Piazza della Stazione Quattro Venti

My neighborhood has recome enriched in recent years by the opening of a new train station, Stazione Quattro Venti.  It's not especially useful for transportation, the trains which pass every 20 minutes going not to the center but to other outlying areas already served by buses. And the building is downright hideous, a thoughtless 80s box of scaleless bricks and tinted glass, lacking any relation the neighborhood, its function as a node, or its natural environment.  

What it does offer, though, is a paved public space with no cars.  Testament to the importance of such spaces in a city is the popularity, especially with young kids on skateboards, bikes, and roller skates. A necessary sloped walkway and a few other steps and ramps provide enough interest, and a continuous concrete bench provides a place for elders to sit.  My 6-year-old son provides me ample time to observe the place and how it is used at different times of day and seasons.  Every age group is present, not to mention dogs, cats and a rabbit, but the youngest humans  seem to take precedence. Most users seem to come on foot of bicycle from the neighborhood.  There is minimal traffic coming and going to and from the station every twenty minutes but these users rarely linger.  

There is no commerce at the station; a newsstand and gas station across the busy street are the closest places to spend money.  You also have to cross the street to the nearest water fountain. What limited vegetation there is is on the edge where existing large trees survive and on an artificial hill covered with barely surviving grass and shrubs. 

All told, the place is sad but effective. A little more effort in the design phase, including the participation of the community, could have produced superior results for the same cost and probably sooner.  A more beautiful, more sustainably-built station.  Shady zones with different options for seating.  A water fountain. Simpler lighting (what is there now seems aimed at allowing huge nighttime soccer games when more discrete path lighting would have sufficed and saved energy).  Finally, some sort of barrier to the street to keep balls and children from mixing with the high speed traffic, and to keep cars and scooters from entering the square which does happen occasionally.   Today a number of cars were parked in the pedestrian zone of the square, encroaching on the play area, but the police ticketed them immediately when called. Clearly eyes are fixed on this square, aimed at making it a success for the neighborhood.