A Lesson on How To Do Urban Renewal The Right Way

docomomo-us.org/news/hyde_park_a_b_urban_renewal-project

Map of Hyde park
Chicago, Illinois
hydepark.org

Hello Everyone:

I checked the page view count today and I see we're moving steadily to our goal of 10, 000 page views by April 1st.  Keep up the great job, I know we can do this.

Today's article is about an urban renewal project in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois.  Lisa Napoles recently wrote a fascinating article for the DoCoMoMo-U.S. newsletter about efforts to redevelop Hyde Park A and B by I.M. Pei and Harry Weese and Associates.  While some urban renewal projects by mid-century architects failed in their mission, the redevelopment of Hyde Park A and B was one of the successes.  Ms. Napoles writes that the main reason why it was a success because it was able to integrate itself into the neighborhood by responding to the surrounding historic context.  The lesson being, context is a key element in design.

Harry Weese (1915-1998)
52week.rickyberkey.org

Before launching into an interesting discussion of the urban renewal project of Hyde Park A and B, Lisa Napoles provides a brief biographical outline of Harry Weese.  Harry Mohr Weese was born in 1915 in Evanston, Illinois.  He attended the local public schools and was exposed to a great deal of art and music by his parents.  The late Mr. Weese demonstrated an early talent for drawing, earning a Boy Scout merit badge for architecture. He went on to study the subject at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  At MIT, he was inspired by Le Corbusier's applications of modernist principles to architecture, urban planning, and industrial design; as well as the work of Finnish architect Alva Aalto and George Fred Keck the designers of "The House of Tomorrow" at the 1933 Century of Progress Exposition.  Following graduation in 1938, he won a a year-long fellowship to the Cranbrook Academy where he studied with sculptor Henry Bertola, ceramicist Maija Grotell, sharing a drafting table with Ralph Rapson.  During the war, the late Mr. Weese served as naval engineer. Upon discharge, following the war, he returned to Chicago to work for Skidmore, Owings and Merrill before starting his own practice Harry Weese and Associates.  Outside the Midwest, the late Mr. Weese is best-known for designing the Washington D.C. Metro, which opened in 1976.  He retired in 1992 and passed away in 1998.

University of Chicago
Hyde Park, Chicago, Illinois
chicago.about.com

Lisa Napoles then goes on to give us a bit of a lengthy history of the Hyde Park neighborhood.  Hyde Park began its life as a railroad suburb of Chicago.  After annexation by the city in 1893, the neighborhood attracted some of the city's wealthiest residents before settling into middle-class stability.  The establishment of the University of Chicago, in 1891, profoundly affected Hyde Park and played a key role in its redevelopment in the fifties.  Beginning in the forties, poverty, overcrowding, deterioration that began in the South Side of Chicago, made its way to the neighborhood.  Hyde Park responded by forming the South East Chicago Commission. (Bruegmann and Skolnik, 2010)

The University of Chicago officially joined SECC though donations made to support operating expenses and the appointment of faculty to an advisory committee, in order to combat the creeping blight. (Architectural Record, Nov. 1960)  In 1953, SECC began a study to document the deteriorating sections of the neighborhood and create a proposal for redevelopment.  Harry Weese was hired as a consulting engineer and architect.  Through careful analysis, the late Mr. Weese mapped out the boundary surrounding the most severely dilapidated properties that could be classified as "blighted" under the Federal Housing Acts of 1948, 1949, and 1954, thus qualify for federal assistance.  (Bruegmann and Skolnik, 2010)

Based on this study, the SECC produced a report in 1954, "South East Chicago Renewal Project No.1."  This report differed from other urban renewal proposals because, whereas others promoted a tabla rasa approach, the SECC report proposed redevelopment via selective demolition, rehabilitation of distressed properties, and the retention of valuable buildings.  By excluding the most deteriorated properties and the viable buildings, Harry Weese created two irregular shaped zones: Hyde Par A, located at East 55th Street and Lake Park Avenue, and Hyde Park B, located along East 54th Street. ((Bruegmann and Skolnik, 2010)  The project received Federal funding in 1956 and demolition began.  Developers were invited to submit proposals that followed the SECC report.  The New York-based firm of Web and Knapp was chosen as the project developer and the plan was drawn up by their chief architect I.M. Pei with one significant change, the creation of an island in the middle of 55th Street for the placement of two ten-story apartments.  Both architects collaborated throughout the duration of the project.  The project documents attribute the ten-story University Apartments to I.M. Pei as well as the two-story units adjacent to the north of 55th Street.  Harry Weese is credited with the first of the two-story townhouses in Hyde Park B, the courtyard townhouse complex in Hyde Park A, and the shopping center.  Both Harry Weese and I.M. Pei designed the three-story townhouses.

House in Hyde Park
Chicago, Illinois
findingdulcinea.com

The development of the Hyde Park A and B Renewal Project uses features common to similar projects that tried to stem suburban flight by creating an environment for residents through: lower density, greater light and space, private parking, convenient shopping and an overall sense of safety.  Harry Weese drew on English Georgian architecture, as a point of inspiration, for his townhouses as his residential type for its economy of space with occupant's privacy.  In another acknowledgement of English design, both architects incorporated a shared courtyard, whenever possible.

The first completed residences were a row of fifteen townhouses designed by the late Mr. Weese on East 54th Street in Hyde Park B.  The designs featured an open floor plan on the first level, a modern kitchen, two-, three-, and four-bedrooms on the second floor.  Thirty-four townhouses using three different floor plans were completed in August 1962 in Hyde Park A between South Blackstone and Dorchester Avenues and East 54th Place and Rochdale Place.  Each unit has a small front and back garden and the rows of townhouses form square around a central courtyard.  The jointly designed two- and three-story townhouses were built in Hyde Park A with two two-story plans and two three-story plans.  Having never designed townhouses before the Hyde Park redevelopment, I.M. Pei incorporated variations of the Weese-designed townhouse design in subsequent urban renewal projects in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Jackson Tower
Hyde Park, Chicago, Illinois
chicagoarchitecture.info

All the townhouses were built with buff-colored brick, limestone trim, and iron balconies.  Each row of townhouses is a single design type, identical in composition.  The overall effect is an ensemble of buildings that present a refined, cohesive Modernist design, built with contextual Midwestern materials. In the apartment towers, I.M. Pei's office developed a load-bering concrete exterior wall system that creates a sculptural effect when magnified by the proportions of the towers.  The Weese-designed shopping center featured a free-stranding thin-shell concrete arcade roof and central courtyard with fountains and benches for residents to spend time with other.

While mid-century residential architecture is often connected with suburban developments that were expressions of post-war optimism, urban renewal, by contrast, was associated with race and class displacement and the wholesale demolition of historic resources.  As one of the first federally funded urban renewal projects, as well as Chicago's first neighborhood redevelopments, Hyde Park A and B drew national and global critique.  In her seminal book The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jane Jacobs stated, "The plan designates and removes these large chunks of blight and replaces with chunks of...Garden City designed, as usual to minimize use of the street." (Jacobs, 1992)  James Marston Fitch commented, "The row hoses at Hyde Park are organized into patterns as formal as eighteenth century..." (Fitch, 1983)  Not everyone was critical of the Hyde Park A and B redevelopment.  Architectural historian Carl Condit called it, "the largest, most thoroughly organized, and most effectively controlled at the local level among similar projects in the United States." (Condit, 1974).

In his landmark book Defensible Space, Oscar Newman described the project,

The [townhouse] units are disposed on their site in a manner similar to the patterns of an older neighboring single-family residence development.  They have been provided with a formal entry area, immediately off the sidewalk, defined by low walls, a paved wall, a set of stairs which leads a half-flight up to the ground-floor level.  These devices serve to designate very clearly the ten feet in the...the dwelling, and to put this area under the zone of influence of its occupants.  Activities on the street are easily monitored from the dwelling unites and from passing vehicles. (Newman, 1973)

Hyde Park
Chicago, Illinois
destinations360.com

Lisa Napoles sums up the article in the following manner: Hyde Park A and B retains excellent physical integrity because of its simplicity of design and continuous economic stability of the buildings, and the maintenance of their overall character at the time of construction.  The plan remains totally intact with no original buildings having been demolished.  However, the Hyde Park Shopping Center underwent extensive exterior alterations in the nineties, rendering it completely unrecognizable.  In planning Hyde Park A and B, Harry Weese tried to integrate the redevelopment into the historic neighborhood.  He accomplished this task via a combined strategy of selective demolition, rehabilitation of distressed buildings, and retention of still useable structures.  In doing so, Hyde Park A and B minimized the loss of its historic fabric and the displacement of residents, a common feature in mid-century urban renewal projects.  It stands in stark contrast with other Chicago-area redevelopments such as Lake Meadows and Prairie Shores, which drew residents into anonymous high-rises set apart from the street by vast lawns.  Hyde Park also stands apart from Sandberg Village and Dearborn Park, which lacks Hyde Park's refined Modernist aesthetic and hides behind brick wall, confirming the worst fears of the period.

Harry Weese's use of brick, limestone, and iron in the two- and three-story homes reflect the building typologies of the community.  This contextualist strategy-Modernist in theory-was central to the late Mr. Weese's design philosophy, which put him at odds with supporters of the [Ludwig Mies Van de Rohe] Miesian approach:

Escapists would have look at architecture as an isolated work cropped from contrast.  Their individual set-pieces are...but when raised to full scale not the stuff from which permanent environment is made. (Weese, 1979)

Hyde Park A and B is the exception among the urban renewal projects because of its pioneering revival of the townhouse, targeted demolition in blighted areas, integration into the historic fabric of the community, and fostering a sense of community without isolating the residents.

Urban life must be maintained, improved, and made attractive again.  But this cannot happen if each generation knocks everything downs and starts over.  Nor can we run away from one mess to create another in a synthetic new town.  We can build the metropolitan area only by...into a large, idealized concept the efforts of many-all devoted to preserving, reworking, renewing, and adding for each generation the...can offer a living continuity on the chosen ground.  This requires a philosophy, a plan, a discipline.  (Weese, 1958)

Like me on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/lenorelowen

Follow me on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/glamavon and on Pinterest http://www.pinterest.com/glamtroy

Linkedin http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dir/Lenore/Lowen

Google+ and Instagram

Old Places and Identity

blog.preservationleadershipforum.org/2014/01/08/old-places-matter-identity-1/#.UtQ7wGRDs_7

The Roman Forum
Rome, Italy
jsis.washington.edu

Hello Everyone:

In a post last week about re-considering overused urbanist terms ("Rethinking Overused Urbanist Term" 1/7/14), one of the words that made the list was "place making."  We talked briefly about what the word means and how it got overused.  Today, I'd like to take a different approach to the phrase "place making," by looking at blog post from Tom Mayes.  Based in Rome, Mr. Mayes is a 2013 Rome Prize winner in Historic Preservation from the American Academy.  Mr. Mayes has been contributing blog posts about his research and experience to the Preservation Leadership Forum.  In a post titled "Why Do Old Places Matter?  Individual Identity,"  Tom Mayes, uses the Eternal City as a forum to work out the answers to the question, "Why should anyone care about old places?"  This post focuses on the role of old places and identity.

Ramah Presbyterian Church and Cemetery
Huntsville, North Carolina
cmstory.org

The question of why do we bother with old places is something that Historic Preservationists professionals and fans tackle with all the time.  The phrases: "Old places are who we are;" "They give us a sense of self;"  "They tell who we are as a people." are frequently heard when we talk about why old places are important.  Mr. Mayes spoke with Sofia Bosco the Rome director of Fondo Ambiente Italiano, an Italian preservation organization, who told him, "These places are testimonials of who we are.  They represent the identity of every on of us."  No truer words.  The old places, be it our homes, houses of worship, neighborhoods, schools, main streets, and courthouse squares, are all part of what makes up our identity and who we are as a culture.

Cicero (died c. December 7,  43 BCE)
en.wikipedia.org

The vital connection between identity and old places.  The philosopher Cicero  documented the "indescribable feeling insensibly pervading my soul and sense"(Yonge, 1853) on returning to the place of his birth and where his father and grandfather lived. More recently, architect and preservationist James Marston Fitch wrote, "[preservation] affords the opportunity for the citizens to regain a sense of identity with their origins of which they have often been robbed by the sheer urbanization. (Fitch, 1982).  Like the ancient philosopher, we all have a place, such as our childhood home, that gives a sense of identity.  However, do those old places "tell us who we are?" Tom Mayes asks the question, "What exactly s the relationship between old places and identity?"  In earlier posts (which you can find on http://www.preservationnation.org), Mr. Mayes discussed how old places are critical for people to maintain a sense of continuity and memory.  Identity is closely ties to both continuity and memory, they are part of a whole.  What about individual identity?

For over thirty years, psychologists, sociologists, philosophers, and architectural theorists from across the globe have studied the connection between place and identity.  Through their studies, they developed a myriad of definitions and processes for looking at the phenomena of "place attachment" and "place identity-"how a person's identity is attached to a place.  Despite the lack of consensus about either definition or process, most of the studies seem to accept the idea that "the use of the physical environment as a strategy for the maintenance of self" is an integral part of identity, and "place is inextricably linked with the development and maintenance of continuity of self." (Twigger-Ross, 1996)  Exactly how places inform out identities and the way we create identity out of place is a complex and multi-layered method, made even more complicated by the lack of agreement about how this is supposed to work.  Turkish architect Humeyra Birol Akkurt provides a useful summary of the multiple scholarly definitions of how identity is tied to a place:

1) "...a set of links that allows and guarantees the distinctiveness and continuity of place in time,"
2) "the bond between people and their environment, based on emotion and cognition,"
3) "...symbolic form that link people and land: links through history or family lineage, links due to loss or destruction of land, economic links such as ownership, inheritance or politics, universal links through religion, myth and spirituality, links through religion and festive cultural events, and finally narrative links through storytelling or place naming..."

Other writers have commented on a sense of pride by association and a sense of self-esteem.  Humeyra Birol Akkurt posited that one scholar theorizes for a given place but there as many different place identities as there place using that place. (Akkurt)

Norwegian architect Ashild Lappegard Hauge sums up a key finding as, "[a]spects of identity derived from places we belong to arise because places have symbols that meaning and significance to use.  Places represent personal memories and...social memories 9shared histories)."  Mr. Hauge concludes, "Places are not only contexts or backdrops, but also an integral part of identity." (Hauge, 2007)  People intuitively recognize how older places represent meaning, significance, and memories.  Yi-Fu Tuan, an influential geographer and pioneer in the study of people's relationship to place wrote, "What can the past mean to us?  People look back for various reasons, but shared by all is the need for tangible objects that can support a sense of identity..." (Tuan, 1977)  However, there is larger idea at work.

Villa Aurelia at the American Academy
Rome, Italy
artsbeat.blog.nytimes.com

According to Tom Mayes, it isn't as if individuals simply decides what there place identity will be.  Some theorists suggest that the relationship between place and identity is inseparable.  Think about that for a minute.  In summarizing the findings of Edward Relph, a geographer who pioneered theories of place, a writer stated, "...the essence of places lies in its largely unselfconscious intentionality, which defines places as profound centres of human existance." (Akkurt, summarizing Relph)  David Seamon restates, Edward Relph's idea, place is "not a bit of space or another word for landscape or ennvironment, it is not a figment of individual experience, not a social construct...It is, instead, the foundation of being both human and nonhuman; experiences, actions, and life itself begin and end with place. ((Seamon, based on Bennet the Role of Place Identity in the Perception, Understanding, and Design of Built Environment). In short, place-identity is not a random act, it is a deliberate conscious choice made by individuals that have lasting effect.

Tom Mayes argues that place identity is a dynamic thing.  It changes over time.  Using himself as an example, Mr Mayes describes growing up on a farm in North Carolina.  His identity is closely tied to that place with its frame farmhouse where he was raised, the cedar trees that lined the fences, and the very quality of the light on the grass in the cow pastures.  However, Mr. Mayes writes that his identity is not only tied to that one place.  His identity is connected to the places where he's lived, worked, visited-his university at Chapel Hill, Washington D.C. where he lived and worked for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, to a fifties era fishing cabin in West Virginia.  Mr. Mayes looks hopefully to the future when his identity will be defined, enhanced, expanded, or clarified by his time in Rome or any other places he will come to know.  Although our identity with a place is fluid and can be re-created in different places, the locations that form our identity are the "tangible objects" that support our identity.  If our old places continue to exist, they will serve as reference points for measuring, refreshing, and recalibrating who we are overtime-landmarks of our identity, if you will.

Eastland Mall (demolished)
Charlotte, North Carolina
naplesnews.com

 Again, using himself as an example, Mr. Mayes writes that places which support our identity needn't that old.  He cites the Eastland Mall, opened in 1975, in east Charlotte, North Carolina, a place that was part of his adolescence, demolished this past autumn.  Mr. Mayes writes that thanks to the efforts of community groups such as E.A.S.T and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Preservation Foundation, and the City of Charlotte,  "Rising Sun" logo is being preserved as public art.  The preservation of the sign serves as a memory of a place that once "embodied the spirit of the city." (Gray, 2013)  Mr.  Mayes was glad that the sign was saved but wishes that more of the place remained.  In documentation by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Preservation Society, preservationists wrote that the vacant building evoked beauty that made Mr. Mayes think that his hometown might have been a richer place in the future if they figured out how to reinvent the now demolished mall in way that saved the "tangible object" of his youth.  Would saving the old places make us a more sustainable,stable and humane world?  Maybe.

When buildings become threatened or destroyed, a part of our identity is threatened or destroyed as well.  I'm thinking right now about the destruction wrought by the Syrian civil war.  The places in Damascus and Aleppo are intimately connected with the generations of people and their identities. Dare I say, with the identity of Western and Eastern culture.  Each time a bullet pierces a building or a bomb destroys another house, another part of that identity is erased for good.  One does not have to be in a combat zone to experience such a loss.  Each day, a part of our place identity is lost in some fashion. Sometimes, it can be reconfigured elsewhere but home is always where the heart is.

Like me on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/lenorelowen

Follow me on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/glamavon and on Pinterest http://www.pinterest.com/glamtroy

Linkedin http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dir/Lenore/Lowen

Google+ and Instagram

JOHN TAYLOR YEAR-END MIXTAPE 2013 by Manimal Vinyl

JOHN TAYLOR YEAR-END MIXTAPE 2013 by Manimal VinylHello Everyone, In case you missed this absolutely fabulous mix-tape, here it is again for your weekend enjoyment.

Why Do Old Places Matter? Individual Identity - The Blog for Preservation Leadership Forum

Why Do Old Places Matter? Individual Identity - The Blog for Preservation Leadership Forum Read why old places do matter to us.

Urban New Year's Resolutions

http://architizer.com/blogtrends-of-2014/

Hello Everyone:

I noticed today that we're well on our way to 10,000 page views.  That's insane, keep up the good I think we can make our goal of 10,000 page view by April 1.

Today, I'd like to take a look at five architecture and urban planning trend writer James Bartolucci hopes to see in the new year.  In his article for Architizer (http://www.architizer.com), "Five Architecture and Urban Planning Trends We Hope To See More Of In 2014," Mr. Bartolucci recounts some of the memorable trends of 2013 that affected the greater discourse of architecture and urban planning.  From Miami, Florida's metamorphosis into the United States' next design center, to the blossoming of super-tall high rise competing for the honor of being "the tallest building in the world," to proposals for whole cities that operate on renewable energy and sustainable building practices, 2013 may best be remembered as the  year of attention-seeking architects looking for titles over the next years.  The newborn year holds numerous challenges for architects, especially in solving the challenges of sustainability and climate, the growing income gap in our largest cities, planning for smart growth (there's that term, see post dated 1/07/14) of cities, particularly as we become a more urbanized society. Thus, looking forward to the unfolding year, here's what trends in architecture and urban planning Mr. Bartolucci and everyone Architizer hope to see more of in 2014.

Statue of Liberty in Hurricane Sandy
photograph by Nadine DeNinno
ibtimes.com

1. Adopting coastal cities to climate change through resilient design: The catastrophic devastation leveled by Hurricane Sandy throughout metropolitan New York made the architecture and urban planning professions come face-to-face with a cold reality: as global carbon levels in the atmosphere continues to aggravate the effects of climate change, coastal cities such as New York, are likely to see similar catastrophic events in the future.  James Bartolucci suggests that one crucial trend that he would like to see in the new year is more preparation of cities and citizens to adapt to this impending threats.  As New York began to rebuild, the President's Hurricane Sandy

Urban Catalyst
OMA
rebuildbydesign.org

Rebuilding Task force unveiled Rebuild by Design, a programs that called for architects and planners to submit proposals to make New York more resilient against rising sea level and disastrous storms.

One of the proposals was the OMA's "Urban Catalyst," a project that calls for a hard wall to be built along the terminals of JFK to prevent choking flights during a storm and give Queens residents a safe dry urban haven.  Also worth mentioning, SCAPE/LANDSCAPE Architecture's "Living Growing Breakwaters," which proposes to reduce wave energy by 32%, clean coastal waters, and offer broader ecological education by repopulating natural oyster habitats.

3716 Springfield
Studio 804
mocoloco.com

2. Bringing off-the-grid architecture to the city: 2013 saw numerous projects that made a great strides in sustainability by going "off-the-grid."  These buildings made minimal impact on the their environment and are frequently located far from large urban centers which according to James Bartolucci, makes sense because of the need for significant space necessary for generating renewable energy.  However, while relocating outside the city seems like a natural trait for going off the grid, it can leave residents disconnected from public transportation and the vital economic resources found in urban areas.  This refers to access jobs and commodities, a person must travel miles via automobile, which grows the carbon footprint removed from the physical structure. In the down-on-its-luck neighborhood of Springfield, Kansas, Studio 804, Inc. designed the 3716 Springfield residence, an off-the-grid home that received the first LEED Platinum status in the Kansas City Metropolitan area.  The home is located just south of the downtown area-minimizing the building's impact on the environment while reducing the occupant's carbon footprint.  In bringing off-the-grid construction to larger urban areas, blighted neighborhoods in particular, it offers an opportunity to create more sustainable and connect communities.

SHoP's Proposal for 107 West 57th Street
wirednewyork.com

3. Greater public oversight for new skyscraper and development projects: PLEASE.  In 2013, New York City saw its famed skyline transformed as a new World Trade Center (that'll show the terrorists who won) topped out in May.  Nevertheless, 2013 will also be remembered for a trend that James Bartolucci hopes to see less of, or at least with greater public oversight, the dreaded "edifice complex."  You know those super-tall residential skyscrapers that cater to the elite and super-rich.  I'm desperately trying to avoid making some masculine insecurity crack.  Every month saw another proposal for a high-rise residence by some well-known design firm such as SHoP's proposal for West 57th Street, the controversial One57 condominiums that shut down the surrounding neighborhood because of a malfunctioning crane, and Rafael Viñoly's 4432 Park Avenue already underway.  These

One57, street level view
Christian de Portzamparc
huffingtonpost.com

opulent sky palaces offer an unparalleled view of Manhattan, echoing former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's sentiment, "If we could get every billionaire in the world to move here, that would be a godsend."

Each of these sky palaces received significant opposition from their communities.  Their presence will serve as a reminder of a place for the privileged few that can afford to live there.  With a new administration at City Hall, Mr. Bartolucci hopes to see an end to the pro-development craze that marked the Bloomberg administration and more oversight for new development that will take public payback for these obnoxious elitist expressions of wealth into consideration.  In quoting Michael Kimmelman of the New York Times, Mr. Bartolucci writes, "Exceptional height should be earned, not just bought.  Let community groups and city agencies weigh in....Developers might also give something back for the profits reaped as they leverage public assets like parks.  the could pony up for affordable housing and improved transit."  Absolutely.

Marcus Garvey Park Village
en.wikipedia.org

4. More low and mid-rise affordable housing solutions: nicely dovetailing onto more public oversight for "edifice complex" is Mr. Bartolucci's suggestion for more low and mid-rise affordable housing.  In the mid-twentieth century, affordable housing high-density public housing often translated into rather large, imposing, frankly ugly apartment block set within ample green space.  This practice is lambasted today for creating stark isolated environments that disregard the human scale.  However, in the past forty years, a new building typology has arisen  that sought to act as an alternative to this sort of riff on Le Corbusier's "towers in garden," as the need for better living conditions and space grew.  This new typology incorporated light, open space, and a closer

Monsignor Anthony J. Barretta Apartment
RKTB Architects and Urban Designers
rktb.com

connection to the ground.  This came to be known as low-rise high density, and reached its apogee in the seventies with the Marcus Garvey Park Village in Brooklyn, New York.  This past year, RKTB Architects and Urban Designers  built the Monsignor Anthony J. Barretta Apartments in the Brownsville community of Brooklyn.  James Bartolucci cites this development as a stellar example of low-rise high-density public housing.  Spread out over eight buildings, sixty-four units were built for very low-income tenants who qualified for Section 8 housing.  Each apartment was built with the intention of LEED-certification, maintain a close connection to the street and surrounding resources, and show a real effort to improve the living conditions of the often overlooked outer boroughs of New York.

Park Over River
St. Louis, Missouri
Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates
cityarchriver.org

5. Plan for people, not cars: in 1989, the San Francisco Bay Area was struck by the devastating Loma Prieta earthquake, causing irreparable damage to the Embarcadero and Central freeways.  However, the city of San Francisco, California chose not rebuild the damaged roadways, rather, it opted to a take a more progressive approach to the damaged infrastructure that created a more pedestrian-friendly(er) city: they tore them down.  The Embarcadero and Central freeway cut-off their surrounding neighborhoods from each.  By taking down the elevated highways, the formerly isolated neighborhoods began to come together via a network of public parks, pedestrian walkways, and bicycle routes.  In the succeeding years, numerous cities have seeking similar planning strategies to benefit walkers and bicyclists, instead of pollution spewing auto transit.  San Francisco hopes to recreate the success of the post-earthquake project with

280 Freeway Competition
Erik Jensen and Justin Richardson
archdaily.com

2013's dismantling of the 280 freeway with 280 Freeway Competition.  Good riddance.  Landscape architecture students Erik Jensen and Justin Richardson proposed dismantling the freeway, leaving behind the concrete pylons to create a "cultural field" of murals, sculpture, and community art.  The remaining concrete would be used to created a buffer against rising sea levels.  This past August, in St. Louis, Missouri, the city broke ground on an elevated park over the I-70, connecting the downtown communities to the St. Louis Arch and riverfront.


This are all wonderful proposals and I hope some of the come true.  In the meantime, the year is still young with plenty of promise for the urban landscape.

Like me on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/lenorelowen

Follow me on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/glamavon and on Pinterest http://www.pinterest.com/glamtroy

Linkedin http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dir/Lenore/Lowen

Google+ and Instagram

Rethinking Overused Urbanists Term

M.theatlanticities.com/neighborhoods/2013/12/urbanism-buzzwords-rethink-2014/7959

Hello Everyone:

When it comes to writing or talking about urban policy issues in journals such as the ones at The Atlantic Cities, use an lot of jargon.  For the writers and editors of said journal, this often becomes a frustrating exercise in translating wonky sounding terms into something that resembles everyday English.  The types of issues that preoccupy the daily thoughts and conversation of urban writers such as yours truly often relate where we work, where we live, how we move about, and how we enjoy our leisure time seem far too important to fall victim to a mind numbing array of technical lingo and catch words.  Be that as it may, the intrepid staff of The Atlantic Cities has complied a list, with a few of their own resolutions, of some the most over used words and phrases with the wistful hopes that urbanists will rethink how they use them.  Ready?

Urbanism:  at first sight, this word might (emphasis on might) be both utilitarian and seem like a perfectly good word, and -ism, meaning "a distinctive practice, system or philosophy, typically a political ideology or an artistic movement," is an often useful suffix.  According to Sommer Mathis, this word combination makes him cringe when spoken aloud.  For Mr. Mathis, the word implies that there is some universally accepted ideology on how to build, organize, and manage particular urban area and frequently misapplied as a description for the study of urban issues or the basic interaction of people and things with their environment.  Mr. Mathis suggests replacing urbanism with the word urbanology, which would probably make more sense but doesn't sound as cool. Sommer Mathis urges extreme caution when deploying this word with the understanding that it almost has no real meaning.

Bus Rapid Transit:  this kind of sounds like an oxymoron.  I live Los Angeles o.k.  To Amanda Erikson, the phrase Bus Rapid Transit brings to mind some science fiction futuristic transportation fantasy involving tubes and electrons.  What the phrase really describes is a simple concept: "a bus that goes faster because there are fewer and more efficient stops, and no other traffic in the way."  This bit of jargon obscures BRT's strong point: " it's a relatively affordable public transit solution that even a non-urbanists can love."  Ms. Erikson suggests replacing Bus Rapid Transit with Traffic-free express buses.  It doesn't quite roll off the tongue as BRT but it sounds nicer.

Congestion Pricing: this is a term with an image problem.  Eric Jaffe believes that Congestion Pricing may be the best hope for reducing city traffic.  However, despite its popularity overseas, the idea hasn't quite caught on in America.  Part of the problem is its public perception.  Mr. Jaffe suggests  using the term road fares, which is more to the point and draws a parallel to using public roads and riding on public transport.

Placemaking: what is this word anyway?  How do you actually make a place?  Is there a recipe book?  Emily Badger wonders, "Isn't everywhere a place?"  Ms. Badger further asks, "What does it mean to be a 'place maker'?"  Is there a school you go to or a degree program?  In an exercise of pretzel logic, Ms. Badger suggests that if a place maker comes upon a places and place makes it, then what kind of place was it before it was made?  Ouch, I think I sprained a brain muscle writing that.  What supporters of this gauzy concept really get behind is a specific type of public place, something lively and welcoming, an attractive place, not a people repellant place.  It's a park, a plaza, a street corner-somewhere you'd actually want to spend time.  What it's not, is a dark alley or empty park.

Tactical Urbanism and "Guerilla" Anything:  Guerilla implies someone who hides in caves, striking without warning, instilling fear and terror.  Tactical sounds like something planned, deliberate, precise.  According to Mike Riggs, people who paint bike lanes in the middle of the night or plant flowers in empty dirt lots are neither tactical or Guerilla.  Mr. Riggs would like to see these individuals, who are engaged in peaceful activities, not described in military terms.

Big Data:  this sounds like a description of the National Security Agency.  Big Data, says Mike Riggs, is a little like using the word "Internet" to describe something that people do on their computer.  The internet has had a profound affect on the way we live and work.  It's, what I and a few others, refer to as the "Third Industrial Revolution."  People who use the words Big Data either have no clue about what they're talking about, are trying to sell you something, or are into conspiracy theories.  Let's clarify this term, please.

Built Environment:  I admit it, I'm guilty of misusing this term also.  I guess Built Environment falls into the category of words, described by Stephanie Garlock, as "academic-ese."  Ms. Garlock cites Built Environment as one of the worts offenders because it refers to something that is at once, both really important and very mundane: the physical make up of our cities.  This means: the streets, buildings, sewers, parks, in short, anything man-made that we interact with on a daily basis.  However, when Ms. Garlock hears someone using the term Built Environment, it makes her think that your an expert at faking any real depth of understanding.  Ms. Garlock points out, even more offensive is googling Built Environment, it offers the auto-complete option of "built environment a.p human geography."

Rust Belt:  Mark Byrnes describes the phrase Rust Belt as "Historically a disparaging term to describe old industrial cities in the Northeast and Midwest..."  However, in the post-recession era, the term has been rendered pretty moot.  To wit, Mr. Byrnes has stopped using the term. Las Vegas, Nevada is still dealing with housing foreclosures and private companies are demanding outrageous public subsidies in Atlanta, Georgia.  In said geographical region, similar problems persist, Google employs hundreds in inner city Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and newcomers to Detroit, Michigan are a dime a dozen.  Mr. Byrnes posits that Rust Belt has become an over arching and meaningless description like the word "Hipster."  Mr. Byrnes states that no one region in the United States has the monopoly on urban decay, inequality, or economic failure.  Regardless of where you live, we all live in moderately struggling places.

Gritty: here's a word that has literary connotations.  Feargus O'Sullivan describes it as, "...one of those condescending terms in the urbanists lexicon that can often say more about the writer's preconceptions than the place they're describing."  For Mr. O'Sullivan, Gritty is an attitude that resides somewhere between admiration and fastidiousness: "inner city 'hoods are great and all, but a few extra  little farmer's market and independent boutiques for People Like Us wouldn't go amiss."  It's too vague of a word.  How do you describe the grit of a place?  Is the word Gritty some sort of shorthand.  Perhaps we should just reserve the word Gritty for undercooked quinoa or dirt roads.

Stakeholder: urban planners, architects, and civic officials understand that they are supposed to care about the opinion of the majority of people who aren't urban planners, architects, and civic officials.  This what the sacred concept of "community input process" is theoretically about.  The process of gathering comments from members of the community with the idea of actually producing something informed by said opinions.  However, Sarah Goodyear let's us in on a little secret, it's really about making the general public, who don't actually make the decisions, feel like they're contributing to the process.  Thus, what better way to honor the community member then to refer to them as Stakeholders.  It's a flattering word that conveys a sense of importance, a sense of value, just vague enough to make anyone who cares, happy.  Ms. Goodyear points out that the problem is while many "Stakeholders" have a real interest in the outcome, they don't have any real rights like those who have invested money in a project.  It does sound like a nice title doesn't it?

Smart Growth:  if I had a dime for everytime I've heard this phrase, I'd be very wealthy.  Put the words "smart" and "growth" together and they form an alluring combination says Emily Badger.  It's a succinct term that means so much more than "compact development that keeps housing, jobs, transportation, and amenities in close proximity."  Smart Growth is a valid idea but implies that other ways of living are not.  Really, who ever heard of "dumb growth"?  No big surprise that Smart Growth  is not part of the lexicon of daily conversation, no one likes to feel like they're dumb.  Truthfully, while Smart Growth may be a useful shorthand around people who know what you're talking about but around most people, not so much.

Gentrification: I know this is a term I've used often, usually describing part of Manhattan and Brooklyn, New York that have taken on a certain cache.  However, what is that cache?  Higher rents, a yoga studio, a Whole Foods Market?  Amanda Erikson points out that because it's such a ubiquitous word, it makes hard to talk about the ways neighborhoods have changed and their impact on the city's less fortunate.

Like me on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/lenorelowen

Follow me on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/glamavon and on Pinterest http://www.pinterest.com/glamtroy

Linkedin http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dir/Lenore/Lowen

Google+ and Instagram

How Johnny Cash's Boyhood Home Shaped the Man in Black - - PreservationNation Blog

How Johnny Cash's Boyhood Home Shaped the Man in Black - - PreservationNation Blog