Washburn Square Park, Marshall-Shadeland: 1405 Superior Avenue
There aren’t many places in Pittsburgh that have remained unchanged for 13 years, but Washburn Square Park may be one of them. On the surface, the aesthetics check a lot of boxes: New sidewalks with ADA-curb cuts! Well-kept grass! Gently sloping hills! Clean without needing trash cans! Decorative brick walls and new city steps! But despite these features, the park is not especially inviting. In scanning the land, I can’t identify any “desire paths,” those informal trails walkers and cyclists create to optimize their routes. That’s never a good sign.
So, how did we come to this? Washburn Street bisected this area a hundred years ago, connecting several dozen row houses to Hodgkiss Way and Bartold Street. The first Google Street View recording of the area is from 2007, but by then, the houses along Washburn had been demolished, and the area was overgrown. By 2011, three new homes had been built along Hodgkiss, and Washburn Street was removed and replaced with the current “Washburn Square Park.” I don’t doubt that, at the time, it was considered a significant improvement, but in 13 years, no further enhancements, such as landscaping, public art, or seating, have been added. As a result, the area offers a generic kind of pretty that looks nice in photos but doesn’t beckon people to come outside, relax, and play.
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