The Beauty and the B-East

This post has been thought for a while, but couldn't easily make up my mind on all my ideas. It was supposed to be only on East Liberty Pittsburgh, and about "complexity". Finally, I solved this "complicate" knot of thoughts I had in my mind, and in my camera. 

I have always been fascinated by complexity (see also the post on Downtown PGH). To me, complexity has a neutral value: it is nor positive or negative. Without entering the etymology/semiotic of the term (which I love to do), I will just point out a quick distinction between complex and complicate:

• Something is complex when it is really difficult to understand and challenging to forecast in the outcomes. Life is complex, love is complex, and so on. Something is complex because it is a system of variables.

• Something is complicated when it is tricky, but solvable. Usually, complicated issues are anyway following rules, or you can guess the solution by applying a theory, which can be difficult. Something is complicated by external factors, that you can somehow track.

Pittsburgh is complex, in my opinion, because it is a system of complicated neighborhoods. Each neighborhood has its own rules, laws and "tricks" that make possible to live in. Some neighborhoods are more successful than others, but people are living everywhere anyway in Pittsburgh, and are very attached to their neighborhoods.

This week I went to East Liberty, seeking for something complicate -which I found. The point that blocked my posting was that I was focusing too much only on East Liberty (that could be enough effort, for sure) without keeping the whole city in mind. I was looking too close.

map from http://www.pittsburghcityliving.com/

I took some photos there, but couldn't get yet the rules of such a complicate place. I still need to understand the rules there, and find a way to understand its role in relation to Pittsburgh.
Nevertheless, I had the impression that East Liberty is really in a transition; some neighborhoods are "positively complicated", with variety of functions, and perceived as more desirable than others. Others, are still "negatively complicated", with still too many rules determined by hate, fear, desperation.

For what I can see, even some "negatively complicated" neighborhoods, in Pittsburgh, have been recently increased the number of facilitators.
Facilitators are helping the neighborhoods in shifting from being "negatively complicated" to be "positively complicated" (because variety and diversity are always at the base of any healthy economy and masterplan). They are people that decide to invest on areas that are not quite ready but that desperately need someone doing the first step there. People that go to live in buildings that they will fix little by little, according to money and time, making them unique and characteristic. People that, just by putting out a bench, or some tables, create a little spot to rest and have a chat even in a not welcoming place.

I keep seeing more facilitators in East Liberty, even if this positive increment is daily challenged by very delicate economical (and political) factors. I would like to capture that positive behavior that could save East Liberty, as saved other areas in Pittsburgh during the past decades.

I couldn't take all the photos I wanted, but enough to start setting down, if not the rules of the game, at least the table. I will keep exploring this area. It has a special character and beauty that deserve to be preserved, despite the "beasts" that could make this path more difficult.

When I see projects like the East Liberty pedestrian bridge, I do believe there is a possibility also for the other parts of East Liberty, even those further from Shadyside (which are the most complex).

First attempt, then.