Simple perfection in the new South
Comment une petite ville sudiste trouve un bel équilibre entre urbanité et humanité.
Unless my math is wrong (never to be discounted from the realm of possibilities) this month will be my 17th visit in less than three years to Huntsville, Alabama. If you knew this town like I do, you wouldn’t be wondering why.
The first time, in November 2021, I stayed at a lovely downtown hotel and explored from there. Most of the times after that I stayed in homes or condos in various neighbourhoods. I also experienced life at the airport Garden Inn (decidedly airport-y) and another chain hotel in the suburb of Madison because the kid I’d dragged down with me on that occasion had set their sight on that particular indoor pool.
I’ve writen elsewhere about all the reasons why this little southern town is so exciting and interesting to me. It’s the largest city in Alabama but it’s not especially big, at fewer than 225,000 people. When you’re downtown you feel like you’re in a vibrant city centre — one that is particularly friendly to humans.
While Huntsville has a transit system (and bike share program!) that would make Ottawa’s proletarian charriot network blush, most people use private cars. Because of its smart design, everyone in Huntsville manages to share the space pretty well. I alway laugh when locals worry about traffic. Everything is so easy to get to regardless of how you’re getting there.
The reason things work so well is the people who built this city over the decades kept things simple. Nobody had delusions of grandeur at any point; the park around where the big natural spring is located is called Big Spring Park. The area around the hospital is known as Medical District. The square around the courthouse, which serves as city centre? Courthouse Square. Can you guess what’s in Old Town Historic District?
This simplicity, coupled with choosing design elements that aren’t flashy but easy to use or navigate, is one of the things that make this city so pleasant to be in. You can call this unimaginative if you like, but in my book it beats pretentiousness flat.
Huntsville wasn’t always like this. Before the Second World War it wasn’t that much of anything. After that war, with Wernher von Braun being brought in to help with the space program, the race to the moon brought a bunch of very smart people to this southern town and if there’s one thing smart people are good at it’s making smart decisions. The city grew from less than 17,000 in 1950 and it has grown very well indeed.
You can see the influence of engineers everywhere, including dozens of microbreweries. It’s a lesson for other cities that tend to not try at all for the longest time then to try too hard without thinking things through or is that just Ottawa? I’m thinking in particular of Elgin Street — a very expensive construction mess for years for results that are frankly underwhelming. It’s still a car sewer, with marginally wider sidewalks.
Huntsville’s downtown street design is simple, with lovely clean non-cracked sidewalks and places that feel safe for people to sit, wander, play, chat, relax, work and do whatever they need to do. I especially love the big swings and games for kids of all ages. There is shade and flowers and benches and did I mention the bike share?
For now I’m going to let the pictures speak for themselves. There are more in the French version below.
C’est drôle quand même que pour une ville de chars comme Huntsville en Alabama, il y ait autant d’espaces réservés aux gens qui sont à pied, en vélo, en trottinette ou en chaise roulante.
Je retourne sous peu, pour la 17ème fois en moins de trois ans, dans cette ville dont je suis tombée follement amoureuse. Je ne me lasse jamais de découvrir des choses nouvelles. Et pourtant, ce n’est pas une grande ville. À peine un quart de million de personnes vivent ici. Mais des personnes tellement chouettes.
Ça fait trois ans que j’y vais, disais-je, et il y a toujours des petits détails qui me surprennent. Les gens sont accueillants et chaleureux en plus, et la bouffe est délicieuse. Et il y a plein de choses à faire, ainsi que trucs amusants sur la place publique. Comme de passer de bons moments en montrant aux enfants comment maîtriser le jeu de poches.
Les gens stationnent au centre-ville et se baladent librement (la photo juste ici dessous avec la murale, c’est le stationnement en question). Je ne me rappelle plus exactement combien ça coûte mais c’est moins de deux dollars l’heure. Le même tarif que pour stationner sur la rue. Il y a des autos partout mais c’est tellement bien aménagé que sauf durant les heures de pointe lorsqu’il y a plus de volume et quelques ralentissements ici et là, c’est très plaisant et pas du tout menaçant de flâner sur les trottoirs.
La population de Huntsville est passée de 17 000 en 1950 à plus de 72 000 en 1960. Et contrairement à bien d’autres centres urbains à la même époque, la ville ne s’est pas auto-peluredebananisée pour autant. On n’a pas rasé des quartiers pour faire place à des autoroutes et encore moins des centres d’achat. On a pris des décisions intelligentes au fil des ans, en ayant à coeur de préserver le caractère propret d’une petite ville fière qui se connaît et s’apprécie. C’est vraiment quelque chose à voir.