic than European cities.
I hate how our car culture has nearly ignored pedestrians. I'm amazed at how many neighborhoods are built with no sidewalks and those expensive developments with huge homes are built with sidewalks but you never see anyone using them.
As a Canadian, I found that before I could afford a car, walking, cycling and bussing were decent alternatives and kept me fit. Now that I have moved to a community where our only housing option is 7 km from the nearest store I feel quite out of shape.
Our cities normalize danger and open hostility to anyone not in a vehicle, which also ruins our health. If our careers and families weren't keeping us around, Europe has a big appeal.
@@questioner1596 Feel your pain. As a swede I felt like bikes and pedestrians were often not considered in North America, had to make many weird crossings to get from A to B.
But the concept of living so far away from the store you always take the car is something Europe is also affected by. I'm from Sweden, in the 60s they built mini-centers for suburbs, the idea was you'd have everything you need close by: groceries, a library etc. But in the 90s larger malls were built further away, and naturally people started to do their shopping weekly instead of day by day to save money - and then the mini-centers died out apart from restaurants and hair dressers.
Nowadays I think most new suburbs are built with mini parks, bike lanes, and bus stops in mind - but the nearest shop is still a bit far - so I'm sure most people will not get much exercise going to the shop. (Allthough for those who want a long bike ride - it'll be easier than in America)
lol, what a B. the biggest fear in an alley are rats... not people.
Love the video, but as a native Chicagoan I don’t think I’d ever call an alley a gangway. A gangway is the narrow sidewalk that runs between houses in the city.
Exactly.
Correct
I think the ally is going to be a huge part of cities who have historically overdeveloped their car infrastructure so much that the whole community became car dependent to get anywhere. It is already separated from car infrastructure but still able to have easy access to it, like Etility bikes they are going to make it a whole lot easier to do last mile delivery to places that don't connect directly with cars, so there could be a huge resurgence of the back alley vendor which makes it so much more livelier expecially if it has business competing to be the most welcoming and attractive for your money. Also let's not forget the more business the more taxes the city receives to be able to reinvest into the city, so it could be a launching point into the future of people focus design and architecture, or at least that is what I hope for.
How will the alley be a huge part of cities with overdeveloped car structure???
@@b_uppy I think they mean that alleys will be useful in helping those cities move away from their overdeveloped car infrastructure. That, or that cities with alleys will have the best luck making that transition, which is essentially the same thing.
@@daniel6678 Yes that's exactly what I meant thank you for clearing it up. I thought of this now but you don't even have to have a system of alley ways in your city before the car. They probably bulldozed some buildings to make room for parking lots no matter what, maybe there are whole blocks downtown just or mainly composed of parking just waiting to be redeveloped.
@@daniel6678
That's conjecture, they need to answer...
@@b_uppy they did though… ?? in the reply right above yours
Alleys are for neighbors, while streets are for strangers. A neighborhood without alleys is a neighborhood where neighbors are strangers to each other. A strangerhood, if you will.
Every time I've known any of my neighbors is because we ran into each other all the time in the alley.
Time to put in your big boy pants and go discover that real life isnt your crime shows then
I dont think its just allys, car centric neighborhoods cause more of it i believe, since when you're in a car you cant say hi to a neighbor, when on foot its odd to not say hi when walking past a neighbor
Well they're friends cuz they're doing chores in the same place: taking out trash, cleaning cars, doing projects etc. Nothing different than a streetfront
@Don K that’s quite unfortunate. Alienation between neighbors tends to be something rather recent (mostly tied to the rise of urbanization and automobiles simultaneously) and is also a great indicators of increasing levels of loneliness in society.
@Don K this all sounds like a you problem.
Just when I thought that the secret life of bricks was the coolest, Stewart rolls out the alley cats! Nicely Done.
Soviet microdistrict vs usa suburbs
He had me at Leaks!
Is that a book?
@Don K What is "secret life of bricks?" Has my curiosity piqued but Google search yields nothing.
BTW I'm digging the username. Donkeys are better pets than dogs IMO.
There are no alley cats here in Chicago lol they usually get mauled by rats or raccoons.
This is fascinating. In the historic parts of the capital city of Jamaica, alleys are being transformed into public art spaces and pedestrian pathways with bricked pavements and vibrant coloured murals running through the epicentre of the revitalised Downtown area connecting cultural centres to this secondary arterial system. It's wonderful seeing the evolution of the oldest part of the city in real time!
all 4 Chicago apartments I lived in during that part of my life were coach houses facing alleys. the last one was basically a bedroom and a kitchen above an amazing two bay 1950s mechanics shop (almost certainly unpermitted 😂). I spent two summers working on project cars in that garage and it was a nexus for my friends and the other great people who lived on that block.
From my European perspective it's so interesting that a city can have a standard alley size. The street/alley I happen to live on is some 25ft wide cobbled one-way (which connects with another parallel alley of similar size to form a wider two-way street) and my alley further splits into two even narrower alleys down the road and one of these narrower alleys has its own side alleys on top of that. It feels like a maze but people seem to like it very much. Just 30 years ago this area was very dilapitated and full of empty lots, about to be buldozed to make way for a new road but there was no money to build said road and so over time the plan was abandoned, new buildings were built and today its bustling with life. It's the small scale that makes this place special.
It's human scale rather than car scale...
Soviet microdistrict vs usa suburbs
One "plus" you didn't mention: alleys are where the electric & telephone poles are located. Allowing more trees along the street.
One "negative" especially in a wintry climate: despite being the location of the garages, alleys were the last roadways plowed by the City. The narrow alleys are also why Chicago uses city garbage trucks to snow plow.
Montreal has a program knowned as «ruelles vertes» or «green alleyways» since 1997. As explain in an article from the Globe & Mail, «Montreal’s ruelles vertes - or Green Alleys - movement began in 1997. Local residents apply for funding from the City of Montreal to transform many of its nearly 4,300 kilometres of alleyways into gardens, playgrounds, outdoor libraries or other social gathering spots.
The movement, which aims to counter the urban heat-island effect, beautify neighbourhoods and encourage a sense of community, has grown quickly since the pandemic began. In 2019, Montreal was home to 350 green alleyways. A year later, that number had swelled to 450.» You probably could add a few dozens of them since this article was published in may 23rd 2021. This program will add a few dozen in our city in 2022 as it does every year.
the city also organizes alleyway concerts during the summer. Alleyways in different neighborhoods become little stage for concerts for a day or two, creating an intimate feeling between artist and community.
I've never really considered alleys (Chicago style, that is) to be a part of European urban design...
But after watching this I realised that, at least in Sweden, the inner courtyard have always played the same role as the alleys did in Chicago...
It was in the courtyards you would find the outhouses, the waste bins, the washing huts, the fire wood supply, the servant entrances, and the playing children
With the courtyards taking the dirty work from alleys, the alleys themself just became narrow streets
Yeah, not really much of a connection between Chicago-style alleys and any kind of narrow street, alley or urban space I've seen in Europe. I was wondering why Hicks was gushing over Chicago-style alleys, when they ostensibly serve the same function as inner courtyards in a far worse manner. The relegation of trash and other sanitary services to a narrow access way - coupled with the complete lack of greenery or any other pleasant _anything_ - makes it a thoroughly uninviting space. The scale difference between a tiny little sliver of a trash-smelling alley and towering skyscrapers and apartment buildings is just not good at all. Many architects and planners have researched this, but both Gehl and Jacobs have infamously pointed out the best ratios between width and height. The fact that these building backsides seem very run down and dirty certainly doesn't help. It looks like an oppressive, forgotten, hostile space to be in, and most of the alleys shown were like 90%+ dedicated to cars. Very little in the way of eyes-on-the-street, too.
The alleys in Asia were much more inviting: slightly wider, slightly lower surrounding buildings for the most part, and the height broken up by canopies and shop fronts creating an initial 1:1 ratio. With far more going on and less space to walk in, they still seem infinitely less claustrophobic and more inviting. The fact that they were teeming with life and treated as valuable urban space was also a major departure from the Chicago examples, which were all filled with trash and cars. The European examples were a mix of front doors and restaurants, which rings true in my experience. What I've also seen from Reykjavik to Lisbon to Istanbul, is that alleys are usually treated as walkways first and foremost. They're a part of the city's infrastructure, rather than a *back* alley where undesirable things go.
For all the praise for Chicago's alleys, they struck me as far worse than any comparable urban space.
@@TheNinetySecond I thought that was the point in America we consider them shady but we haven't had them as long countries that have had alley longer seemed to have a different view of them and treat them differently.
@@TheNinetySecond I think you missed the point of the video.
Still, wouldn't it be nice to have central courtyard?
The Chicago alley is essentially a really long inner courtyard. That's actually how they were designed in the first place. That instead of every unit having an inner courtyard you would have a single long one shared by many.
As someone who lived in Chicago for two years, this brought back such great memories! I always appreciated the alley behind our apartment. It wasn't beautiful exactly, but it had a sort of charm in its urban grit. And of course, it would be my view from that other Chicago staple: the back porch
I live in a European city where we still have a large medieval quarter where alleyways are very much a common sight (due to building constraints derived from the city walls). They are some of the best connections between plazas and main streets, and help ease traffic at* major street intersections. They are also the access point to smaller concealed plazas where you can find taverns and night clubs that are frequented by locals and not so much by tourists.
Great video about a topic that many chicagoans take for granted! I prefer walking down alleys rather than busy roads like Sheridan sometimes just to escape the road noise
Thank you for this.
Maybe it's my age, but I've always loved alleys. I grew up playing in back lots and side streets. Alleyways were the arteries of my youth. Even today l see them as a much more honest expression of the spirit of a city than the artifice of front facing structures
As a St. Louis resident, I didn't know alleys weren't a common thing. As a handyman and dumpster diver, I can say Alleys are an invaluable space for my two hobbies.
@Don K I’m the calling the Mounties boyo
Hey Stewart, thank you for this great video! Growing up in Chicago, alleys played a crucial role in my upbringing as another space for the kids in the neighborhood to play and develop, offering paved surface for activities (skateboarding, biking, basketball) that can't be done on the grassy surface of a yard or front lawn, but would be too dangerous to be done on a typical front street. Now that I have finally moved back to the city after being away too long in the alley-less suburbs, your videos are opening my eyes to the structure of the city I took for granted as a child. Keep up the great work!
First time talking about urban design!!
Hello, you made me head-on decided to use alleys as my undergraduate thesis! I was really hesitant as it's not a building technically to design but I'm really frustrated to city planners dismissing the importance of alleys in our country. Thank you for sharing this video! This might appear in my references though ahahaha we never know
Many years ago, I went on a couple of dates with an art teacher who had moved to Chicago from New York. One of the first things he told me: "There are no alleys in New York!" He was very impressed with Chicago's network of alleys and talked about how the streets of NYC are piled high with trash due to the lack of alleys and frequent garbage strikes. Alleys also make great shortcuts, at least in safer neighborhoods. I babysat* a cousin who lived a little over a block away, and I saved many steps by cutting through the alley. (*This cousin is actually a few months older than me, but she was terrified to be in the house alone, so every time my aunt and uncle went out they'd ask me to come over and keep my cousin company.) Taking the alley in the other direction got me to my suburb's downtown and allowed me to avoid the noise/traffic on the main drag.
You’re kind to do that for your cousin.
I don’t think “gangway” comes from the unruly crowd that might have hung out there. Rather, it is a word for a passage. Etymologically, it probably comes from old English words meaning “walk” and “way”.
That’s what Gang means in German.
I love when I'm able to learn so much about a topic so routinely overlooked
I like alleys, I think of them as more 'honest' the front of a house or business or yard is where you have your 'company manners' but the alley is where you can relax and be yourself. And then in my small little prairie town, the alley is what my neighbourhood is built around, and my shop is on the alley as well.
As someone who grew up in Chicago, I loved my alley. Playing street hockey or basketball with my friends after school in the alley are some of my best memories. I can still hear my friends yelling “CAAARRRRR” every time we had to stop playing to let one pass.
The neighborhood i grew up in everyone had little sitting areas around the alley access for each house. Folks would walk around the neighborhood through them and social gatherings for the neighborhood happened in those areas all the time. I thought every place was like that and was so disappointed when I moved and the alley was unusable because that part of the city didn't maintain them.
I went back to that first neighborhood last year and they had stopped using the alley and it was overgrown and gross.
It's weird how we find stuff that works and within a generation we completely abandon/ignore it.
Loved the alleys when i lived in Chicago. (Also, i think Chicago's blocks are perfectly sized, especially as someone who primarily biked and took public transit.)
This is so true Stewart. I used to live up on N. Halsted near the Kingston Mines (Lefty Dizz lived in our converted alley house!). I loved having that alley.
Oh how miss Chicago.
I used to have a friend who lived above the Kingston Mines, we would watch dexter together.
Really interesting piece. I've never really paid attention to them but we do actually have alleyways where I live in Dubai too. They're referred to as a "Sikka", which literally translates to alleyways, and originate from the narrow winding streets of the more historical parts of the city (similar in planning to old European city centres). They were the lifeline of lots of areas and I presume where were people would commute through the most, given their ability to shade and provide cool breezes, which served as an ideal protection from the harsh summer sun. I do notice that this is still used in more contemporary residential areas, where instead of alleyways running along the whole width of a block, like in Chicago, you find them placed between every 5-10 plots, allowing travel between blocks. Oddly enough, they serve the same function as Chicago's alleyways too, allowing bicycle delivery workers and pedestrians to get to their destinations more directly than a car could for example. Also allows mosque-goers easier pedestrian access to the local mosque/park again without having to walk along a road. Really interesting concept.
the passageways initiative reminded me of Melbourne laneways. Where art murals rejuvenated the space & contributed massively to the city's livability. Also similar to European alleys being hub for cultural activities & extension for cafes & accessibility to art galleries, a similar initiative was taken in Downtown Cairo to utilize the corridors & alleys to serve as cultural hub for the city. With annual festivals & art installations taking place.
In Springfield, IL., a rough-looking brick alley behind the Meyers Building, near the old State Capitol was designated "Art Alley"; filled with many murals replacing old graffiti, it has become a downtown Springfield destination in itself and a popular location for folks posing for photography and making videos.
I love a good alley (laneway). Stewart, if you ever find yourself in Melbourne, Australia you can spend a few days exploring all their wonderful laneways & alleys.
This was such a lovely video and I learned quite a bit! You make some very high quality content
One thing, I am surprised there was no mention of Philadelphia and it's alleys! We're often the forgotten middle child of big cities.
I love the contrast of some of the alleys here; walking around you can suddenly go from bustling road to quiet, intimate, and beautiful side streets (check out 248 Quince St in center city)
As a kid most of my time with friends was spent in alleyways, growing up in Huntington Beach I lived in the 1970s part of town which was boring suburb zoning, but all my friends lived in the older part of HB and had alleyways where we would play basketball or airsoft or bmx and skateboard or even just hang out in their garages. growing up we started using these to work on our cars too. I really love alleyways. even at an SFR level, I think they’re great
I love the analogy of U.S. streets and alleys as veins and capilaries circulating essentials to the block organs, and then I looked at my French city Rennes and realised we're more akin to a cancer growth fed by varicose veins, it's a mess yet somehow manages to feed and grow still ^^'
Alleys have always been a very blue collar space. Trash gets picked up from there. That's where big deliveries like furniture or appliances happen. Sports like basketball or soccer (football) get played there. And stuff gets stored there. Even in the suburbs lots of garages open to the alley not the street or driveway. They're very utilitarian places, but pessary and soo useful.
I'm so glad you made this! Wherever I travel, I always check out the alleys, sometimes standing around a good one for a long while to see what they did with the space. I always felt that alley space in many cities in the US were being wasted, but these days a lot of US cities have decided to put their alleys to more creative use. They're the closest thing in the US to the medieval street of the Old World we have, and can generate the intimate streetscapes of those places when properly utilized. Also, I hope you'll follow-up one day with how putting a glass roof over them created the Passage, which later evolved into the Galleria, which were the forebears to modern-day Malls.
Love alleys! There a loads of them here in Toronto, both in the downtown business district and in some of the older residential neighborhoods. They're like a "lost city", the mysterious, glorious underbelly of our urban areas.
i enjoy the vids, keep doing them. side note i graduated UIC SoA in 2013 and loved my time there. i am lead designer for ALA Architects based on of Crystal lake il, thanks stu
Recognized a bunch of Pittsburgh alleys in this video! We have initiatives to bring public art to these areas to make them more contiguous with the rest of the city. Great stuff - Thanks!
Absolutely fascinating. Growing up in south Texas, space planning isn’t a concern (I mean, there’s lots o’ room). San Antonio wasn’t any different. However, parts of the city included alleys so the front of the house, and the streets were clean and wide and full of hope (lies). But the older sections of SA had no alleys, thus our garbage was on full display.
Awesome video. Love that you’re in Chicago and feature the city often! 🌃
One time my friends and I were out drinking and noticed a couch left for pickup in an alley. We decided to hangout on it (which is admittedly pretty gross) and ended up snacking, drinking, and smoking on there for like three hours. I've always found alleys to be a really charming place where you can kinda do whatever you want and be shielded from the world (which is probably part of their reputation for danger).
I was raised in Manhattan, which, as you point out, has very few alleys. The few that exist are in areas that were laid out before the Commissioners Plan of 1811, and most of those were privately owned. I was so surprised when I moved to Boston for college. Parts of that city have alleys that are still actively used, in areas like the Back Bay and the South End. It makes so much sense! I really wonder why the NYC commissioners didn't include them in their plan. I understand from a friend who recently moved to Toronto that it also has alleys woven into the urban fabric, and they have become very desirable as places to live. Former carriage houses and stables are being converted to upscale housing.
Thank you for sharing! Working on a video now about carriage houses!
Fascinating! I live in chicago and used to be an avid alley walker (lol) because it was always amazing what you could see from that perspective that you might not pick up when in front. Cool video!
I lived on the near south west side of Chicago from 1950 to 1972 and alleys were very much part of the experience. The garage in back, off the alley was originally a stable. With hay lofts and sliding barn doors. Stewart, great presentation, it was my experience that the alleys were never called gang ways but rather the name was given to the narrow space between buildings. Another term I find amusing today is, we would call an open lot “the prairie,” I’m sure it harkens from the days when 22nd and Western was considered the out skirts of the city.
This video just reminded me once again of how well designed Chicago is!
We're midwesterners; sensibility and pragmatism are hard-coded in our DNA. 😉
@@SarahRenz59 👍🏽
This is a great video. Thank you very much. I am so glad that you put these Pop Culture references. For us, that live at cities with a different architecture tradition, I live at São Paulo, Brazil, the "American alley" is really a perception that we have because of the mass culture. Thanks again for this fascinating video. Wang Kar-Wai references always wins extra points ☺️
Holy crap 2:23! That's exchange way in Pittsburgh. I used to used that alleyway for work years ago at a coffeeshop I used to work at. My coworker and I would share a joint back there, good times!
I noticed this when I lived in colorado springs, I always used to bike around on the allys, makes the city so much more useable
The alleys in my favorite city Bangkok (called Soi) are unbiquitous. Vital to temporary "street" and other lower-key commerce and residences, they are also a clean, quiet respite from a highly dense and noisy urban area.
Bangcock lol
One thing of note about alley festivals and art installations is that they are sometimes used to "clean up" the space. Meaning, they are used to indirectly expel marginal populations from the area.
Another interesting fact is that alleys were sometimes used in cities as a way to protect the population from sun exposure.
I live in the far NW side. There were blocks that were laid out with alley's. The area was not built up until after the war. The homes then were built with front loading garages. This left the alley space unpaved. But since the city technically owns the alley, residents could not fence the area in. What is very interesting though, is to see what uses people made of this unpaved city property behind their homes/yards. Many of the spaces are used as gardens.
In my neighborhood in Chicago, I can sit on my front porch and talk to folks walking on the sidewalk. I can do this because I have a nice small yard (due to alley) that enables me to talk in a normal voice to people 10 feet away as they walk their dogs, kids, etc. I bet if we had to raise our voices to traverse an extra 10' or 15' of air and ambient noise, the casual indoor-voice chats would decrease greatly. Also, I work in my garage on various projects - the people across the alley from me do the same, so we end up interacting and helping each other out. I think alleys put you in more direct communication and shared circumstances with your neighbors and community.
Lol, the Chicago Plat from 1830 is a huge typo XD. Because in Land Surveying such maps are called "Blatt" in Germany. Blatt = paper, leaf (ignore the later). It was and is called Blatt because the paper has a standardised size of 1 square yard usually. 1x1 meter. Yes, it's a big Blatt ^^ Since the northern mid-west area was mainly settled by several rounds of Germans, it comes to no surprise that they would use words they know during surveying and city mapping.
Edit: the plan you show at 4:26 is exactly the type of Blatt still used today.
Interesting!
never thought about it before but alleys = crime is a very "American" way to look at a city
I mean... my city's old neighbourhoods are mostly alleys lool
@@oB19o so what do you mean
@@kirtil5177 they're urban voids, underused spaces in-between public and private, where (in a lot of cultures) life happens. Markets neighbourhood party's, religious celebrations, just... hanging out. The strict division and separation between private and public is something very new and most notable in young countries and cities like the USA. What better way to conserve that division than saying "don't go out there is dangerous"? I'm guessing...
Soviet microdistrict vs usa suburbs
I live on an unfortunate block in Chicago that doesn't have an alley and it's the worst! Our dumpsters have to be half size and right out front of the building and the NOISE of the garbage and recycling trucks picking them up every day is the worst. There's nowhere for people to park their uhauls when moving. There's no space between my courtyard building and the one next to us so most residents chain their bikes to the fence to avoid carrying them downstairs to get to the back... Chicago alleys are an absolute blessing. Even though they don't get plowed in the winter, haha. But your friendly neighbors will always help you push your car out when they hear your tires spinning. :)
I love alleys! I grew up in Sacramento and I loved exploring the alleys there. That's one of the things I still miss even though I moved away more than 30 years ago.
Growing up in the 70’s, alleys were our escape routes and you knew the unlocked alley gates to duck into somebody’s yard. Gang ways were the spaces between houses running from the front yard to the alley. We played in alleys, three outs against a garage door or basketball. People walked their dogs in alleys.
Exactly: gangways are the spaces between buildings. This dude isn't from Chicago. He's applying academics to a community he's natively unfamiliar with.
The alleys in Savannah GA are my favorite part of the city!
I've always used "gangway" to describe the private way from the sidewalk to the alley, not the alley itself, usually applied when it's not fenced. Also standard lots in Chicago are 25x125 not 26x125
Thanks! This is the video I wanted - I knew I liked alleys and wanted to explore the reasons why they're good, actually. I grew up in a city that had some alleys and I thought they were great. I love the idea of driveways and garages hidden in the back to make room for people on the street and also just to have the alleys themselves - spaces that are different and more informal than the rest of the city. But, since then I've lived in cities that don't have alleys and most of the houses prominently feature car-snouts and so much pavement everywhere. I love how functional and flexible alleys are with some of the creative uses this video highlights.
As a Chicago resident, I love Chicago's alleys. In fact, I often walk through the alleys instead of on the street. They are often great shortcuts and a way to avoid crowds. There's a certain Gotham-esque quality to downtown alleys and an intimate quality to residential alleys. You get to see what you don't normally see, watching the city at work. I'm glad we have them. NYC's trash on the sidewalks can make walking in NYC kind of gross.
As it happens, I live in LakeView, one of the few Chicago neighborhoods without consistent alleys. I don't know what happened in LakeView w its alleys.
Fun fact, the Chicago L, often called the "Alley L", runs mostly "next to" and not "over" the alleys. For example, the city plat maps show a 15 ft alley between the L and the buildings. Because the L's were private companies, they had to purchase the ROW along back lots adjacent to the city-owned alleys. For years, I thought they all ran over the city alleys but a CTA employee explained the situation to me. Sure enough, if you walk along the L tracks, you can clearly see they are "next to" the alley, not over it. Only the oldest section of the Green Line from Congress to about Pershing runs "over" the alley - the original and only "Alley L". Now that the city owns the L, they can use the alley ROW but, most of the elevated lines were already built so, it's rare.
Interesting. But, I've noticed that the ongoing Red Line modernization has led to the CTA building over adjacent alleys.
@@ChiRedWhiteBlue Yup, they can do that now that the city now owns both the L along with the alleys.
It would be fascinating to see your take on the souks of Morocco.
Excellent quality production! Thanks
I grew up on the east coast, but had extended family not too far away in Philadelphia, PA. There were alleys in some parts of the city, and my cousins and family friends lived there. We would often hang out and socialize with friends there in the alley.
I miss the alley behind my house in Chicago more than I miss my house in Chicago.
It seems like an alleyway is a good way to get a true "feel" of a city aside from the nicer looking touristy areas. 🤔
I lived in a small town with alleys, and they were a super nice addition.
In non grided streets like we have in my current city, alleys are great because they allow for faster shortcuts on foot or bike vs car.
Fab video! But a topic you didn't mention is the change in alleys with gentrification. In London, for example, the very many mews (or mewses), once back alleys for stables and garages as well as small artisan workshops were turned in the 50s-70s into fashionable "bohemian" dwellings, now worth a fortune.
I always said that Chicago is NYC if all of the trash bags disappeared haha
The ally’s made the trash away.
As someone who grew up in Chicago up until age 30 who's now living in KCMO, I definitely understand the importance and necessity of alleys and alleyways. I wish more city planners actually planned cities this way. (And how about some sidewalks throughout the city!?)
In Vienna a lot of these functions are served by courtyards which are connected on both sides to the streets by archways, we call "Durchhäuser" (the literal translation is "throughhouse"). They are often lined with shops and restaurants and make for great walkable places.
God your videos are so good. The narrative quality of this one really touched me. I especially liked the quote portion.
Watching the american perspective on alleys really brings home the massive difference in urbanism between Europeans and Americans.
Loving this boost in production quality! You've got me seriously interested in Chicago (though I could never fully betray the PNW)
What are you seeing as a boost in production quality? I'm always trying new things and its hard to tell which things resonate well. Thanks for your feedback!
@@stewarthicks I am really liking the real-time graphics overlays illustrating what you're describing. It also feels like the audio levels have been more consistent lately compared to earlier videos so you're never drowned out by the background music (which has also been better timed compared to earlier videos). Every new upload feels like constant improvement!
Gotcha. Thanks. I am working on all those things and trying to get better. It's a steep learning curve. Happy you're recognizing the improvements.
So well spoken and organized info
I remember so many Chicago neighborhood blocks with rows of 3-story, brick apartment buildings backed by 3 story porches that I liked to call wooden fire escapes, often separated from the alley by a minuscule back yard.
Hey Stewart Hicks,
I absolutely love your Videos. I also love the Videos of "Not Just Bikes". It would be a dream come true if you two would cooperate in a Video :D
I asked him a bit ago and we discussed. I'll bring it up again! Thanks for the suggestion!
1 meter is about 1 yard. If you use yard instead of feet, you can skip the conversion.
I wanted to add to the Montreal choir: come and visit us one time. Our alleys / ruelles are part of our identity. They are playgrounds for kids, flowerbeds for honeybees, hockey rinks, edible gardens, music stages etc. Growing up in Montreal they are the place you spend the most time playing outside with neighbours.
Hello from Montreal, this video of the alleys of Chicago reminds me of where I live Montreal. An old city with a large number of back alleys used like your city for garbage and coal delivery for heating. Now these alleys mainly found in more residential areas are closed to cars and have become green areas, play areas and communal spaces for people. Artist and families have used these ares for art and gardens. Have you ever been to Montreal? There is quite a bit of historic architecture and styles from the downtown to the neighbours facade with ornate cornices for example. Towns like Westmount , Outremont ( French), Old Montreal and on the east side called the Plateau (French for flat area) is know for a diverse amount of architecture. Montreal is actually an island with cities and town with the need for bridges and tunnels for access. Being an island you don’t have the urban sprawl but there is suburban expansion off island. Another character of the city is that we have a mountain that centres the downtown and surrounding areas so we have a major green space. Mt Royal has a large park that was actually designed by the same guy who did Central Park. Enough said. I would love to visit Chicago I’ve never been. All the best
And Bruce Wayne's parents were murdered in an alley...Crime Alley... 😔
"Every city is built up from a typical block which unique to that city"... no? This doesn't account for most European cities (and many others) which grew progressively without block structures.
I understand that this video relates mostly to the typical "gridded" cities found in the USA and many other parts of the world; but it might have been worth making this statement a little bit less strict all the same.
And to be clear, yes, blocks in Paris for example (Where I live) will tend to have some common elements that make them recognizable and often quite similar across the whole city; but they are still far from homogeneous. In fact-for the most part-urban planning in France has to account for this and the PLU (plan local d'urbanisme), our equivalent of zoning, is set to specifically account for per-parcel specificities instead of per-block specificities. You'll usually see a Parisian block split into at least 3-4 different "zones" as a result.
Why do i like this channel and Stewart so much?
Great video! I didn't know all of this about alleys.Thanks for this video. Have you seen alleys used for moving bikes though town with minimal interaction with cars?
Really good stuff, thanks.
I'm curious if you have ever been to a city with an extensive skywalk system. My city isn't that big, but our downtown has a skywalk system connecting many of the buildings in core downtown so you can walk from the bus plaza, to the mall, bank, corner store, restaurants, offices, parking garage, and more, and you never have to go outside which is very nice in the cold winter. If you do have to go somewhere not connected to the system, you can walk through the skywalks to an exit closer to the street you are going to. It makes travel safer bringing pedestrians off the street, elevated above it. Also helps traffic for the same reason as less pedestrians are crossing at intersections. They do close at a certain time but i think it is a great idea that can be improved upon and could be brought elsewhere. This is in United States.
Liked the title as in a dying town, seeking ways to redeem it. There are alleys here and it is the first place I have had alley. When I first arrived the homes on the other side of alley just became rentals and the renters didn't destroy to the alley side so various vines, shrubs, bulbs came up against the garages,wooden fences, old metal gates. Was lovely to greet neighbors when hanging wash out in my nightgown or walk the alley and appreciate the mastery of gardners in the past. I am so very glad I took oodles of photos in each season.
Interesting! The "alleys" in Bergen (Norway) where I live are a little bit narrower lol - as indicated by the names "smau" from a word meaning to sneak, like through a partly blocked door and "smitt" from a word meaning to brush (e.g. brush by something) , but were also traditionally popular for various illicit activities
9:20 there is also that alley wall in Seattle, Post Alley, that is covered with all the chewing gum. Now that’s cool