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Consider the Consequences

The continuing discussion of the developing plans for the corridor between the new convention center and Market Square Mall is healthy, if premature from some points of view ["Guessing Game" by Jesse Fox Mayshark and Joe Tarr, Vol. 9, No. 42]. While Mike Edwards is correct in saying that we need to see the completed proposal as an entirety, it is also true that that proposal must be developed as an integral part of the downtown Knoxville environment. We have a chronic tendency in Knoxville to let private developers present plans without adequate contextual feedback: if the proposal has gathered the capital to execute the project we tend to just say "Yes" and permit the developer to do whatever he likes, no matter the consequences to the social, economic, and aesthetic context within which it is set. Stroud Watson's point is well taken; and since the proverbial genie is out of the bottle, let constructive discussion continue.

The urban gallery mall concept is one that is found in a number of European cities and can be extremely attractive in the right situation. Something along these lines might be very effective between Gay and State Streets, with boutiques, cafes, and other shopping venues. Market Square Mall is the wrong place for this sort of structure. This is why: the Mall is near one end of the single most attractive axis downtown. The near-enfilade effect that is offered by Market Street from the Federal Courthouse at one end to the Twin Towers and the Radisson at the other constitutes the one alluring vista that downtown Knoxville offers. Parenthetically, the plans for the refurbishing of World's Fair Park, conceived as part of the convention center project, will offer a more nearly pastoral vista of similar character. Anyway, such spaces invite the impulse to stroll the entire length of the open corridor. To enclose Market Square Mall, either overhead or laterally, would be to cut short this lovely enfilade and impede the open traffic that draws people up and down Market Street. Let's please not do that.

Spaces that invite people, lure us by their charm, are a vital part of the urban environment. Another feature found in many beautiful European cities from Madrid to Bruges is the open plaza surrounded by charming buildings, sometimes grand buildings, often with wonderful columned arcades along the periphery. These are usually paved in some ornamental pattern that teases the eye and invites lingering at tables set in clusters, often close to eating places. What we have on Market Square Mall offers this on a smaller scale. But another such space in the central business district could be a great draw. The central point here is that the downtown area with its surrounding "trolley suburbs" is naturally a unified whole that needs to be constantly thought of as such; any development plans for one portion of this cluster of districts will work only if conceived in context. Most of the features and concepts of the Worsham Watkins plan discussed in Metro Pulse and elsewhere seem to fit into this pattern. A glass roof over the Mall, let alone enclosures and doors around it, will not serve the social, economic, and aesthetic interests of the larger urban environment. Let's do this project well and make it something that puts all the old narrow-interest mistakes of our past behind us.

Dana Strong Wyman
Knoxville