Documenting Pittsburgh Steps

Preamble

For the final project, I decided to continue exploring the steps of Pittsburgh, which were part of a previous analysis over three neighborhoods regarding walkability issues. In the former project, I concluded that part of the unique characteristics attributed to different parts of the city has a strong correlation with topographic barriers, planning zones and in some cases public investments on the local infrastructure. The steps are one of these distinctive conditions, and it could not be possible to imagine a city like Pittsburgh, with its rolling hills and valleys, without such a primary pieces of infrastructure.

To continue the exploration around Pittsburgh Steps, I decided to dive into the historic legacy of the staircases.  

According to Bob Regan's book Pittsburgh Steps:

"Pittsburgh variation in topography has also had a socioeconomic influence on the area. The flat land adjacent to the rivers was considered prime land for the area's many steel mills. Consequently, the only affordable, inhabitable land for the common people was on the hilltops or, in some cases, along the hillsides. In order for workers to travel to work, a series of steps were built to the steel mills."

Taking the opinion of this distinguished historian and professor at the University of Pittsburgh, the steps of Pittsburgh represent not an ornamental feature in the urban landscape, but a practical transportation component that enables the essential commutes to happen in a time when cars or public transit was not even developed. The same author adds to the previous quote:

"Originally the steps were privately built, but soon formal steps along rights-of-way were constructed by the municipality. The steps essentially became legal streets. These city steps were, in essence, the city's first mass transportation system. Subsequent to this primary need, city steps were also constructed throughout the city whenever steep topographic relief inhibited conventional street construction or to offer hilltop dwellers access to the lower environs."

Thus, I can infer that despite its initial development, the further development of tramways, buses and streets systems made it possible for the composition of the city to expand to accommodate a "modern" living modality. Therefore, it was no longer desirable to live near steel plants, or simply citizens could afford to avoid the unevenness of the hilly city. Even though the steel plants are no longer by the rivers, the steps were never completely abandoned and have managed to remain until now. 

Introduction

This project takes this momentum of understanding of the steps of Pittsburgh and reviews contemporary attempts to document the legacy of them. The intention is to learn from what has been done from the official position and an artistic approach. I will connect such efforts with an external reference to suggest a supplementary plan to link ideas and work, deeper the reflection on the issues around the steps, and try to envision a way to deliver information to a broader audience. 

Study and Analysis

Nowadays there are various efforts to maintain and document Pittsburgh Steps. I have found different articles, projects, travel guides and books which aim to preserve the legacy of the steps and document its actual condition. For example, the Western Pennsylvania Regional Data Center has material dedicated to the steps. 

This has given me a clear indicator of the current importance of these urban elements, not only from the functional point of view but the collective imaginary of the people of Pittsburgh. 

The City of Pittsburgh is the local entity that maintains, repair, rebuild and take care of all 739 steps throughout the city. A long time neglected part of the city; the steps gained the reputation of insecure and precarious pieces of infrastructure. Favorably this condition has changed in the recent time, to the point that the municipality has launched an ambitious plan to renovate all the steps in the near future.

According to the City of Pittsburgh, the City Accelerator project - which is an initiative to help accelerate the adoption of innovative programs inside the local government - has provided a new effort to develop a way to maintain and renovate the steps in a systematical matter. The official web page states:

"Using mapping analysis, public input, and fieldwork, the city will create a prioritized repair and rebuilding schedule. In addition to creating a priority list, this project will consider the material, aesthetic and public amenity aspects of the staircases through the creation of new design guidelines and lifecycle cost estimates."

Such endeavor has enabled an exciting participatory public engagement process. In this project, any individual can fill out a survey that serves as input for the city to provide precision and have a deep understanding of the physical conditions of a step. 

Link: http://wikimapping.com/wikimap/Pittsburgh-Citywide-Steps-Assessment/l-1136474_40.440986550245_-79.950642585754_16 

Not only specific city programs offer an overlook of the steps conditions. The official track non-emergency requests system, 311, also has two distinct items dedicated to steps; repairs and cleared. 

In conclusion, from the official point of view, the renovation and maintenance of the Pittsburgh Steps is a reality. The next section explores the ability to envision a possible outcome if, in a plausible scenario, the city information can be expanded by partnering local activist and artist to provide a renewed way to present findings and work with the community. 

Artist documenting process

Having an overview of the Pittsburgh Steps has guided me to think about different attitudes that a designer can approach such fascinated feature of the city. For that, I have found and talked personally with Laura Zurowski, a local artist that has as purpose to document Pittsburgh's public steps in an unorthodox way.

Laura is embarking on a four - to five - year project to explore and catalog all 739 of Pittsburgh’s public steps. According to Pittsburgh Magazine interviewing her, it describes her work as:

"Zurowski stands apart from her step-enthusiast predecessors with her blend of one part photographer, one part author, and one part archivist. Climbing the steps is a deliberate act of studying the surrounding area, what is above and below, why were these steps used, who walked here before. They have stories to tell."

She explains that each step visited contains a written story narrative, a description of the space and two photographs taken from a Polaroid camera. She posted each one on Instagram, Flirck, and Craigslist. And has a web page where she planned to publish and sell “Pittsburgh Stairs Trading Cards.” These cards will be released two or three times a year in randomized 10-packs.

Her intentional idea is also just to take a limited amount of photos because it is pointless with today`s technology to make a big deal out of pictures that practically anyone can do it. Her major input is her way of systematically telling a story, document and take advantage of online platforms to spread her stories.

Links:

http://www.pittsburghmagazine.com/Pittsburgh-Magazine/December-2017/Pittsburgh-City-Steps-An-Artist-Tells-Their-Stories/

https://mis-steps.com/

https://www.instagram.com/mis.steps/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mis-steps/albums

Inspiration from external reference

After contacting Laura and analyzing her project, Ms. Steps, I found interesting to explore another possible outcome of her analog approach. For that, I have picked a documenting project named "The Whale Hunt". The author is Jonathan Harris, an artist, and computer scientist. In this project, Harris attempts to describe his journey chronologically from the starts to the end, NYC to Alaska. The idea is to observe a whale hunting action by Native Inupiat Eskimos. The ultimate goal of this project is to be an "experiment in human storytelling," which I found fascinating because of the simplicity of the document process and the potential result that anyone can extract from it. 

Link: http://thewhalehunt.org/whalehunt.html

The reason because this project is important either for Ms. Steps project or any interest in the Pittsburgh Steps is the ability to deploy a clear story and leave many open channels of interpretations and interrogations that people can engage and intervene.

Possible further proposal

Giving that Ms. Steps project has a solid set of goals, objectives, and a system of work, I found that an innovative input to the project could arise from a new specif documenting and storytelling process like in The Whale Hunt project.

From the municipality side there is a predisposition to highlight and improve the conditions of the steps, and from the perspective of the project mentioned above, there is a desire to experience new ways of documenting and appreciating the steps. A potential addition to both could improve the way in which the user manipulates the information and could lead to further exploration of ideas about these infrastructural elements.

The way the proposal is shown is on a timeline. This would contain not just Ms. Steps approach, but information gathered from other sources. The potential of the interface is that once interactive, anyone can play and see more in-depth each section while still having an overall idea of the general project. I worked in this section with data extracted from the official municipality, the WPRDC, Ms. Steps data (which was data mined with professor Byrne and Ms. Luwoski permission) and personally visiting some steps in the morning of Saturday, Dec. 16.2017.

Recommendations and conclusions

This first exploration has given me the material to start thinking about the potential of data visualization and experiential documentation, plus the advantages of photography, experiential data, and storytelling.

The City of Pittsburgh efforts to improve the Pittsburgh Steps by surveys and sharing the data is a great first discover. Nevertheless, the implantation of new ways to engage with the communities could result in more active and enjoyable result. Therefore, the municipality can engage with artist like Ms. Luwoski who has a deeper distinct understanding of the steps. I see several viable flows of collaboration or engaging in a partnership between public and private actors. 

The use of new technologies and experimenting with new ways to engage could be deeply positive as well. As seen from my research, the city is asking the people to fill out surveys or acts after 311 complaints. The result of future development in this issues could be different if the city develops other ways to obtain information or explore the city steps, this could be workshops or activities in the physical space. Thus, as seen in Ms. Steps project, an analog method is straightforward and clear. 

Inspiring by the "Whale Hunt Project" has given me the idea to use Ms. Steps project and turns the data into an interactive, user-friendly online platform. This new approach can be positive for the author since her ideas can be disseminated broadly and potentially convert a private project with the new use of data into a new way citizens can react and engage with the physical infrastructure of the city. 

As an urban designer, I have several recommendations that I can extract from this experience. Pittsburgh Steps were part of an intense. Which neighborhoods are being connected? What was its primary pedestrian network that serves the city for many years; it is worthwhile to explore ways to revive and re-discover the original purpose of the steps. Extra questions also remain possible like; Which neighborhoods are the steps being connected? What was the primary purpose in the past for these steps? Is it possible a new interpretation of the distinctive character of the steps? Are communities willing to revive their steps for a certain purpose or necessity? Is it necessary that new interventions have links with the history of the steps?

These are open questions to keep thinking in the way we act over the unique infrastructure in the city and to recognize the potential to transform the urban realm by engaging with public and private actors.