Placemaking in Legacy Cities Opportunities and Good Practices
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Placemaking in legacy cities Opportunities and Good Practices Prepared by new solutions grouP, llc (nsgdetroit.com) December 2013 Placemaking in legacy cities Opportunities and Good Practices table of contents Chapter 1: Introduction 3 Chapter 4: Neighborhoods 24 “Place” existed before “Placemaking” 3 introduction 24 the Placemaking opportunity for legacy city neighborhood case study: revitalization 4 georgia street community collective, Detroit, mi 26 legacy city Placemaking 101 5 neighborhood case study: clark Park, Detroit, mi 28 The Clark Park Coalition 29 Chapter 2: Downtowns 9 Critical Considerations 29 Clark Park’s Community and Economic Impact 31 introduction 9 neighborhood case study: elmwood Village, buffalo, ny 32 Downtown case study: over the rhine, washington Park, cincinnati, oH 10 Formalizing the Community Association 32 33 Context 10 Major Initiatives and Programs 37 Realizing Renovation and Expansion 11 What’s Next for Elmwood Village Planning and Engagement 12 Placemaking Successes and Challenges 13 Chapter 5: trails and Other Corridors 39 introduction 39 Chapter 3: anchor Districts 15 trails and corridors case study: introduction 15 Pittsburgh, Pa waterfront Development 40 Waterfront Reclamation and a New Network anchor District case study: midtown, Detroit, mi 16 of Collaborators 40 Organizing Anchor Institutions in Detroit: Key Waterfront Projects 43 The Formation of Midtown, Inc. 16 Placemaking on Trails; Trails on Placemaking 46 Placemaking in Midtown 17 The Contribution to Economic Development 47 Evolving Leadership 23 Chapter 6: Conclusion 48 communityProgress.net center for community Progress 2 Placemaking in legacy cities Opportunities and Good Practices Chapter 1 Washington Park Source: New Solutions Group. introDuction People know a great place when they “Place” Existed Before “Placemaking” find one. They like the way the place Placemaking is a concept that emerged to describe the feels. They like the way the place looks. intentional process of activating new or existing public spaces to create that emotional connection. Placemaking, which They enjoy moving through the place can take many forms and include a range of activity, activates and sitting in it. They like being in there public space through design, programming, community empowerment, wayfinding, art, marketing — whatever alone and with others. It’s usually not is needed for that particular community. Placemaking is that difficult to get consensus around contextual and situational, and whether a project begins with a community’s needs or a specific physical location, it will require which places are great and which are a unique recipe. not. As the building blocks of cities, Placemaking is often referred to as an art. Like the production places define our experience of cities, as of art, the process and result of placemaking should produce an emotional reaction in viewers or users — a connection to a well. Cities that have suffered population physical place. The success of placemaking efforts will depend and job loss over the last six decades— on the degree to which a high-quality, welcoming place is produced, one where people want to be and gather. for whom the term “Legacy Cities” has recently been coined—struggle to While placemaking has emerged as a named concept within just the last half-century, ancient marketplaces, 18th century cultivate new or maintain existing high American town squares and urban parks that are set aside on quality public spaces. Rediscovering and some of the most valuable real estate in cities around the world demonstrate that humans have long understood the value creating authentic places that evoke an of creating shared public spaces to meaningfully gather to emotional connection to the city must socialize, recreate and exchange goods, services, information and ideas. be a part of their revitalization. Historically, these public places were designed to put people first by necessity. Walkability, accessibility, and connectivity were essential elements long before the terms became communityProgress.net center for community Progress 3 Chapter 1: introDuction Placemaking in legacy cities Opportunities and Good Practices commonplace. In fact, this human-scaled design standard can improve quality of life, enhance public safety, and spark applied to most of the built environment in cities, not just high- business growth. Moreover, it can be versatile and relatively profile public spaces. Neighborhoods, commercial districts low cost, so even cities with no immediate prospects of growth and institutions were all designed to interact with the public can use the strategies and principles of placemaking to achieve realm in ways that made it easier, if not also more pleasant, for a positive outcomes. pedestrian to access and utilize the built environment. Following an overview of placemaking principles, this paper Unfortunately, development trends over the latter half of explores revitalization efforts that include strong placemaking the 20th century ran counter to pedestrian-friendly design. components. It draws out the insights, concepts and principles Auto-centric suburban sprawl drained Legacy Cities of their of placemaking in a Legacy City context to provide a more people and their tax bases, and led to a dearth of investment localized perspective, and real world case studies to show how in the place-based assets of cities, creating a nasty feedback placemaking is both already happening in Legacy Cities and loop that exacerbated (and continues to exacerbate) ongoing how it can help them become healthier, more sustainable and population flight and disinvestment. Far-flung suburbs don’t more vibrant. easily connect to the core city via mass transit. And now the The goals of the report are: (1) to demonstrate the only way for many people to get into the city, if they do at all, is value and necessity of weaving placemaking into the to drive and park. Subsequently, city planners and developers implementation of Legacy City revitalization efforts; and have felt compelled to design places as much for cars as for (2) to distill good placemaking practices that are especially people, which has had utterly devastating effects on cities and relevant to Legacy Cities. their ability to foster a strong sense of place. This is not to say that the considerations illustrated in this While it seems that, for most of human history, communities report are only applicable to Legacy Cities, but that in Legacy understood how to create special public places, the damage Cities, these considerations are paramount. While this paper done to cities and their physical environments during the age makes occasional reference to design elements (such as the of sprawl, as well as to these cities’ own senses of community, appropriate scale for retail storefronts), it does not evaluate is deep. The policies that incentivize sprawl are ingrained not specific design choices made in the case studies. The concern just in development dollars and new road funding, but pervade of this report is the process of placemaking, the “how” of each the culture. Additionally, technological developments from of the case studies, with the hope that Legacy City leaders at the automobile to the internet have fundamentally altered the community, neighborhood, institutional and city levels may ways Americans interact with each other. While the ideal of the find examples to learn from as they consider their own efforts. town square as a forum for public discourse still resonates with Americans, the practices relating to physical congregation and design have changed in a way that is often more isolating. The Placemaking Opportunity for Nowhere has this shift been more vicious than in America’s Legacy City Revitalization Legacy Cities, the former industrial hubs, predominantly in the For Legacy Cities, placemaking can support policies that Northeast and Midwest, which flourished in the early 1900s counter sprawl-based development patterns. Effective thanks to industry and innovation but floundered post-World placemaking can vastly enhance the efforts of those seeking War II. Global economic changes, suburbanization, racial to revitalize Legacy Cities by ensuring that revitalization efforts segregation, unsustainable land use patterns and gripping are imbued with the spirit of place and community that made urban challenges especially undermined cities that lacked these cities great to begin with. diverse economies. And arguably, nowhere is placemaking a more vital undertaking. Placemaking strategies can help Most of the industrial cities of the Northeast and Midwest, such reposition Legacy Cities as a viable, even preferred, alternative as Baltimore, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Pittsburgh to their suburban counterparts as people seek to experience and St. Louis, are easily characterized as Legacy Cities. These community through their physical environment. Placemaking cities suffered 30 to 60 percent population loss from peaks communityProgress.net center for community Progress 4 Chapter 1: introDuction Placemaking in legacy cities Opportunities and Good Practices roughly a half a century ago. While the case studies featured elements may change based on a particular project’s context: within this paper come from the formerly industrial cities of the • Downtowns or business districts; Midwest, efforts in places like Philadelphia, Oakland and others could easily be relevant and offer lessons, as well. • Anchor districts, which contain clusters of education (university),