Remaking Hazelwood, i Remaking Pittsburgh a background study ii iii Remaking Hazelwood, Remaking Pittsburgh was prepared by For more information, please contact: Research Associates Elise Gatti and Kim Kinder, under the direction of Luis Rico-Gutierrez, Director of the Remaking Luis Rico-Gutierrez Cities Institute. Director, Remaking Cities Institute/ Associate Dean, College of Fine Arts The RCI would like to thank the Heinz Endowments for their Carnegie Mellon, School of Architecture generous financial support. Additional appreciation is owed College of Fine Arts 201 to Bob Gradeck, Director of Community Projects, Carnegie Pittsburgh, PA Mellon Center for Economic Development and Jim Richter, 15213-3890 USA Executive Director, Hazelwood Initiative, Inc. [p]: 001 (412) 412-268-2349 [e]: [email protected] [w]: http://www.arc.cmu.edu/cmu/rci Copyright © August 2007 Carnegie Mellon School of Architecture [CONTENts] 1 Introduction: Remaking Hazelwood RCI and the Urban Lab: Community-University Collaboration iv 5 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania The Hard Facts ... and the Reasons for Hope 13 Project Stakeholders Owners, Institutions, Community Organizations, and Research Groups 31 Pittsburgh Socio-Geography Regional Context and Development History 41 Hazelwood: Current Conditions Site Overview and Community Context 59 Hazelwood Planning Initiatives Recent Plans and Future Developments 71 Sustainable Development Initiatives Sustainable Development and Eco-Urban Planning [CONTENts] 87 Neighborhood Energy Generation Local and Renewable Urban Energy Alternatives v 101 Benchmarks in Urban Innovation Pittsburgh’s Post-Brownfield Riverfronts and Innovative International Benchmarks 119 Digital Modeling Tools Urban Spatial Analysis in the Digital Age vi introduction: 1 remakinghazelwood RCI and the Urban Lab: Community-University Collaboration he ability to capture and evaluate the conditions of neighborhoods and regions as well as the ability to deliver the basic tenets of a shared qual- ity of life, and to envision futures that “regenerate” neighborhoods and regions, is a primary goal of the Remaking Cities Institute at Carnegie Mellon’s School of Architecture. Building on over 15 years of successes in the Urban Laboratory, the Remaking Cities Institute is being created to ensure and expand the education, community visioning, and research efforts of Carnegie Mellon University, and to strengthen its partner- ships in the Pittsburgh Region in order to stimulate the revitalization of urban regions, neighborhood by neighborhood. The mission of the TRemaking Cities Institute is to catalyze sustainable urban futures and excellence in community design, and our vision is to be recognized inter- nationally as the key resource for rebuilding urban communities, dem- onstrated through the revitalization of communities in the Pittsburgh region. Heinz School of Public Policy School of Architecture Tepper School of Business Engineering & Public Policy Carnegie Mellon Remaking Cities Institute ity Remaking Cities Advisory Board un Stakeholders: m m Facilitators o f the o implementation Process C Research Education/Outreach - Affiliated Faculty Research - CED, Steinbrenner, CBPD Urban Lab Synthesis Policy Professional - National/International Graduate - Undergraduate Project Organziations Partners 2 Goverment Foundations Project at a scale such as it can be developed/implemented as an NFP Organizations example. “Remaking cities” one project at a time Regional Impact Global Impact Ensuring sustainability and quality of life through ur- What if…? ban and regional design requires both multidisciplinary expertise and exposure to participatory processes. Physical TheWall Street Journal published an article in 1999 calling decisions about land-use, zoning, transportation and other Pittsburgh “Roboburgh” for its local concentration of tal- infrastructures, mixed-use development, and neighbor- ent in robotics. Can this city, historically known as “Iron hood design are brought together with urban geography, City,” become associated with the incorporation of innova- economics, and policy at the core of the Institute. The tive technologies in our social, cultural, economical, fiscal centerpiece is a group of students and faculty from differ- and natural environments? ent disciplines working with neighborhoods, and political and economic decision-makers, to address the complex What if Pittsburgh becomes a worldwide reference again and multidimensional nature of sustainable cities and for something as central to our perception of “modernity” regions. RCI benefits from the strengths of the Center as steel has been for the last century? What if cutting for Economic Development (CED), part of the H. John edge technologies are embedded in the daily lives of our Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management. The communities now? What if robotics spin-off companies seamless integration of their expertise in the work of RCI settle in the region? What if through technology we can allows us to leverage academic resources to better under- extend the productive participation of aging and disabled stand key regional economic development issues. populations in the everyday life of our communities; and what if that becomes a major industry? What if the same RCI intends to expand efforts to develop visions leveraging happens with entertainment technology? What if major the leadership position of the Pittsburgh region in research international companies are successfully attracted to open and development, and linking them to physical planning manufacturing and/or R&D activities in proximity to the and ultimately to economic vibrancy and equity, environ- before-mentioned activities? What if 1,000 students move mental quality, health, safety and overall quality of life. into the Hazelwood area? What services will grow around them? What if Junction Hollow becomes a transit corri- dor? What if we develop programs for current residents to take advantage of the growing employment opportunities in some of those sectors? What if all this is done with a strong sense of respect for the ecological framework of the region and with a commitment to diversifying the eco- opportunity to participate in educational and research nomic and cultural opportunities of the intervention? programs integrated with the private sector and with local neighborhoods, we can build a truly sustainable commu- These ideas only scratch the surface of the possibilities nity around innovation in the areas described above. that could be created by aligning the creative energy of our universities, the motivation for new product development Connectivity and sustainability are vital to this frame- of firms, the principles of sustainable community design work. “Connectivity” must be defined as more than and the energy and leadership of our region. physical connections, to reflect how communities inter- relate with each other economically, socially, politically, The Remaking Cities Institute at Carnegie Mellon is being and culturally. The dynamics of these interrelationships funded by the Heinz Endowments to convene, host and are the bases of sound metropolitan policy and strategy. facilitate the interaction of a select group of technology vi- “Sustainability” is the second broad and important theme, sionaries to think about the future of the Pittsburgh region; and speaks to the state of our region’s resources – land, air, 3 and to put at their service our expertise in urban design water, infrastructure, and our built environment. Sustain- and community development to translate their work into able communities and regions ensure a shared quality proposals for an intervention in the former LTV works site, of life that is built on access to economic opportunities, Hazelwood and its connection to the innovative research cultural development and a balanced interaction with the centers in Oakland through Junction Hollow. Our goal is to natural environment. demonstrate the proposition that university/industry/com- munity collaboration can foster sustainable change – eco- logically, economically and culturally. Luis Rico-Gutierrez The days are gone when two or three major industries Director, Remaking Cities Institute could hold the region together economically, as steel, alu- minum, and glass once did. The process by which wealth is generated and its impact is diffused through society has changed in fundamental ways in the last 20 years. In particular, economic growth is tied to rapid innovation in technology and its application in new market and organi- zational structures. Markets and organizations are truly global and the process of innovation springs from global networks which are dependent on highly mobile, high human capital individuals as much as they are on specific firms. Regions will thrive to the extent that they are able to provide sustainable technology environments that foster innovation for firms and individuals that are part of the global economic system. Communities will thrive to the extent that they can embed those innovative environ- ments into the structure and fabric of neighborhoods and to link their citizens to the economic growth they create. The economic future of the region must rest on realizing and exploiting existing assets, and it is not hard to envi- sion Pittsburgh’s leadership in the key technological fields already mentioned as primary sources of innovation and economic growth for the coming century – comparable to what steel, cars or computers were in the prior century. But that should be just