Category: Urban Planning

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.

tree canopy

"There is an update in the tthe surveys preliminary assessment
“There is an update in the tree canopy survey currently going on, it started about six weeks ago. The survey’s preliminary assessment indicates that there has been a loss of about 1.4% of the City’s canopy trees compared to the last survey done six years ago in 2009. The study should be completed by the end of this year and hopefully there will be an analysis of where the trees have been lost.” 11/10/15 Commissioner Jody Lahendro

Meanwhile, the draft capital budget for Charlottesville shows $25,000 a year for urban tree planting. Not enough to secure shade for pedestrians along the 156 miles of streets in our City. This time of year is a great time to plant trees. Call Miss Utility, plant a tree next to the road in front of where you live. It is not hard to do.
151110 jodi lahendro