Barre Pizza in Context
The town of Barre, Massachusetts, where Barre Pizza is located, does not meet Clarence Perry’s ideal neighborhood-unit principles. Perry establishes that the size of a neighborhood should be enough to support one elementary school. The town of Barre has one elementary school, which would make the entire town of Barre a neighborhood by Perry’s standards. The town is too loosely connected for it to be one neighborhood. A better definition of a neighborhood in Barre would be a circle centered around a person’s house with the radius being the distance a person could walk in twenty minutes, or about a mile. In this definition the idea of neighborhood would vary from person to person. Additionally, the arterial streets of Barre do not bound it like Perry suggests, instead the arterial streets run through the heart of the town. Moreover, the local shops in the town are not sufficient to support the population. Many people drive out of town to get groceries—there are only a handful of convenience stores and one small low-quality grocery store in town. However, the institution sites are centered in a common area—around the town common—as in Perry’s model. Lastly, Perry notes the importance of ample park and recreational space for a neighborhood. This is one area where Barre excels. The town has a large town common, miles of hiking trails, and many public athletic fields.
Perry’s neighborhood-unit model is an ill fit for the structure of Barre. This is mainly because Barre is a rural area and Perry’s model was meant for urban spaces. Urban spaces and rural spaces function differently. Barre has a low population density, making it hard to define neighborhoods. For example, I live out of sight of my neighbors making it hard to feel unified. Additionally, the arterial streets run through the center of town instead of bounding it because the town center is created by the traffic flow the streets supply. Without the large arterial streets, the businesses in the center would struggle to make profits. Lastly, the town does not have sufficient local shops to support the population because conversely, the population is not big enough to support large box stores. The population is stuck in a limbo between too big and too small.
Moving to a closer view, Barre Pizza is located on the edge of a node. This node is aptly referred to by people in town as “uptown” because it is located on top of a hill. The town common helps to form this node by creating a space for community activities such as, farmers’ markets, protests, and community band concerts. This node is also formed by the junction of three paths: route 122, route 62, and roue 32. Many people go through this junction on their commute to work or school. A ring of buildings facing the town common fence the node in and give it definition. This first layer of buildings around the common is made up of mainly public buildings, whereas the second layer of buildings transitions to mainly residential. The switch from commercial to residential defines the edge of this node. These building also give the node purpose. People in the town go “uptown” to get gas, to go to a restaurant, to go to church, to go to a meeting at the town hall, and more. The uptown node is part of a district defined by the town as the town center. Unlike the surrounding area this district has closely spaced residential homes and businesses. Lastly, landmarks such as the two churches on opposite sides of the common and the gas station help to orient the node, especially when giving directions. The idea of nodes, districts, paths, edges, and landmarks come from Kevin Lynch’s “The City Image and its Elements.”
Moving in even closer, there is the building of Barre Pizza and the buildings immediately surrounding it. This area combines necessary, optional, and social activities. Barre Pizza can fit all three of these activities depending on how the customer is treating it. There are those who get pizza out of convenience, as a treat, or to feed their families on a busy schedule. The convenience store and gas station to either side of Barre Pizza are often destinations of necessity for people in the community. The common area also creates a space for optional and social activities to occur such as parades and concerts. The mixture of types of activities, as Jan Gehl views as vital, helps to create social interaction and social unity around Barre Pizza.
View of the uptown node
View of the uptown node with annotations
Zoomed out view of the town center. This whole area is designated as the town center by the zoning board.
Zoning map of the town. The red star in the middle represents Barre Pizza.
Lastly, the entire town of Barre, Massachusetts.
Work Cited
Gehl, Jan. “‘Three Types of Outdoor Activities,’ ‘Life Between Buildings,’ and ‘Outdoor Activities and the Quality of Outdoor Space.’” The City Reader, 2020, pp. 593–602., doi:10.4324/9780429261732-69.
Lynch, Kevin. “‘The City Image and Its Elements.’” The City Reader, 2020, pp. 570–580., doi:10.4324/9780429261732-67.
Perry, Clarence. “‘The Neighborhood Unit.’” The City Reader, 2020, pp. 557–569., doi:10.4324/9780429261732-66.
“Town of Barre Zoning Map.” Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission, 2009.