Cities Are Human Habitat. Without people, they would not exist. Cities should be designed and planned for the comfort, convenience and pleasure of real people. Remember, people are #1; all else is secondary.
Cities Shape Movement and Movement Shapes Cities. People and goods are on the move everyday. To facilitate movement, early cities often arose on waterways and at crossroads. With newer forms of transportation, cities have evolved into different patterns, but they are still closely integrated with the movement of people and goods.
Two Kinds Of Development Patterns: Compact And Spread-Out. Early cities were compact because movement was not easy or cheap. In the last half of the 20th century, easy and cheap movement by car led cities to spread out. Now, in the early part of the 21st century, that easy movement is under stress and a return to compact development patterns is starting to occur in some cities.
Convenience: Proximity or Drivability. In compact development patterns, convenience is based on proximity – putting things close together so you can access them easily. In spread-out development patterns, convenience is based on easy drivability. This pattern led to wide streets and large parking lots. In an effort to avoid traffic congestion at local intersections, public policy often shifted new development from close in locations to more distant ones. Although this relieved local traffic congestion, it caused longer travel distances and longer travel times. Some cities are re-thinking this spread-out pattern and returning to convenience based on proximity.
The Role of Streets In City Design. In early cities, in addition to facilitating movement of people and goods, streets were public gathering places – the community’s outdoor living room, where business and public life occurred. As spread-out development patterns increased reliance on cars, streets moved toward more of a singular role of facilitating vehicle movement and that damaged their role as a place for public life. In recent years, some cities have been recapturing streets as public gathering places and reducing vehicle domination.
The Role of Buildings In City Design. In early cities, buildings were built close together and at the street edge for convenient access. This created the pattern of enclosed streets found in Europe and in many older American cities. This enclosed street pattern is still evident in traditional small city downtowns, like Palo Alto’s University Avenue. In the spread-out development pattern, wide streets with buildings set back behind large parking lots became the dominant building location pattern. This made driving and parking convenient, but seriously damaged the pedestrian walking environment, as one can see walking along El Camino Real today.
The Role of Blocks In City Design. Early cities often had smaller block sizes to facilitate easy movement of people and goods. Smaller blocks provide more choices for movement and disperse traffic efficiently. As spread-out development patterns began to dominate, block sizes became larger to accommodate larger shopping malls and campus business parks. These larger blocks concentrate more traffic on major streets. As the spread-out development pattern is currently coming under stress, some cities are rethinking the proper block size and in some case returning to smaller block patterns.
Connection or Protection. In early cities, development was close together and connected with adjacent development to provide an integrated place. People could move freely and easily from one business or development to another in a comfortable public place. Traditional downtowns in many American cities are good examples of this connection pattern. In the spread-out development pattern, open space became dominated by harsh, auto-dominated streets and large parking lots. New development often sought to protect itself from this harshness by setting itself back from streets and neighboring development. A negative side effect of this protection system is a breakdown in human connectivity and access from one development to another. In some circumstances, instead of just walking a short distance a person has to get in a car and drive out onto a major street in order to access a neighboring development.
Balance. As in many things, balance is important in cities. Balance between the number of workers in an area and the number of places for them to live. Balance between the number of people in an area and the amount of retail, restaurants, and services to support them. Customers are the lifeblood of any retail business. To have a variety of cafes, shops and services you need enough people to support them. The fewer people in the local area, the greater the need for local retail businesses to import customers, usually by car, from other areas. Remember: More People = More Amenities.
Complete Neighborhoods. Places where things are in balance and you can meet your everyday needs by walking or biking within your own neighborhood rather than driving elsewhere.
Choice and Diversity. People like choice, which means diversity to choose from. Providing that diversity and choice gives cities the opportunity to express an individual identity that separates them from the ordinary. What is unique and great about your city? How can you make it better?
Two Approaches To City Planning
- Regulations First. The conventional approach to land use planning is what may be called Regulations First. First, establish the general plan for the district, then zoning and any other development regulations, and then development planning occurs within that regulatory framework. This process attempts to avoid problems and conflict, but rarely produces great development because no one has a clear view of what the regulatory framework will create in the future. Any attempts at visionary development end up being limited by the regulatory framework and community opposition.
- Vision First. Another planning approach used in Mountain View and some other cities is Vision First. Start with a vision of what we want the district to become in the future and write that vision into regulations that will implement it. Mountain View has used Vision First in the past and has even developed a tool, the Precise Plan, for implementing a district vision. One of Mountain View’s most important Vision First planning efforts was the community vision for Castro Street and Downtown some years ago. This Downtown vision was written into the Downtown Precise Plan that has been successfully implemented over the years to create Mountain View’s well loved downtown.
The Role Of The Community. For the long run, community support of land use decisions is essential. But in recent years, much community reaction is based on fear – fear that future development will prove to be bad and must be opposed. Although this NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) approach may prevent some bad development, it can also preclude much-needed good development. How to tell the difference? Some suggestions:
- Get people involved early so they can learn the details of new development and not have to react negatively out of fear of the unknown.
- Give people information before asking for their opinions. If people express a view before they fully understand the choices, they will often be reluctant to admit error and change their public position. Avoid that problem: Information first and decision second.
- Give people balanced information so they can weigh the good and the bad. Balanced information generates credibility.
- Give people fundamental background information so they have a framework for making informed decisions. People make wiser decisions when they understand the background and long-term consequences of the choices.
- Use task forces, community workshops, design charrettes and other tools to give people hands-on participation in local decision-making. People take more ownership of decisions they have helped create.
No comments:
Post a Comment