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Suburban Tissue Analysis & Retrofitability SUBURBAN TISSUE ANALYSIS & RETROFITABILITY CREATING A CATALOGUE AND SCORING SYSTEM FOR POTENTIAL RETROFIT SITES ARMAN TOLENTINO SCHOOL OF CITY & REGIONAL PLANNING COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY SPRING 2011 ADVISOR: RICHARD DAGENHART CONTENTS ABSTRACT 5 INTRODUCTION 7 LITERATURE REVIEW 11 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 25 ANALYSIS 29 CONCLUSION 41 BIBLIOGRAPHY 42 4 TOLENTINO ABSTRACT In their book, Retrofitting Suburbia, Ellen Dunham-Jones and June Williamson argue that the big project for the next 50 years will be the redesign and redevelopment of existing suburban properties – par- ticularly shopping malls, big box stores, and office parks – into more sustainable, walkable places. In addition to providing case studies of suburban retrofit projects, Dunham-Jones and Williamson discuss the concept of suburban tissues, a term coined by Brenda Case Scheer to describe the shapes and patterns of the different streets and parcels of the suburbs. Scheer says that suburban tissues range from small- scale single-family residential parcels connected by winding streets to large-scale commercial properties connected by busy arterial roads. This understanding of suburban tissue is important because it pro- vides a clearer picture of the dynamics of the built environment of the suburbs, where different tissues change at different rates and scales. According to Scheer, the smaller-scale parcels of single-family subdi- visions undergo subtle changes over short periods of time, while the larger-scale parcels of shopping malls undergo major changes but over longer periods of time. The purpose of this applied research paper is to utilize Scheer’s concept of suburban tissue to create a cataloging and scoring system for potential retrofit site areas. To demonstrate this scoring system, I selected three areas in the Metro Atlanta region to serve as examples of typical shopping mall sites conducive to retrofitability. I then catego- rized the tissues of each site area and applied a scoring system based on the argument that large-scale sites offer the greatest potential for the large-scale change necessary to redevelop a site into a more sus- tainable, compact, mixed-use community. SUBURBAN TISSUE ANALYSIS & RETROFITABILITY 5 6 TOLENTINO INTRODUCTION While there has been a recent trend towards redesigning and redeveloping suburban properties into sustainable, compact, walkable places, there has been a lack of systematic ways to determine which properties have the greatest potential for redevelopment. The purpose of this applied research paper is provide developers, architects, plan- ners and urban designers with a standardized cataloging and scoring system to help determine which sites have the highest potential for the large-scale change necessary for suburban retrofit projects. In order to create a standardized cataloging and scoring system based on the analysis of suburban properties, it is first necessary to understand the physical form and shape of cities, a concept known as urban morphology. Brenda Case Scheer, an architect and planner who specializes in the study of urban morphology, has come up with a new way of looking at the physical form of suburbs. While architects and urban morphologists of the past, such as Gianfranco Caniggia and M.R.G. Conzen, break down the built environment into the elemental forms of buildings, lots and streets, Scheer goes a step further and identifies the elemental parts of the site, superstructure, infill, build- ings and objects (Conzen 1960). According to Scheer, these elemental parts come together to form the basic shapes of the city: the grid, the strip and the master planned community, with the latter two forming 1-1 Brenda Case Scheer classifies the built environment of the suburbs into the shapes of the suburbs. The suburbs, according to Scheer, can three distinct tissues: static (top), elastic (middle) and campus (bottom). in turn be broken down into three distinct “tissues” that change over time at different rates and at different scales. She labels these tissues as static, elastic, and campus tissue. According to Scheer, static tis- sue is comprised of relatively small parcels similar in size that undergo slight changes due to the restrictive nature of the multitude of owners SUBURBAN TISSUE ANALYSIS & RETROFITABILITY 7 INTRODUCTION resistant to change, as well as the strong relationship between build- ing and parcel (Scheer 2001). Elastic tissue is comprised of parcels that vary in size and shape and that are found along suburban ar- terial roads. These tissues change rapidly over short periods of time due to change in ownership and change in market conditions. The third tissue, campus tissue, is comprised of large parcels with multiple buildings owned by a single entity, such as a university campus or an apartment community. Campus tissue changes infrequently due to the difficulty in obtaining ownership of such a large parcel and difficulty in initiating change at such a large scale. However, suburban retrofit re- development projects have typically utilized campus tissues, such as large shopping mall sites, by converting acres of underutilized asphalt into an urban block structure with a mix of uses and relatively higher densities compared to nearby commercial and residential properties. This type of transformation serves as a premise to my proposal. By utilizing this type of tissue classification, I have come up with a scoring system that analyzes potential retrofit sites based upon their physical make-up of static, elastic and campus tissue. The purpose of this paper is first to provide an overview and analysis of urban morphol- ogy and the concept of suburban tissues, then to provide a thorough breakdown of a possible scoring system based on the concept of sub- urban tissues. Finally, I hope to apply this scoring system to potential retrofit sites in the Metro Atlanta region. The overall goal is to create a scoring system that can be used as a tool for developers, planners, architects and urban designers in order to identify potential redevelop- ment sites in the suburbs. 8 TOLENTINO SUBURBAN TISSUE ANALYSIS & RETROFITABILITY 9 10 TOLENTINO LITERATURE REVIEW To understand the concept of suburban tissue, it is first neces- 2-1 Traditional and Modernist Urban Space: Figure ground diagrams of Parma and Saint-Die (source: Rowe and Koetter, sary to understand the concept of urban morphology, or the study of 1978, pp. 62-3) the physical form of cities over time. According to Matthew Carmona, et al., there are essentially two main types of urban form: ‘traditional’ and ‘modernist,’ with the former consisting of urban blocks that define and enclose space, and the latter consisting of free-standing ‘pavilion’ buildings in landscape settings (2003). Within both of these forms, ac- cording to M.R.G. Conzen, there are several key elements: land uses, building structures, plot patterns and street patterns, with each ex- hibiting different degrees of stability (1960). Buildings, particularly the land uses they accommodate, are the least resilient elements. Plot pat- SUBURBAN TISSUE ANALYSIS & RETROFITABILITY 11 LITERATURE REVIEW terns, although more enduring, change over times as individual plots are subdivided or amalgamated. Street patterns are the most endur- ing elements because of ownership structures and the difficulties of organizing and implementing large-scale change, although changes do happen during times of war, natural disasters or comprehensive re- development. Together, according to Gianfranco Caniggia, these four elements combine to form patterns with similar characteristics and congruencies, patterns known as ‘urban tissues’ (Carmona 2003). In the book, Urban Forms: The Death and Life of the Urban Block, Philippe Panerai, et al. devote a chapter to the discussion of what constitutes urban tissue. According to the authors, the notion of “tissue” evokes ideas of interweaving and connections between parts 2-2 The street as the basic building element of the urban tissue. Rue Daguerre, Paris, be- ginning of the 19th century. (source: Panerai, et al., 2004, pp 160) 12 TOLENTINO LITERATURE REVIEW that together have a capacity for adaptation. Overall, it implies a pro- cess of transformations. When this notion of tissue is applied to the city, it can be thought of as the “superimposition of several structures acting at different scales, but which appears as a system with linkages in each part of the city (Panerai, et al. 2004).” It is in effect the culmina- tion of three logical systems: 1) The logic of roads: movement and distribution 2) The logic of plot subdivisions: where private and public initiatives take place 3) The logic of buildings: containing different activities 2-3 Row housing as an element producing tissues. Bath, row houses, beginning of the 19th century (source: Panerai, et al., 2004, pp 160) SUBURBAN TISSUE ANALYSIS & RETROFITABILITY 13 LITERATURE REVIEW The authors argue that old cities ensure the coherence of this tissue. For example, streets do not exist without the buildings that de- fine them; buildings are on plots that form the framework of their evo- lution; and spaces have status, which determine legal responsibilities and uses. Overall, there is a system in place that is legible and allows for modification, evolution, and a mixture of activities. Most importantly, this system enables the ease of everyday life, characterized by the redeeming qualities of “proximity, mixture and the unexpected.” Ulti- mately, to understand urban tissue, the authors argue that notions of function, use and category must be discarded. Instead, those involved with the design of cities should first define a set of morphological rules which in turn can provide a stable basis on which urban tissue - the lots, blocks and streets - can be progressively built (Panerai, et al. 2004). Brenda Case Scheer, an urban morphologist and dean of the College of Architecture & Planning at the University of Utah, also pro- vides her insight on what constitutes “urban tissue.” According to Scheer, the term “urban tissue” is used predominantly by urban mor- phologists to describe the arrangement of lots, blocks, and streets, or the demarcation of the owned space of the city.
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