Have you ever traveled to Pittsburgh? Let me tell you I have gone twice now and I have to say unlike other cities there are immediately notable things:
The first time I drove into Pittsburgh from the Pennsylvania Turnpike via I-279, which was the most spectacular way to come into the limits. You meander in the hilly terrain of the middle of nowhere in PA, only to come across a tunnel that borrows underneath a large steep hill with many residences adorning the top. The trip at this point is miles long, leaving room for many to wonder just how far the city is from the turnpike. But then, as you exit the long subterranean pipe, a burst of light floods your brain as you struggle to take in the many sights. To your right, the cascading planes that manage to rush up the hills. in your immediate site, numerous roads, only to be outdone by the bridges, skyscrapers, and the backdrop of the lush green landscape. So many levels on so many dimensions, it was a big shock to a person who had never been. SO the second time I had a lot more reason and was able to articulate what I saw...
Imagine any river of significant size, where the waters are of an unknown depth and wider than a quick swim. The river beds are below your feet and obviously even deeper than the majority of the trails. The further you journey from the water's edge, the higher you climb, meeting all sorts of trees and assorted brush.
This is not too different from most places where their are large bodies of water, but imagine now two large bodies forming an ever larger one winding into the distance between a valley of steep inclines. The nature is omnipotent and inevitable to the eyes of any onlooker. That is why it is incredible any settlement of people can occur in a place of so much overwhelming nature.
Juxtaposed with the river and the precipitous landscape, Pittsburgh is certainly one of the more unique cities. Most cities merely either coexist with the fringes of a waterfront or incorporate a sliver of trees in a dense urban fabric. Perhaps many examples of such confluences are noted in the thick of wooded wilderness of America -- older and smaller towns like Harper's Ferry, WV certainly enjoy the picturesque nature as well. But Pittsburgh achieves it's stance as a city more than a simple city along the waterfront. No, this large city manages to preserve the greatness of the river and overcome it all at once.
Baltimore, MD and New York, NY are cities that have a fair amount of water near them. But in general, the water lacks the gravity to encourage reflection or leisure, the cities place more pedestrians on the inner networks, or encourage a more piecemeal engagement of the water, such as with overly commercialized spectacles on a less than scenic port. Pittsburgh in its complexity as a landscape offers a more simple solution to the incorporation of green space. Consider it the opposite to Central Park in NY...an oasis that is the effort of the planners and designers of the city. Here, rather, the land will only permit so much building to efficiently and comfortably exist. The result is phenomenal.
In just a few places you travel, you are not too far from a wall of trees. Walk along the south side flats and you have to see the hillside of Mt Washington. Or the walk along the strip and you cannot avoid glancing at the hill side of the thick brush hiding Bigelow Blvd and Polish Hill. Unlike many cities where districts may follow the arbitrary and ever shifting lines of demographics, the permanence of the landscape will create a differing genus loci per location, no matter who may flood the streets. This creates an interesting question of how did zoning laws impact this city...because in a location where you only truly have so much of a flat building surface, it raises the question of the procedural history. Unlike other places that may need arbitrary and standards for development and growth, the natural boundaries of the site could provide a scope that Pittsburgh is the way it is and will remain that way. The facade and the vistas are actually relatively timeless, with a majority of the high rise structures dating around 40 years ago.
Perhaps a map users nightmare, these dips, valleys, hills, and steep drops even inform the flattest areas, such as the Central Business District with it's relative even presence. The road heights do vary, but only to accommodate the eventually unforgiving drop along the edge of Southside slopes. Liberty bridge needs to be on an entirely different level. This contrasts a majority of the bridges on the over the Allegheny river and all the others over the Monongahela Valley. Driving by the streets can be easy enough if you have the third dimension in mind.
The cities balance of the induction of fast paced interchanges and bridges into the busier parts of town is not imposing. All sites from the city's CBD are not overwhelmed with sites of concrete and asphalt. The most obvious location of this saturation is notably the location for the stadiums. I am quite struck on the ability for pedestrians to share the bridge with the high speed Interstate traffic over the Fort Duquesne Bridge. Not just this bridge, but noteworthy is that unlike the unfriendly notion of the pedestrian in many municipalities, there is a great deal of foot traffic encouraged by the aesthetics and form of the bridges in the city.
Walking in the CBD was much like any other city, which the grid fairly easy to follow...but noteworthy is the brick paved Grant street which is diagonal to the Penn and Liberty Avenues as they have to eventually take you up the strip. The strip itself is sadly the victim of much abandonment, but look past the emptiness pass 20th street, and gladly take in the old storefronts, cultured joints, and elaborate streetscape. It is different across the Monongahela River, but the old architecture remains, but inside a different vibe. The street culture is not as present on Carson Street, but surely the stores and hustle is there for anyone to take in.
The impression one leaves with is finally a city where perhaps the notion of an identifiable skyline is not all that matter, but rather the product of the environment and it's inhabitants as a whole. After all, take away the hills and the water and leave the skyline, you may not be able to guess it is the Steel City. But perhaps if you took away everything that was a high-rise and left the landscape, you would be able to. How many cities have we all traveled to in which we can do that?
