The Hidden dimension : an examination of pedestrian alleyway as a positive urban element in the development of inner city area

Abstract

The actual experience of traversing alleys through their highly complex physical configuration can only be hinted by belles-letters. The quality of space is unmatchable with any other purpose made passage meant for the pedestrians in the form of side walks, pavements, foot paths etc. for being devoid of parked cars, traffic lights and batteries of garbage cans, all of which we have come to accept as attributes of higher civilization. An alley to its dweller may be pictured as his source of livelihood and territoriality, to which he belongs as a member of a strong social grouping. Allowing it to be taken for granted, to the others, an alley is only a transitional linking spine connecting public gathering spaces in the absence of wheeled traffic. In the perspective of a third person, it may be an unproductive, functionally obsolete lost space in-between buildings which breed and protect the entire crime and notoriety of the city. Making allowance for their own law of birth, growth and maturity has surfaced problems due to the negligence and failure to recognize them as an asset to the city. The necessity for an urban context in which these marvelously inventive solutions are viable, therefore awaits acceptance.