Urban Design continued from page 6 is a site much easier to understand. “We are in the Civic Center, and we know where we’re going,” she says. “It’s extremely im- portant for a city to have spaces like this, where people can come together and ex- press their minds and just enjoy a civic center or a center of the city.” Civic Center got its start as part of Mayor Robert Speer’s City Beautiful project more than a century ago. But in September 2021, it was closed for safety issues; it had become a place where people hung out during the day dealing and doing drugs. “I think that that’s defi nitely an issue that a lot of major American cities are dealing “It seems quite different from Central Park,” she agrees. “Central Park is a park within residential and commercial areas, but this is a more formal park that is surround- ing the civic center. So to me, it’s great that something like this is actually experienced by people. People on their lunch break can come here. That’s really great.” At this point, Swartz chimes in, suggesting that City Park is really Denver’s version of Central Park. And then it clicks for me: the zoo, the jazz concerts, the swan boats — City Park really is Denver’s Central Park. 16th Street Mall As we head from Civic Center Park to the 16th Street Mall, Di Girolamo talks about some of her favorite European cities, with project will replace the aging granite with a surface that is less slippery, moving transit lanes to the center so that spaces next to walkways can be better activated and add to the mall’s tree canopy. “How do we make this more of a place to linger and be, rather than just a place to walk through trying to get to your destination?” Swartz asks. The City of Denver is aiming to wrap up the project, which will cost $149 million, by the end of 2024; it’s being funded by a combination of local, state and federal dollars. “A project like that really seems like it would be a great catalyst to start to get to that change that you were talking about,” Di Girolamo says. “I think that something that is great here is that at least you have some active uses on the ground fl oor, so there is ground fl oors, and that creates the feeling of a ghost town when workers aren’t coming into the offi ce as much. Some of this can be ameliorated by acti- vating the ground-fl oor areas and also con- verting commercial spaces into residential units, which Di Girolamo was helping to do in NYC and which has already started here in Denver. “You do need the restaurants, you do need the residents,” she says. “You need the businesses to keep an area alive and active — really trying to strive for that 24/7 activation that makes a city center vibrant.” City centers were facing challenges be- fore 2020, but the pandemic just heightened them. “Like many other large American cities, Denver is facing an evolution in the The 16th Street Mall renovation could be a “great catalyst,” says Di Girolamo, as the renovation of Union Station was a decade ago. 8 with at the moment, and I am sure it was exacerbated by COVID,” Di Girolamo says. Although Civic Center is now open again during the day, like all Denver parks, it’s off limits after 11 p.m. Metal barricades remain on the perimeter so that the only way to enter is through specifi ed entrances. The fencing is the type of barricade you might expect to temporarily control traffi c fl ow, not the border you want for Denver’s crown jewel of its park system. Di Girolamo doesn’t know much about the fencing, but speculates that it could be used for preserving the grass. “I think as long as there are points of entry that are clearly visible and allow everyone to come in and enjoy the park, I think that’s the most important thing, for sure,” she says. I grew up just outside of New York City, and for a while, my mother has lived by Central Park, so I can swap New York ex- periences with Di Girolamo. While Civic Center Park is gorgeous and an important spot for events, I don’t think it’s the same type of park as Central Park. “I wouldn’t just go here with a buddy and be like, ‘Hey, do you want to go throw a Frisbee or a football at Civic Center Park?’ I don’t really feel like it’s thought of that way. It just seems like it’s not fully activated in a way that would have it reach its potential,” I tell her. Di Girolamo has an intriguing response. Rome in the summer at the top of the list. “I grew up going to Rome on my school trips,” she says. “And I always loved how you can experience the very, very old and some of the new. There’s an extremely interesting mix of styles and experiences, and the city grew on top of that. And it’s always sunny, like it’s sunny here, so that’s great.” Arriving at the mall, which is undergo- ing a major renovation after forty years, I a reason to come here already. And with improvement to the streetscape, hopefully that can just get better and better and better to the 24/7, the more activity you have just come in every hour of the day, during the week, the weekends.” You do have some stores, and you do have the restaurants, and you have offi ces close by. There are some residences. I think that the mix is there. I think it just needs to settle a little bit more "I think investment in public transit is always extremely important for a city as large as Denver." way we work and experience the public realm following the COVID-19 pandemic,” Di Girolamo notes. “This, of course, has repercussions throughout the city, not just in the core, and will require us to think cre- atively and work collaboratively about how we bring life back to downtown, ensuring that it becomes a lively, safe and inviting mixed-use place that all Denverites can enjoy and feel proud of.” Union Station We head down the mall to Union Station, tell Di Girolamo how it was “designed by the guy who built the glass pyramids at the Louvre.” Swartz offers “I.M. Pei,” to which Di Girolamo responds knowingly, “Ah. One of his buildings is right there.” It’s the building at 1700 Broadway, but Pei’s iconic hyperbolic paraboloid on the mall was demolished decades ago. Pei also inspired the iconic, rattlesnake- inspired granite of the mall’s pavers, which are disappearing. Swartz notes that the mall restoration and evolve a bit more. I’m really hopeful that the redesign of the mall will be a catalyst for that, for people...to linger, and not just come here and quickly get out.” At the peak of the pandemic, parts of New York City lost almost all of their foot traffi c, which Di Girolamo got to see up-close and personal. The problem has been exacerbated in other cities with central business districts that are one-trick ponies, she notes: They have commercial spaces without as much residential and with largely unactivated which was highly recommended to Di Gi- rolamo before she ever got to the Mile High City. “I’ve asked a few people what their fa- vorite place in Denver is so I can check it out,” she says. “And a person said that the station and outside it is their favorite place because it’s really a place where you can just go and hang out, and you don’t have to necessarily consume anything, or if you want, you can. It’s a place that really allows everyone from the city to come and enjoy a public space. I think that answer was very heartfelt.” But that answer was not complete. The Great Hall at Union Station, once billed as “Denver’s living room,” is not as accessible these days. Security guards have been crack- ing down to make sure that the bathrooms are used only by paying customers, which is not the case at Grand continued on page 10 AUGUST 18-24, 2022 WESTWORD | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | NEWS | LETTERS | CONTENTS | westword.com WESTWORD WESTWORD
