When I moved to San Antonio several years ago, I did some research to find what were the best places to live. It wasn’t easy. San Antonio was a typical American city with an aging city center and expansive suburban sprawl that surrounded it. The city center was run-down and dangerous; the suburbs were endless highways and parking lots as far as the eye could see. In short, San Antonio did a terrible job making spaces great.
Then I stumbled upon something that changed my perspective completely.
It was a website for The Pearl, a new development that was taking a brewery manufacturing plant and turning it into a live-work-play development right on the historic Riverwalk. I remember thinking, this was it—this is what was missing from the seventh largest city in America. This is what it takes to make a space great.
At the time, there were only three restaurants and they had just opened a bar. There was office space, and no residential yet. Seven years later, it is blooming with the best restaurants, hotels, and living spaces in the city, and, I dare say, even the country.
What makes the Pearl such an amazing space is a study in Urban Planning and Design. We can say it’s so great because of the awesome restaurants and bars, the phenomenal location on the Riverwalk, or the superb restoration architecture, but what really makes the Pearl shine is its design.
The norm these days is to build everything based on the car—buildings right on the highway and ample parking everywhere. Just take a look at your typical big-box store for an example. What that does is it spreads everything out, and makes the space not only bland, but cumbersome and inorganic.
The Pearl defied all of that. It’s not that they shun the automobile (there’s plenty of parking and streets throughout the area), but they designed the space with the pedestrian, the individuals and families that visit, in mind.
To make it such an amazing place, Pearl developers used three main themes from the burgeoning discipline of New Urbanism: Walkability, Mixed-uses, and Connectedness. First and foremost, everything is walkable. From the Riverwalk to the residences on Broadway Street, everything can be reached with a short walk. This makes it ultra accessible and encourages foot traffic over automobile traffic.
Second, you can do a variety of things at the Pearl—it’s live-work-play at its finest. In fact, one might even argue that those who live at the Pearl could possibly stay there all year with no real need to drive elsewhere. This gives it a superior neighborly feel and means that there is always something going on at all times.
Finally, everything is connected. Being right on the Riverwalk connects the Pearl to downtown and even to the Missions some 10 miles south. Within the complex, restaurants and shops are joined by pathways and patios, and nothing is blocked of. What this does is it creates an ‘active permeable membrane’, which is urban planning speak for lively, appealing surroundings.
Altogether, this neighborhood provides exactly what a new development should, and is ultimately one of the great places in America. When you’re in San Antonio, be sure to stop by and say ‘Hi’. I’ll likely be sitting in the park, enjoying a nice cider in the shade.