Charles R Wolfe :: Achievable Placemaking on a Morning Walk

aka Six Starter Principles

In the city, as always, new and old seek balance, against a backdrop of trying economic times.

At the doctrinal level, old battles return: Is new urbanism with its inherent and neighborhood-based walk, bike and ride really  overly nostalgic and prescriptive? Is the prescription unsustainable because it can ignore an existing and organic urban fabric, regardless of reduced carbon footprint?

The Seattle Times provides examples of the recurring battles. Today, one article shows the  litigation tensions of changing times, where a neighborhood’s maritime industry fears for its vitality in the face of the slated completion of a regional bike trail. Yesterday, a  guest editorial encouraged the City Council to relax density limits and parking requirements in its pending Multi-Family Land Use Code update, consistent with less reliance on the automobile and greater affordability.

Yet as the city evolves, refined ideas offer quick wins for a renewed, urban-scale lifestyle, as depicted in another Seattle Times example today. In the article, Seattle Sketcher portrays prospective  art in empty storefronts along the city’s Aurora Avenue, not unlike the well-publicized  fake shop front effort in the English borough of North Tyneside.

Addressing empty storefronts is not the only potential quick win. We’ve also learned from the  movement to remake alleys about a laudable focus on the achievable, aimed at success that is not dependent on massive public expenditures or conclusion of lifestyle debates.

The list could be expansive, and include a renewed economical public/private focus on bus-stop appeal, enhanced street trees, tasteful street banners and encouragement of increased food-cart licensing.

Neighborhood walks can further show the predicament and challenge of adapting public and private to the old and new, as well as suggest some additional quick wins.

From such walks, here are six myurbanist starter principles for ongoing consideration, followed by illustrations:

1. Don’t forget the school building and surroundings, even in trying times. School districts may have limited funds, but coalesce around parent-driven non-profit organizations to keep the focus on the neighborhood school.
2. Initial American attempts at outdoor commerce can be monochromatic. Businesses that bring street life should be encouraged, both through public permitting (and street use fee) flexibility and private encouragement to add color and appeal.
3. Scooters are becoming increasingly visible. We need to know the rules for parking, and enforcement needs to allow for overburdening striped or customary automobile spaces.
4. Often, interim bike striping is the only affordable means for a city to encourage use of bicycles and simultaneous use of streets with automobiles. Rules of the road are not enough to assure safety. At a minimum, work with advocacy groups to monitor repainting needs and visibility and work with preexisting business to integrate with necessary and historic ingress and egress.
5. Reuse, integration, mode splits, diversity of paving, walkable paths and mixed housing types are often already a part of cities, predating the widespread application of American zoning in the 1920€²s. Learn from, adapt and integrate what is already there.
6. Finally, pedestrians walk with pets. Public and private approaches to tie-up stations should not be forgotten.

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1. Don’t forget the school building and surroundings, even in trying times. School districts may have limited funds, but coalesce around parent-driven non-profit organizations to keep the focus on the neighborhood school.

2. Initial American attempts at outdoor commerce can be monochromatic. Businesses that bring street life should be encouraged, both through public permitting (and street use fee) flexibility and private encouragement to add color and appeal.

3. Scooters are becoming increasingly visible. We need to know the rules for parking, and enforcement needs to allow for overburdening striped or customary automobile spaces.

4. Often, interim bike striping is the only affordable means for a city to encourage use of bicycles and simultaneous use of streets with automobiles. Rules of the road are not enough to assure safety. At a minimum, work with advocacy groups to monitor repainting needs and visibility and work with preexisting business to integrate with necessary and historic ingress and egress.

5. Reuse, integration, mode splits, diversity of paving, walkable paths and mixed housing types are often already a part of cities, predating the widespread application of American zoning in the 1920′s. Learn from, adapt and integrate what is already there.

6. Finally, pedestrians walk with pets. Public and private approaches to tie-up stations should not be forgotten.

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Note from the hosts:  Without a post set for tomorrow/today and in the flurry of tweets surrounding Ana M. Manzo‘s fantastic post on the Emotion of Architecture, Charles and I got into a chat.  After a short back and forth, he offered a re-print from his site http://myurbanist.com. This post in particular was originally published in March of this year. And being how we have never hosted anything regarding urban planning, I said what the heck.  Besides who could pass up a nifty little term like “placemaking.”  Charles may be found on Twitter @crwolfelaw.  Please read, comment, happy Friday to all, and enjoy! jb