November 6, 2009

1. Gibbs wrote about the way a city is designed in a more general, broad way than Whyte did. For example, Gibbs told about how a city should be designed with a generator and about the signs on stores to get people to come to the street and like it there; whereas Whyte told about how obstacles would cause people to slow down and then notice their store and that second story stores needed to have distracting signs. I find Gibbs' argument to be more convincing because if I were shopping in a downtown, I think that I would become annoyed with some of the ways that Whyte designed the city.

2. An urban area is particularly attractive if it has plants and some open grassy parks. I also like wide sidewalks, windows into stores or window displays, and places to eat outside that are clean and have shade. I am repelled by dirty streets, feeling unsafe, busy (with people or cars) streets and if there are too many similar stores near each other.