Downtown Eval

Kalamazoo's downtown has potential, and very little else. Burdick street is very nice looking, and inspires a certain air, without overshadowing what businesses are there. Some of the best businesses in Kalamazoo are located on Burdick street, and paramount among them is Gazelle, because it manages to be unique while still providing a product and service that is sorely needed by the public. The street as a whole is composed of earth tone, colored pavers, which lend a modern air to the street, but in a playful way, completely different from the chrome alluminum and plate glass that have become typical of "modern" architecture, and the street acquires an artsy air which elevates the process of shopping for and buying any product from utilitarianism, to an adventure, and something which you don't mind ambling through.

The simplest recommendation that I have for Burdick street and the downtown in general would to be either consolodate, fill up empty storefronts, or even better, some of each. The single biggest drag on Burdick street, and the downtown as a whole are the amount of storefronts that are simply empty. If one were to squeeze the entirety of Burdick street's businesses into the space between climb kalamazoo and the state theater, one would find a far more lively area, simply because the density of interesting shops would be increased that much more. Alternatively, simply making Burdick street an atractive place to set up shop for other retailers could be invluable, either way however, Burdick street needs to eliminate empty storefronts at all costs. Thirdly, and this is almost nitpicking, Burdick street lacks any real advertising, I love the pedestrian signs, but if one were to make the entrance from main street that much more obvious, the action would be greatly rewarded.

I believe that in many ways, kalamazoo has taken Gibbs' advice to heart, but it hardly matters when the space simply lacks presence. Burdick street finds itself caught in the classic catch-22, it tends not to be packed with people, so there is precipitously less vibrancy, less vibrancy yeilds less people, and as a result Burdick street is constantly dead; Burdick could possibly learn something from Lexington avenue in New York, Whyte describes that, "part of Lexington's perverse attraction lies in the sensory experience of its walkways, and narrowness is a feature of them. Somewhere along the line, increasing with can work against a street. Defining a happy medium may be impossible, but it is not a bad goal to keep in mind," this, combined with Whyte's other advice suggests that further sidewalk obstructions could help to revitalize downtown, it is a truism that downtown is very regimented, and rarely do the buildings spill out onto the streets.