Pittsburgh's endless steps.
Pittsburgh is notorious for having convoluted geography, with rivers winding through the city, hills crinkling the city landscape, and the many, many constructed water and land bridges that allow easy transportation across the ravines and hills that split the landscape at every turn. But less commonly known, is that Pittsburgh has over one thousand two hundred sets of steps! Since the nineteenth century, residents have navigated the landscape of hills and valleys with these steps. This book tells a story about how the steps and the little oddities in urban landscapes reflect the past and present of Pittsburgh and get residents excited about the steps and consequently, the city.
A pocketbook that serves as a guide to Pittsburgh's steps.
The book discusses Pittsburgh's unique geographic and historic context that led to so many steps being built, while highlighting the oddities of sixteen different city steps.
Each page follows the same system that provides an objective overview about each step, such as height, build date, and rise, while calling out interesting history, traits, or geographic features. In addition, a subjective ranking system is overlaid on top of the base system to point out small oddities and bring light to the conditions of the steps.
Sectioned in between the steps are explainers for historic events like urban renewal that impacted neighborhoods.
Contrasts between past and present ground facts in clear imagery.
Maps & data visualizations combined with images maintain the book's system while grounding historical information in real life.
