Why Moments of Pedestrian Interest Increase Our Ability to Remain Present [Siena]

While I was studying in Rome, I had a studio professor who told us that if we designed a piazza that people would want to lay down in then we could consider our design successful. I thought to myself, who would be crazy enough to just lay on the ground on a whim? I often think back to that semester and look at how much I learned at that time and since then. The truth is studying Rome, as well as other Italian towns, is hard. It turns into a lifelong journey of progressive comprehension. There are two particular lessons that I remember from our class trip to Siena:

The value of frequent moments of pedestrian interest along streets and within open spaces for walkability and well-being; and
The characteristics of a well-formed piazza that is loved for generations.

In Siena, there are three main streets that follow the topography from the countryside into the city and terminate at the central piazza, Piazza del Campo. These main routes, remaining streets, and piazzas have an irregularity that arises from gradual evolution over time. The resulting form and typical irregularity contributes to frequent, rich moments of pedestrian interest that occur within Siena’s public spaces. During the medieval period, architects did not design in plan. They designed based on the envisioned experience in perspective. Every street and space was seen as an artistic unit. People innately want to find themselves in a beautiful room. In this case, the room’s walls are formed by the city's buildings offering an intimate feeling of scale, proportion, balance, and harmony. Unlike the boulevards in Paris, you do not experience the entire length of a Sienese street at any one moment. The street bends and has instances where it narrows so that it is not possible to see one end from the other. As a pedestrian, this is intriguing. The cornice lines touching the sky offer some guidance by reflecting the street's plan. This helps direct you on your way past what can be seen on the ground. Once you are drawn in, you want to see where the street leads. Even if you already know the destination. You also want to experience your surroundings. Many buildings, doorways, and storefront windows are present at the street level. Storefronts and doorways offer an inviting mystery presenting something to be explored. The presence of the buildings is felt through their sturdy, solid structures that define the pathway. Since the buildings are taller than the width of the street, there is a strong sense of verticality. This sense is reinforced by the vertical lines that occur where one building stops and another starts. Along the narrow route, there are openings where squares and plazas emerge. They offer spaces to stop, sit, see, and be seen. Here there is more light and air as well as restaurants, coffee shops, and food stalls extending the perfect energy to linger.

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Upon arriving in Piazza del Campo, one of the first things to notice is the firm shape and corners of the piazza. In most cases, not more than one street comes in at a corner of the piazza. The other streets are deflected before reaching the piazza. As such, there is hardly a point within the piazza where you can see more than one opening in the wall of buildings. If streets do break the wall of the piazza, they are made to be so narrow that the break is insignificant.

Piazza del Campo is the focal point of political and civic life as well as communal celebration in the city. Its form takes the shape of a fan offering a deep forecourt to receive the Palazzo Pubblico and Torre del Mangia. The piazza is paved with red fishbone patterned brick and eight lines of travertine, dividing the fan into nine sections. The number of divisions is symbolic of the rule of The Nine, or the communal government, that laid out the campo and governed Siena. Unlike most public spaces, you will not see benches or furniture for people to use. Users of the space often sit or lay down on the red brick gazing at the clouds or watching the joyfully fleeting colors of the sunset. Depending on the time of the day, they either sit in the warm sun or in the cool shadow of the Palazzo and the tower. The open plan and downward slope of the piazza serve multiple functions. While sitting or lying in the piazza the slope draws your vision to the Palazzo and tower, it creates a natural amphitheater for public performances and other activities, and it acts as a central water drain for the city. The edge of the square is highly activated by the presence of cafés, museums, and shops. These adjacent activities provide a steady stream of pedestrian traffic into the piazza. The building facades are understated and yet richly detailed with shutters, sills, cornices, frames, signs, and light fixtures. As light dances over these details, there is a constant display of shade, shadow, and brilliance.

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These moments of pedestrian interest within the built environment increase our ability to mentally stay in the present moment. Being mindful makes it easier to savor the pleasures in life as they occur, helping us to be fully engaged in activities and creating a greater capacity to deal with adverse events. We are less likely to loose focus and worry about the future or regret over the past. We are also less preoccupied with concerns about success and self-esteem and are better able to form deep connections with others. Mindfulness can also help us physically by relieving stress, treating heart disease, lowering blood pressure, reducing chronic pain, and improving sleep. Offering surprising perspectives within our built environment can help to shift our thoughts away from our typical rumination toward an appreciation of the moment and a larger perspective on life.

Town planning in Siena dates back to 1262, with communal control influencing the form of public spaces. Within the Sienese Constitution, specifically in the third Distinctio, the government laid out architectural construction rules illustrating their civic goal of clean, sanitary, safe, vivid, and beautiful streets and piazzas. They believed that the maintenance of these public spaces was necessary to the well-being of their citizens. These standards were essential along streets and public spaces as a result of the community's needs which had outgrown the framework of the pre-existing city. These needs included the freedom of public circulation due to a growing economy, the beautification and maintenance of celebratory as well as religious routes, and the physical control of well-traveled spaces. Architecture, in this case, includes streets, piazzas, fountains, aqueducts, bridges, fortifications, towers, palazzi, and communal buildings. The official policies for Piazza del Campo consisted of building materials, setbacks, height, projections, and the shape of windows. In order to be effective, the walls of the piazza laid in front of the Palazzo Pubblico and Torre del Mangia needed to appear continuous creating a seemingly enclosed area to support the main building.

The enduring vibrancy of Siena and Piazza del Campo is largely due the designer's focus on the experience within public spaces as well as the government's fortitude to control the form of these spaces. Just as life’s greatest joys ebb and flow over time, we experience these pedestrian moments in small, seemingly insignificant doses. However, the culmination of these moments is powerful to the overall experience of the place, our ability to be present, and our cumulative happiness.