Category: Urban Planning

Moses, Goldschmid and Brown

interstate 405 and 5
I had heard a shortened story of Portland’s 1970’s freeway kill-off. The beginning of Portland exceptionalism. Saying No to the FHWA.
And so rarely leaving the Chesapeake Bay watershed I imagined a city comprised of narrow tree-lined streets, generous bike and pedestrian provisions, 264 foot city blocks lining the Williamette River.
Yes, well not exactly.
So they did say no, and they did leverage a bunch of public transit money and it is amazing. But it is not the idyll of my imagination.

Interstates
In 1974 Portland killed the Mount Hood Freeway, in 1979 the I-505 connector was taken off the table. But, in contrast to my imagined Portland, interstates were built.

Slow way home

schoolchildren in Okinawa
saw a movie yesterday written by UVA professor Leonard Shoppa,

poster
  In Japan, 98 percent of children walk to school every day, unaccompanied by a parent.  In the United States, just 13 percent of children walk or bike to school, and most are driven to school by a parent.

smart cae
The Slow Way Home explores this divergence, examining how American families have largely given up on keeping our streets and public spaces safe enough for children, while Japanese communities have mobilized to keep their streets safe and walkable, not only for children but for everyone in society.

railroad

bad pedestrian
Railroads run through our town. They define, divide and interrupt. This railroad got its land back in the 1800’s. In two centuries, names have changed, neighborhoods have grown, rail traffic has dropped. The real estate surrounding the rails is a no man’s land. Railroad property. Trash all over? Not your concern. Do they pay taxes? Do they say goodmorning? Are they a good neighbor? Not your concern.

build out

UVA Parking garage
The desirability of a 3D tool so non-architects can understand the implications of plans, orthographic drawings, has long been discussed in local planning circles.
new hotel
The tools exist. SketchUp is such a tool. The building could be built with digits. Visualized in a way the layman can understand. Lets see what proposed development looks like in context before the bricks get mortared one on top the other.
10th and Page neighborhood
How will a neighborhood with a 35′ vertical envelope fare when more massive buildings come on the scene? Lets see it before we build it. Lets try visually informed planning.