UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI Date: 30 June 2008 I, Naashom Marx, hereby submit this work as part of the requirements for the degree of: Master in Community Planning in: The School of Planning; College of Design, Art, Architecture and P lanning It is entitled: Urban Hiking Guides: A tool for asset-based community development. This work and its defense approved by: Chair: Chris Auffrey, PH.D. Faculty: Carla Chifos, PH. D. Urban Hiking Guides A tool for asset-based community development. Naashom Marx B.A. Liberal Arts Photo by Miranda Beckman Submitted for Requirements of Masters of Community Planning School of Planning, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio COMMITTEE: Chair: Chris Auffrey, Ph. D. Advisor: Carla Chifos, Ph. D. June 2008 Abstract Urban hiking guides can be a useful tool in the revitalization of a community. Asset- based Community Development works well in the planning of an urban hiking guide. Effective guides are clear, simple, easy to use and easily available. Guides function as planning tools, promoting citizen involvement, creating local pride and interest while encouraging physical activity and healthier living. An urban hiking guide can be a community wide effort. This study analyzes various guides. The analysis is based on particular assets and ideas identified in literature that make urban hiking guides useful in asset-based community development. Urban hiking guides can assist planners in highlighting assets while involving the community in their work. Ideally this study will be used as the start of a handbook for communities. The handbook could be placed on a website for the communities. This way it can always be updated with lessons learned by the communities. iii iv Acknowledgement I would like to thank several people for their support during the process of this study. If it were not for these people, who listened patiently and endlessly, I would have never have unveiled a subject that I am passionate about, that blends my personal beliefs, and experiences with my planning education and community development research. First I need to thank my family and friends who supported me tirelessly. My wonderful parents push me to explore the world and then tie me to a chair in front of the computer. Living back home with them these past years has been both positive and negative. I must admit that considering my overly social personality, I would not have finished this study without them. The idea would have never come to me if it were it not for my dear friend, Li Alligood, who inspired me to take urban hikes and I thank her for taking me on that hike on December 31, 2007, the hike that inspired me to research urban hiking guides. Dr. Chris Auffrey and Dr. Carla Chifos are wonderful professors who helped me and showed me how to take a wild idea and create a sensible study. Their help as mentors and knowledge sharers is invaluable. These professors teamed together to help a generally confused student, new to the system of research complete a thesis study. If it was not for their help I would still be lost in the system. I also want to thank Dr. Edelman for giving me the confidence to complete a study in a short amount of time and for his enthusiastic sole to stretch the boundaries. Whenever I felt nervous to bring up a topic or exhibited outrageous behavior, he was always enthusiastic and supportive. There are so many wonderful people who I care for deeply in my life who have given me support through this project. The list would become too long, but you know who they are. Thank you! v Table of Contents Page Abstract iii Acknowledgement v Chapter 1: Introduction 1 Chapter 2: Literature Review 7 Chapter 3: Study Methodology 25 Chapter 4: Assessing Urban Hiking Guides 29 Chapter 5: Importance of Attributes in Urban Hiking Guides 40 Chapter 6: Scores 51 Chapter 7: Conclusion 53 References 56 Appendix 60 vi List of Figures Page Figure 1: Guide Book and Community Characteristics 27 Figure 2: Pittsburgh Guide 29 Figure 3: Ashville Guide 30 Figure 4: Chicago-In and Around the Loop 30 Figure 5: Covington Guide 31 Figure 6: Georgetown Guide 32 Figure 7: Not for Tourists Chicago 33 Figure 8: Toronto Trails 34 Figure 9: Baltimore Guide 35 Figure 10: Brooklyn Guide 36 Figure 11: L. A. Guide 37 Figure 12: Cincinnati Guide 38 Figure 13 Washington D. C. Guide 39 Figure 14: Map from NFT 47 Figure 15: Cover of Walking Brooklyn 48 Figure 16: Mutter Gottes 48 Figure 17: Brooklyn Map 49 Figure 18: Mount Adams Map 49 Figure 19: Asheville Urban Trail 50 Figure 20 Drawing 50 Figure 21: Scores 51 vii Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION Urban: of, relating, characteristic of, or constituting a city Hike: a long walk especially for pleasure or exercise Revitalize: to give new life or vigor (Source: Merriam, 2008) Do these words relate? Taking a long walk in a city can bring new vigor to an individual and a community. One of the best ways to learn and experience a new city is to walk the city. Riding in a car through a city does not give you the same experience. Walking the Steps of Cincinnati (DuSablon, 1998) is an urban trail guide that supports this theory. Growing up in the area I thought that I knew all there was to know about Cincinnati. Following “Walk No.4, the Science Stroll,” was an enlightening experience. I had always known that steps connected the heart of downtown Cincinnati to the residential areas immediately north, but was told they were only used by the homeless and drug users, I was told to avoid them. Exploring the Mount Adams and Walnut Hills areas of Cincinnati on foot through the use of the guide is invigorating, pleasurable, and great exercise right in the city limits. Detailed doorways and sidewalk markers record historic times of the city. A unique little hamburger stand would have never been experienced if it was not for taking that first stair path walk from the guide, as I typically would drive the area. The only negative aspect of the guide, Walking the Steps of Cincinnati was the size and the binding method of the book which made it awkward to use. It did however connect the stair pathways and streets beautifully. Does walking through a community give a different experience of the area than driving? Driving at high speeds inside the confines of a vehicle, it is hard to appreciate the character 1 of a community. The community can look unused, scary, run down, and inconsequential. Walking a community gives one a face to face encounter and fear is taken away. You can see things for what they were and currently are. It is then possible to see what things can become. Walking through areas typically ignored can start a process of revitalization. Walking an urban setting creates a relationship between the individual and the setting. Numerous advantages drive community members and publishers to create guides. Urban hiking guides get people out of their cars and encourage walking through cities. They help the resident to find recreation within their own locality rather than the need to head out of the city. An effective urban hiking guide has planned routes with predetermined areas that look to assets of the community as points of interest for participants to stop. Specific themes, information en route, proactive quotes, invitations to engage with the landscape and the community, as well as instilling a questioning of participants both directly and indirectly, can engage all walks of life (Dove, 1997). This research will examine how a community can be revitalized with urban trail planning and how walkability can assist in sustainable revitalization. Many communities fabricate areas for pedestrians. Roads are blocked off from traffic. Large chain restaurants and stores are built within new boundaries to create pedestrian malls. People leave their own communities and travel to these malls for recreation and to spend their money. Art and architecture is then created within those areas to make them interesting. If one really thinks about it, one might call it a “vitalization”, but not revitalization. This form of vitalization often ignores all that is in the history of the area. It is revitalization without soul. 2 Alternatively other communities look at what assets they currently have. The best local restaurants, shops, hang outs, art, architecture and hidden community treasures are connected through foot paths of different sorts. The old is linked to the new. Community pride is important. This study looks at revitalization that explores a community’s assets. The existing assets are built upon, incorporating culture, history, physical geography, art and architecture from the past and present. It is an interactive community where participants must give and take, where physical activity is included. This form of revitalization educates, inspires and contributes to physical health. As part of this research, a systematic search was undertaken on the Internet and in book stores for guide books of many U.S. cities. Ten urban hiking guides were chosen. Each guide was different, highlighting different things. Why was this? What made the creators of the books think that their way was good? Was it a community member who just did what made sense to him, or was it a publisher who saw a lucrative idea? Some of the books were interesting, some confusing, and others just plain useless. This is why my research on design prescribes the analysis of books, pamphlets and websites from various cities to identify the best practices for producing and urban hiking guide. This study provides: 1.