The First 16 Feet

Every building and space has a little something to offer our neighborhoods and streets. Across the globe, cities and towns are fighting to create human connections, experiences, and relationships that are active, safe, and memorable. Standing in their way are cities’ inherent complexities and messiness oftentimes coupled with distances and spaces that feel overwhelmingly large. To enliven this expanse, the typical go-to solution leans heavily on traditional retail, a fickle friend always in transition. So what can placemakers and place managers do beyond just hoping for a great retail lineup?

Our response has been the relentless focus on how and where shared human experiences are most felt: the first 16 feet out and up from the edge of a public space such as a street or plaza. We have yet to meet an environment that cannot be positively transformed by targeting efforts in this seam between a building’s ground-floor frontage and a street, vacant lot, alley, park or any other reclaimable real estate. And these efforts are not just limited to retail. These are a building’s cultural gift to the street and the way the street gives back to create value for the building. 

As such, we have become insanely focused on designing and building the First 16 Feet (F16). These can be formal or informal but, regardless, it is here where the incremental cumulation of relatively small interventions can most dramatically reshape the experience and personality of a place. As a result, these places not only become safer and more enjoyable, but more productive and profitable.

Have a space that feels unwelcoming or dead? Need to make a connection between two destinations on an otherwise quiet street or is your mixed-use project not living up to its potential? The answer more often than not is in rethinking your first 16 feet.

Interested in learning more about the First 16 Feet? Check out our ‘& CO.’  episode here!