If You Build It, They Will Come

When you’re swimming in an infinity pool looking over the Jones Falls, it’s natural to start having the big thoughts.  And if you’re hanging with Bryan Dunn of Mahan Rykiel Associaties, a landscape, urban design and planning firm, then the big thoughts are about why Baltimore is the most underrated city in America.

For years, Bryan has worked in government and the private sector, as well as being a community organizer in the Seto

n Hill Neighborhood.  He’s seen it all–the best and worst this city has to offer–and he hasn’t lost an ounce of passion over the years.

The pool is just one of the perks of his job and I’d say it served him well. Because today, Bryan framed a general strategy for growth in Baltimore City that really inspired me.

It went something like this:

Between 2000 and 2016, the city of Pittsburgh lost about 8% of their population, but had a 56% increase in median income.  Why? Most business journals will argue that there’s been an expansion in innovative, tech-based companies. And that’s true.

Market Square, Pittsburgh

But what’s missing from that argument are the ways in which Pittsburgh has developed its public spaces, many of which have be reclaimed and repurposed.

This is not accidental.  Despite it’s shrinking size over the past 70 years,  Pittsburgh has engineered a $650 million capital improvement plan.

So what’s happening?

Well for sure, there’s money coming into the city.  But more importantly,  city planners are doing what they can to make Pittsburgh beautiful, interesting, and desirable and that too plays an important part in attracting businesses.

Remember, it’s not just that bees are attracted to flowers;  it’s the flowers that are attracting the bee.

Creatives (artists, designers, entrepreneurs, and anyone making stuff that didn’t exist yesterday)  understand the importance of living in a beautiful area.  In fact, they demand it.

In the 21st century, creative life means spending a lot of time sitting in front of a computer.  Access to a Cheesecake factory and a city skyline no longer cut it as “living the good life.”

Looking out over the Jones Falls

Creatives need to be inspired, stimulated, and soothed.  They want access to spaces that brings them beyond themselves. That is, spaces that always please and please all people. (to steal a phrase from Longinus.)

Yes, you may have to sit in front of a computer, but wouldn’t it be nice to look out on a trickling stream?  How about if you could go hiking during lunch at a thoughtfully designed park?  What if your commute inspired you?  Your commute!  Can you imagine how would that influence you?

When you’re starting a company, you’re putting in a lot of hours and you’re trying to lure talent from oversubscribed cities like New York and San Francisco.  You need to put together a package that will attract innovative, creative people.

Office Space with a view of paradise.

Well, where do such people like to be?  Easy. They want to be 1) in the coolest place that no one’s ever heard about 2) at the best price 3) living a better-quality life than they otherwise could have.  In fact, Baltimore has an advantage due to the relatively low cost of living and ease of travel.

And this, Bryan argued, is what builds the mass that makes a good city, great.

Which brings me to one of the larger themes of this blog:

AESTHETICS is a form of ETHICS.

Infinity Pools force you to think big thoughts because that’s what their designed to do.  Build beautiful things and you will inspire people to feel beautiful.  Make a space ugly and loveless and cheap and automatically people will fall to the level of the space.

Moreover, access to beautiful spaces is one of the defining privileges of wealth. So when we talk about equity, we need to talk about democratizing access to beauty.

In a city like Baltimore, where abject poverty exists side by side with extreme wealth (which, by the way, is one of the best predictors of violent crime), access to beautiful spaces can literally save lives.

Because as Allen Watts once said, “We’re not in the environment, we are of the environment.”  The environment is us.

So, in conclusion…

If you build it, they will come.

By “it” I mean parks, promenades, secluded infinity pools, environmentally sound and inspiring offices.

By “They,” I mean you, and all the other brilliant, creative geniuses looking for that perfect city along the Jones Falls.