Chen 1

Ryan Chen

Dr. Jasmine Nicholsfigueiredo

ENGL 1130

20 January 2017

The Functionality and Location of Public Spaces Matter in An Urban Area

The New Westminster River Market carries out as a functional public space that provides people

in its community close and easy access to its facility. This facility is found in a part of its town where the

population is the densest and many services are easily accessible. For instance, the location of The River

market is in Downtown New Westminster where living, working, shopping, and education are all nearby

or inside its vicinity. All people attending these activities will have an easy or close access to The River

Market making it a functional public space. Urban designers, Allan Jacobs and Donald Appleyard argue

that urban places should be close and easily accessible (by foot) to areas where people meet to shop or

work or recreate or do public business (118). In other words, one must consider their location of the

public space is functional and accessible to citizens because it can help with their productivity. Short

durations commute an access helps retain leisure time for activities of higher importance. In result, the

duration of the commute from the most populous city in the province, Vancouver, to The River Market

only takes twenty-five minutes by motor vehicle or SkyTrain. Within the city, the establishment provides

a free complimentary shuttle service called The Downtown Uptown Connector. This service gives citizens

who have difficulty traveling down and up steep hills of New Westminster easier access to its facility and

nearby public spaces. The River Market is a functional public space that is found in an easily accessible

location that makes daily activities easier to accomplish.

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Work Cited

Jacobs, Allan, and Donald Appleyard. "Toward an Urban Design Manifesto." Townhouse Centers. Journal

of the American Planning Association, Feb. 2012. Web. 20 Jan. 2017.

<https://townhousecenter.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/urban-design-manifesto-by-jacobs-1987.pdf>.