Many times readers have asked “where are all the people” in some of my city center photographs so I thought I would explain that Phoenix is a city synonymous with the term “urban sprawl”. Phoenix is actually larger than Los Angeles in land size even though it is a little over a quarter the size in population. That means that everything is spread out making transportation by vehicle a necessity.You have no idea how much I envy my fellow photo bloggers who reside in cities where walking is the norm. As a photographer, there is so much more to see and photograph when your commute provides you the opportunity to walk at least part of the way. That isn’t to say that I don’t see interesting things every day. I do. The problem is that when you are driving a car in very heavy traffic, you just can’t stop whenever you want to take a photo or two.
For the new few days, I’m going to take you along on my morning drive to work. You won’t exactly be sitting in the seat next to me staring out the windshield at the unavoidable sea of taillights ahead of us. Instead, you will see some of the things I see when I am able to glance from right to left. In order to accomplish this, I have been setting out on weekends to retrace my daily work route and stopping at the various places of interest that I notice along the way.
Today’s photo was taken at the intersection with Central Ave. where the light rail runs. It was Sunday morning which explains why there are so few cars. Usually when I wait at this intersection, there are cars in all lanes in every direction. You might recognize the Phoenix Financial Center Building that I have featured in photos before.
9 comments:
Usually cities are so crowded, it's good to see a place with lots of space.
If you had taken a picture out your right window at this spot, you would have a photo that would have illustrated perfectly how Phoenix has been designed and built for driving and not for pedestrians.
On this major intersection is a 25 story office building without a sidewalk or door that faces the intersection! The entrance to the building is on the back side of the building that faces -- the parking garage!
The architects obviously never contemplated that anyone would actually walk into the building from the intersection on Central Avenue, Phoenix's main north-south street.
(This is a pet peeve of mine, as I have an office in that building.)
very interesting perspective Sharon. This will be interesting. Also, yes I would love to go with you to the sand dunes you described on my site. I have not seen or heard of the ones you mentioned.
I can see that it must be Sunday morning in this photo. That is my favorite time to be on the streets of Phoenix, when everyone else is still at home, asleep. This will be fun to come along on your way to work.
This is interesting. I wonder as we human become more aware of what we're doing to our planet (and ultimately to the physical and mental health of its citizens) if city planners will rethink what they're doing. Isn't it a bit crazy to build a city for vehicles instead of for people?
I'm not just picking on Phoenix. ;-) Toronto has different but similar issues in which vehicles come first, people second.
Wow! This is a really sleek city. So modern. And I like the palm trees in some of the other photos.
You've combined the road, the sky and the structure into a beautiful composition. Looks like a nice, neat and clean place!
- Pixellicious Photos
From what you have shown I think Phoenix is much, much nicer than Houston, but when I was there I couldn't believe how spread the city was! You simply need a car to do the most basic daily life thing. It's just a different city concept but for me that was really weird...
Nice and modern trams
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