The wisdom of crowds

There is story about Walt Disney in the early days of Disneyland that is worth telling. One morning before opening he noticed some workers putting up a fence. When asked, they told Walt that people were walking across the grass so they were putting up the fence to keep them on the path. Disney had them move the path instead. If that is where people are walking, they are smarter about what they are doing than we are. Design it for them.

I can picture the people who came up with this pedestrian overpass. They had a problem and money -- too much money apparently -- and an idea of what they thought people should do. They didn't stop to think about what people would do. The designers thought they were smarter. Wrong again.

The question that every urban designer, engineer, planner and others working on reconstructing our cities is really simple: What is the next smallest thing that can be done to make what people are already doing just a little easier?

Ask and answer that every day and pretty soon you will have a Strong Town.