Eco Boulevard

Excerpt from Brand Avenue

Along a new main thoroughfare in the Madrid suburb of Vallecas, ingenious "air trees" made of recycled gasworks are growing.

Equal parts garden folly, architectural icon, town square, and adaptive reuse, the enclosures are the result of a competition won by Madrid design firm ecosistemaurbano:
Ecosistemaurbano were the winners, having come up with a dynamic and futuristic answer to the two goals specified by the competition regarding the main street of Vallecas: to generate social activity and adapt an open space from the bioclimatic point of view. The architects resorted to urgent action with the aim of creating a sort of linear wood at the centre of the boulevard – a green belt of compact vegetation to be grown in the next 15 to 20 years. In the middle of a young tree plantation along the boulevard, they placed three mock gasworks. These constructions will act as focal points for the social life of the new urban settlement, which to date has no public meeting places. At the base of the three so-called “air trees”, each with a diameter of about 20 metres, a slight hollow will accommodate the normal activities of an urban park.
One has been built thus far. Two more are soon to follow.

Inside, each air tree is distinct: the first air tree has "columns of air" on the outside and climbing vines on the inside; the second will gradually be encased in vines on both exterior and interior surfaces; a third will feature vegetation on the exterior and a projection wall on the interior--a 360-degree theater for public use.

The air trees are also energy independent, offering solar-powered cooling in addition to shade:
The first air tree is the result of 16 hemicycles arranged in a circle, covered with a thermal fabric and supported by a lightweight, easily assembled frame, which is identical for the three large “dynamos”. In terms of energy these theatrical scaffoldings are self-sufficient, relying on a system of photovoltaic solar collection. An evaporation and transpiration plant has been devised for the air conditioning of these open spaces, which are situated in a zone that suffers from very high temperatures in summer. Water pumped into tanks at the top of the cylinders will be redistributed in the lower layers, where it will be vaporised. This will lower temperatures by eight to ten degrees in the small circular spaces, thus making them very pleasant places in which to relax.

Workforce Housing

exerpts from Hernando Today, March 13, 2007, Michael D. Bates

Most people are familiar with affordable housing, which the federal government defines as housing that costs no more than 30 percent of a household's monthly income. Such housing also comes with state guidelines. But workforce housing is a relatively new animal whose description varies depending on who you talk to.

The federal Urban Land Institute (ULI) defines it as housing that is affordable to those between 60 and 120 percent of the area's median income. Many households in this group do not qualify for federal programs, yet do not have enough income for adequate housing, according to the ULI.

Nicholas Nicholson, president of Nicholson Engineering Associates, said his idea of workforce housing is a household that earns $45,000 annually or less, which includes teachers, firefighters, police officers and service-related workers. These people don't make the kind of money to afford $200,000-plus homes or homes on the scale of Glen Lakes or the proposed Hickory Hill.

But whatever they call them, county commissioners have made it clear they support developers' plans to build homes that meet more realistic budgetary constraints of the citizens. You need houses for all kinds of people on all kinds of income levels, County Commissioner Rose Rocco said.

Often, there is a death in the family, and the surviving spouse is forced to downsize because of income restraints, she said. Other candidates for these types of homes are older couples who don't want the hassles of yard maintenance or empty nesters who now find they don't need large, expensive homes, she said. These types of homes also provide a springboard for couples to move up in the future, she said. You want to be able to see your young couples, those who can't afford to go into a house at this point in time, and give them a nice place to live that is within their income range, she said. There isn't a whole lot out there like that now.

"Neighborly" Housing

By Kelly Sheehan, Multi Housing News

Chicago residents who buy housing in low-income neighborhoods prefer homes that are designed to be part of their communities and not insolated from them, according to a new report by researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, a think-tank based in Cambridge, Mass., funded the year-long study.

"I'm interested in neighborhood revitalization and I study the way that the design of housing connects or doesn't connect to surrounding communities," Brent Ryan, UIC assistant professor of urban planning and policy, told MHN. "Since there is so much housing being constructed in Chicago right now, we asked the question, 'Does the design of new urban developments popping up around the city affect the value of housing?' As it turns out, it does."

Ryan and Rachel Weber, a fellow UIC associate professor of urban planning and policy, analyzed assessed values of housing built between 1993 and 2003 in parts of Bronzeville, Bucktown, East Garfield Park, Lawndales, Ukrainian Village and Wicker Park. Every census tract in the analysis had a poverty rate of at least 20 percent in 1990, according to federal standards.

Buyers are willing to pay 33 to 50 percent more for units in small multifamily buildings or single-family homes with entrances that face the street and parking that faces the rear, according to the report. Buyers also favor relatively short setbacks from the street and designs similar to those used for neighboring buildings.

"The value differential implies that buyers of these homes recognize the connections of this housing to the neighborhoods, whether those connections are physical, social or economic," Ryan said. "This might be expected in higher-income neighborhoods, but it’s more surprising in low-income neighborhoods, given that the literature portrays an overriding concern for personal and property security."

Ryan and Weber defined three basic housing design models common to many U.S. cities. They are:


Infill , or housing built on scattered individual lots by multiple developers, which is visually in keeping with surrounding housing. Infill is common in older neighborhoods where houses were demolished one at a time due to deterioration and arson, such as Bronzeville, East Garfield Park, Humboldt Park and North Kenwood.

Traditional neighborhood development, or large planned communities that maintain the neighborhood’s street grid, which face the street and are relatively close to it. They do not have rear parking. An example is North Town Village on the Near North Side.

Enclave or self-contained complexes on large sites, often behind a gate or wall, which are consciously separated from their surroundings.

Many enclaves and traditional neighborhood developments are built on former industrial or institutional sites. Homan Square in Lawndale and Picardy Place in North Center are enclaves. Ryan and Weber determined that infill housing had the highest assessed values. Units in traditional neighborhood developments were assessed only slightly higher than those in enclaves. Values were lowest in enclave or traditional developments with private roadways and entrances facing private spaces. Ryan and Weber suggested that some buyers might associate the size, homogeneity and isolation of these buildings with suburban housing or 20th-century public housing. The study indicated that buyers can be swayed toward enclave or traditional developments by convenient parking in front of or attached to their homes, as well as landscaping that forms a buffer between units and streets.

Ryan told MHN that he lives in a high-rise building in Chicago because he is interested in being a part of the surrounding community. "Our study finds that other people value housing that is integrated into the community as well," he said. "People aren't moving to Chicago to live in a development that could be found in the suburbs--they're moving here to be involved in all that the city has to offer. We were surprised to find that this translated into economic value."

Weber said that the research team found that the cost per unit might be higher to build infill housing, but the cost to build enclaves also can be pushed higher because of the need for private roadways and landscaping. "

The study should be reassuring to urbanists who believe that the best way to revitalize urban neighborhoods is to respect and augment existing places rather than attempt to transform them into another type of neighborhood entirely," Ryan said.

Ryan is currently working to secure funding for a new study that will examine the spillover effects of the design of 800 to 1,200 new urban developments. "We want to look into how the design of these new urban developments affect the housing around them," he said.

5 Sustainable Reuse Principles

by Alan Mallach, Research Director, National Housing Institute

REUSE PRINCIPLE 1: The ultimate goal of all reuse strategies is the reuse of vacant properties in ways that are appropriate and sustainable

• Appropriate for the site and area, taking into account redevelopment plans and long term strategies for the area. It means not only that the land use is appropriate, but that the development or building is designed and sited so that it improves the area or reinforces its positive features, such as architectural or historic character
• Sustainable in that it enhances the long-term social, economic and physical vitality of the community, be it a block, a neighborhood, or the city as a whole.

REUSE PRINCIPLE 2: Sound reuse strategies must be based on an understanding of the market, and must be responsive to the market

• Understand how the market works in the community and region
• Identify market strengths and weaknesses in your neighborhood and city – strengths can be:
  · A major institution, such as a university or medical center
  · A historic district, or an area with attractive and undervalued houses
  · A major park, or water body
  · An ethnic neighborhood, or a cluster of stores and restaurants
  · Proximity to downtown, or to a public transit hub
• Identify target markets and opportunities :
  · People who live elsewhere in the region
  · People who are moving into the region from outside the area
  · People who live in the community – never underestimate the importance of the people who are already in the community to drive future revitalization
• Develop strategies based on target markets and market opportunities
• Design incentives to stimulate – not replace – the market
• The most effective incentives are those that leverage private investment by filling the market gap between the cost of creating the opportunity and its resulting market value.

REUSE PRINCIPLE 3: Sound reuse strategies should be grounded in a vision of the community’s future, and based on well-grounded plans designed to make that future happen.

• Create a vision for the future of the city and each neighborhood
• Take planning seriously
• A plan is more than pretty pictures – design the plan to serve as a guide for implementation and action
• Engage everyone in the planning process, particularly the residents of the area to be redeveloped – not as a pro forma matter, but meaningfully
• Follow the plan – not slavishly, but seriously – treat it as the road map to the future.
• Evaluate the plan regularly – if it’s working, keep going – if not, change it.

REUSE PRINCIPLE 4: Sites should be reused in ways that make the not just the property, but the entire community a better place

• Reuse decisions must be based on sound community design principles
• Respect the past – new development of vacant sites should fit harmoniously with the existing fabric of a community
• Develop and enforce design standards to ensure that new development is compatible and consistent
• Recognize the strengths of urban neighborhoods, and reinforce them through reuse of vacant properties
• Create green neighborhoods – use vacant properties to create open spaces

REUSE PRINCIPLE 5: Within the city and neighborhood framework, specific decisions about reuse of specific sites should be rational ones, based on specific reuse criteria:

• Is the proposed reuse consistent with the long term vision and with the plans that have been adopted to further that vision?
• Does the proposed reuse further specific citywide policy goals, such as creating jobs or increasing the homeownership rate?
• Does the proposed reuse respond to preferences and desires of the residents of the community, such as a need for more affordable – or for move-up – housing, or better neighborhood-scale shopping?
• Does the proposed reuse reflect present or anticipated future market demand?
• Is the proposed reuse responsible, in terms of present and future public sector cost and the availability of resources?

Considerations for Live-Work Space

by Zimmerman Volk

“Live-work” is a unit or building type that has been designed to accommodate non-residential
uses in addition to, or combined with living quarters. Live-work units are commonly
proposed in new traditional neighborhoods or new town centers, particularly as a transition
from residential to commercial areas or as a means of introducing small-scale retail.
The growing number of home-based businesses in the United States (reported in 1997 as four
million) is often cited as a justification for live-work. However, there is an important
distinction between a “home-based business” and a “business-based home.” Most home-based
businesses can be accommodated in almost any kind of dwelling unit. In contrast, the
business-based home is a true live-work unit: a dwelling unit with a configuration that is
influenced or even dictated by the non-residential activities.
Four live-work development considerations:

1. Flexibility
Live-work units should be flexible in order to respond to economic, social and technological
changes over time. The unit configuration must also be flexible in order to comply with the
requirements of the Fair Housing Amendments Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

2. Non-restrictive zoning
Compatible uses (retail, office, residential) should be permitted on blocks in and surrounding
the neighborhood center, regardless of unit configuration.

3. Tenure
Rental live-work units are absorbed faster than for-sale. The financial commitment of a lease
is small and of relatively short duration compared with a mortgage. A for-sale live-work unit
represents an opportunity for the small investor: a resident investor can lease the flex space for
residential, retail or office use; a non-resident investor can lease both the main residential space
and the flex space.

4. Timing
Live-work is not exempt from normal commercial real estate dynamics. In new
neighborhoods, live-work should be one of the later building types to be introduced, not the
first. It is easier to capture the full value and appeal of live-work units in locations where the
benefits of traditional neighborhoods are readily apparent.

Sydney's Greenest Building

by Jorge

30 Bond
What’s more impressive than a building design that aims to reduce its greenhouse emissions to a 5 Star Australian Building Greenhouse Rating benchmark, which is the approximate equivalent to that of a Gold LEED greenhouse certification level? How about one which has proven to meet its target and improves on it. This is the case of the building known as 30 The Bond located at Hickson Road in Sydney.

When Lend Lease, its builder and current owner decided to create its new headquarters in Sydney it decided to hold numerous employee workshops to determine what they believed were the important priorities. Those priorities were reduction in pollutants, increase in environment quality, water management (as Australia has now been in what seems a permanent drought), waste management and a green area for them to enjoy. All of this resulted in an extremely well designed commercial building.

Built over the old contaminated gasworks site, which had to be restored, 30 The Bond was the first building in Australia to achieve the rating of 5 stars ABGR, with a certified emission that resulted in over a 20% reduction over the already stringent targets set by its initial 5 star design commitment, as well as receiving a 5 star Green Star - office as built rating from the Australian Green Building Council . It achieved this rating by using chilled beams (a first in Australia), wintergarden rooms and automatically controlled external shades to keep the heat out as well as providing external views to 60% of its occupants. It also contains low VOC carpets and paints, a roof garden with native plants and timber decking from sustainable sources. Water saving fittings as well as a sub-metering system to allow for any leak detection sealed the deal.

And while all of that is important, what we like here at Inhabitat is when we can achieve all this with style, and this building does it in droves. When entering the building you cannot help to notice the exposed four-storey sandstone wall that serves as one wall of the atrium. Aside from being a reminder of the site’s history, as it was originally cut by convicts early in Sydney’s history, it also serves as insulation as well as providing natural cooling to the atrium.
The 9 storey building was designed by PTW Architects (who we recentally raved about for their “Bubble Building”) in conjunction with WHO interior architecture and Bovis Lend Lease.

Award Winning Sustainable Design

by Evelyn

Collaborative Designworks in Houston, Texas proves that sustainable design practices can lead to award-winning architecture. Their 505 Housing was recently one of the 19 recipients of the American Institute of Architect’s (AIA) 2007 Housing Awards, winning 1st prize in the One-and Two-Family Production Homes category. Now in its seventh year, the award recognizes the best of the best in housing design while promoting the importance of housing as “a necessity of life, a sanctuary for the human spirit, and a valuable national resource.”

The 505 incorporates 4 units on a site eligible to hold 5, allowing space for yards and optimum utilization of daylight due to the reduction of shared walls. Each window was placed to maximize views, let in a considerable amount of daylight, maintain each unit’s individual privacy, and provide natural cross-ventilation. Other sustainable ideas deployed in the design of The 505 include permeable ground coverings, stack-vented rain-screens on the east and west facades, radiant barrier roofing, recycled/sustainable materials and finishes, tank-less water heaters, and high-efficiency appliances and equipment.

Bodega-Innovative Retail

If you’re starting a new independent clothing store in Boston’s typically fashion-challenged environs, you’d probably take out an ad to promote your grand opening and give away cheap-but-seemingly-generous swag to the first days’ customers. But if you’re opening a high-end-streetwear boutique meant to become a global destination and you have a clue about the Internet-hyped urban market, you’d instead keep your store on the down low, build the environment into something that’s more like a living-art installation than like a straight-product shill, and wait for the customers to come to you.

Bodega’s retail concept is a stroke of genius: one of the birthplaces of hip-hop/graffiti/sneaker/urban culture is the corner store. Even one of Adidas’s most recent marketing stunts for its relaunched early-’80s product line Adicolor was to randomly display seven individual shoe samples in various New York corner stores. So while there are a couple of “magical” secrets about the place that its inventive owners are still trying to keep hush-hush, Bodega is not only designed to convert into an art gallery, but there’s also an awesome fully functional bodega on site, replete with grape sodas, candy necklaces, and ceiling tiles that have had coffee poured on them to mimic water stains. Owner Mak says with a smirk, “We wanted to get flytraps that already had flies in it and mice traps that had mice in it.”

In truth, Bodega is innovative not only for Boston, but for retail. “Will Bostonians really get it? That’s not really our aim,” says Mak. “This is a global market. But we’d like to put a flag in the sand and be like, there’s really good stuff coming out of Boston. SoHo isn’t the only scene on earth.”

"Place-making" Arizona Style

Tempe officials hope to make downtown a "place" - a vibrant hub of pedestrian activity engulfing Papago Park, the Mill Avenue District and Tempe Town Lake.

To do that, Tempe needs a seamless connection of pedestrian-friendly roads and walkways throughout the region. It needs to cluster landmarks, destinations and icons close together, then build attractive passageways between them, Phil Myrick, vice president of Project for Public Spaces, said at a meeting Monday.

"When you push them together, it makes more energy," Myrick said. "There should be so many things to do that everybody in the community has the opportunity to go there and spend hours."
Tempe hired the New York-based nonprofit consulting organization to help bring people to downtown Tempe landmarks.

Through town hall meetings and volunteer data collectors, including more than 100 ASU students, the consultants are identifying the key destinations that can become "places."
Myrick calls his project "placemaking" - turning a neighborhood, city or destination from somewhere people can't wait to get out of to somewhere they never want to leave."
[Tempe has] all the elements, but they're not organized in a way that makes sense," Myrick told a joint meeting that included the Tempe City Council and the boards of directors from the Tempe Chamber of Commerce, Tempe Convention and Visitors Bureau, and the Downtown Tempe Community.

He then presented a preliminary plan to link Tempe's landmarks and destinations in a way that would entice pedestrians to stop and spend time instead of passing through.
"We can't leave it to the private sector to come up with a vision for this lake," Myrick said. "It's just not going to happen."

City staff, volunteers and ASU planning students combed Mill Avenue and other locations, asking questions and gathering data to pinpoint the most popular destinations, their strengths and their shortcomings, said Eric Hansen, a Tempe planner who has been working on the project

Role of arts in urban revitalization

Below is an excerpt of a talk given at The Peabody Institute Forum. Speakers included Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Dr. William Brody, President of Johns Hopkins University,Adam Gordon, Editor-in-chief of The Next American City.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg:
We’re here to consider the role of arts in urban revitalization. Probably can’t have a better example of that than the Peabody campus. It’s right in the middle of Baltimore. It’s not quite as famous as Camden Yards, but it is getting there.

Arts and arts organizations seriously are a vital component of a city’s cultural life, particularly for the diverse communities that live there. They are also magnets for people that come from outside: tourists, of course, but also talented and ambitious dreamers.

Art defines our lives. Art pumps us up and makes us complete and gives us something to put a smile on our faces about, as well as gets the brain cells to keep going. When you talk about the pulse of the city, in many ways you really are talking about the artists that live there and the artists that work there. Art is one of the ways in which ethnic communities express themselves. Not everybody has had the kind of education that lets them write well. There are people who just instinctively have the ability to communicate in other ways. I think that great cities recognize this.

Art is about economics as well. I don’t think there’s any question why New York City’s tourism is the way it is. I was with a very well known clothes designer last night at dinner, and he had a friend coming to town who said, “Can you get me a hotel room?” He said both he and his secretary dialed for an hour before they finally found one room. New York City is full, and the reason the hotels are full, the reason the tourists come there, is because they want to see the museums, the performing arts centers–the tiny museums and not just the big ones. Art brings in millions and millions of dollars to any city. It transforms whole neighborhoods.

One of the great challenges we have is to bring artists into communities that are down on their heels and have the artists transform the communities–and that works–but as Mayor O’Malley knows, the great challenge is how do you keep it so the artists are able to live there as these neighborhoods become magnets and more and more people want to move in and drive the starving artists out. There’s no easy answer to that. What is clear is that culture changes neighborhoods, and that all of these things take money to do. There’s no question the arts have to be supported. They have to be supported by private philanthropy as well as public philanthropy. Public philanthropy is great, but it’s private philanthropy that really lets people be totally creative. If we didn’t have private philanthropy we’d be back in the old masters days. We certainly never would have had something as blasphemous as impressionism. Medicine–the same thing is true: you would never try anything new because the public’s money can’t do that.

I think the stakes are very high. If you falter in your community or in your city and you walk away from the arts, it can be generations before you can turn that around. Once it becomes unfashionable to go someplace it stays unfashionable for a long time. It is also a very competitive world. Mayor O’Malley has got to get people to move here; Mayor Bloomberg’s got to get people to move to New York. People have choices today that they never had before.

Low-Rise High Density Housing

Borneo Sporenburg is one of the most celebrated contemporary examples of dense urban housing within a Western European context. It caters both to the aspirations of middle-class urban dwellers and to a social agenda for regeneration and community renewal.

Borneo Sporenburg was a dock area on the outskirts of Amsterdam serving trade with Holland’s colonies in the East. As part of the phased regeneration of these now disused areas, a residential brief of 2500 dwellings was set for this zone, dictating a high density of housing, despite the predominant market demand for a suburban self-contained house. The development demonstrates that family housing is not incompatible with dense urban areas. It reverses the predominant social trend towards a dense urban core inhabited by childless couples, singles and the extremes of high and low income, and a suburban fringe occupied by middle-class families.

Concept and method
West 8’s masterplan was based on a new approach towards the familiar demands of single-family houses – generous private outdoor space, a secure parking space, safety and individuality. Usually associated with a suburban and low-density form, West 8 created a framework for high-density living that nevertheless satisfied all the demands of a conventional household. It proposed a typology that was also reassuringly reminiscent of historical models in street layout and proportion. West 8’s masterplan set strict yet imaginative rules for the development including guidelines for streetscape, parking, private open space, storey height and plot width. West 8 also directly designed several landscape features, such as the three steel footbridges.

Volkshaus

Devised by a design group called Landship, (see also Be-haus, A-Kit, and Oji-Group) the Volkshaus concept was intended as a means to realize the simple practicality embodied by the Volkswagen Beetle in a DIY home building system. Bearing some characteristics of a plug-in architecture platform, it uses a system which combines 4x9.5" (105x240mm) wood beams and 4x4" posts connected with a concealed modular steel joint and modular floor, roof, and prefabricated insulated wall panels which nail into place on the post and beam frame. The system integrates both Japanese and western styles of design with modern materials and new eco-sensible systems for energy and climate control, such as a roof trombe wall style heat collector, a roof-peak passive ventilator system, and integrated photovoltaic panels. It has so far been used for about 2000 homes in Japan and is offered in a variety of kits from a community of companies specializing in making products for it. Unfortunately, the exchange rates and the fact that almost all building lumber in Japan is imported makes the cost of importing these kits to the US unattainable.

Crime Prevention Through Design

By Diane Zahm

Our urban neighborhoods are suffering from years of suburban development, which has destroyed their physical, economic and social fabric, and left it torn and frayed. In some neighborhoods this process has created an urban wasteland of vacant lots, buildings, streets and sidewalks that have become havens for crime. It is these vacancies—or voids—that are now the most problematic. Abandoned buildings serve as residences for drug users and prostitutes. Vacant lots full of trash and weeds attract homeless persons or become the local hangout for gang members. Vacated or unused alleys function as a street network for drug dealers.

In many ways, land-use policies exacerbate the problem. Long ago, in an effort to promote economic development, downtown neighborhoods were rezoned for commercial or industrial uses, eliminating any opportunity for ongoing investment in residential or mixed-use development. Instead, property ownership became highly speculative. Nonresident investors accumulated parcels for profit, all the while renting to tenants who themselves lacked any emotional investment in the neighborhood. Real property tax revenues dried up; so did neighborhood support services. Grocery stores, pharmacies, department stores, banks, doctors and dentists—all moved to the suburbs. But this was not just a loss of residents or taxes or services; the process destroyed the dynamic mix of uses and activities that made urban neighborhoods vibrant and contributed to community safety and security.

Studies show that crime occurs most frequently in those places without observers or guardians; in other words, in the voids. Many years ago Jane Jacobs, in her book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, offered observations regarding those elements that contribute to a safe and healthy urban neighborhood. Among them are a mix of uses, clearly defined public and private spaces, 24-hour activity, eyes on the street, adequate lighting, uniform setbacks, architectural variety and short blocks. Many planners and designers took Jacobs' insights as a wake-up call, but were undeterred by her disdain for the "doctrine of salvation by bricks." Their new plans called for mixed uses, uniform setbacks and other important physical elements without considering the extent to which residents, property owners, business managers, visitors and others must be engaged in order for a neighborhood to be truly safe. For what good is a mix of uses if the activity they generate never attracts people who care about the neighborhood around them, who pick up litter and scrub off graffiti and report drug dealing? Without them the neighborhood is also without the observers or guardians who are so critical to safety and security, a need that cannot be filled by police or private security.

Traditional neighborhood development represents an important step toward safer, more secure urban neighborhoods. It begins by mending the physical and economic fabric of the neighborhood, by filling the voids left by vacant lots, buildings and alleyways. Open spaces, then, are no longer merely voids, but carefully located and designed streets, walks, yards and parks that knit together the uses and activities that surround them. Traditional neighborhood development has the potential to re-establish the social network of the neighborhood as well. Of course, traditional neighborhood development cannot guarantee "community," but it can provide a dynamic and attractive mix of uses, with lot sizes, building scales and floor plans that reflect contemporary lifestyles. If traditional neighborhood development is successful, no space or place in the neighborhood will be without a guardian or owner, someone who participates in its management and upkeep—and who, therefore, helps to prevent crime.

Net Zero Energy Building

by Jetson Green

I just thought I would blog about this real quick because it caught my attention in the latest edition of BusinessWeek. There was a full page ad saying, "Imagine that. You can do well in the world without hurting it." Pictured in the ad is a pretty neat looking building (above), which is interactive at www.utc.com/curious. Go give it a look...United Technologies' (NYSE: UTX) green building page has information on electrochromic glazing, 100% recycled structural steel, vertical axis wind power turbines, photovoltaic solar power arrays, zero VOC paints, green roofs with an integrated reclamation systems, conserving energy, fuel cell power plants, and combined cooling, heating and power (CCHP) systems. Maybe someone should actually build the structure that's in this rendering.

Mixed-Use Neighborhoods Decrease Risk of Obesity

Confirming last year's study by University of Maryland's National Center for Smart Growth researcher Reid Ewing, who found higher obesity rates in counties with sprawling rather than compact development, a new Georgia Institute of Technology in-depth study of links between weight and the built environment in metro Atlanta, led by University of British Columbia Associate Professor Lawrence D. Frank, shows the relative risk of obesity increases 35 percent from the most to the least mixed-use areas.

A Trainspotter's Paradise

Birmingham Railroad Reservation Park
Forum for Urban Design

Some cities have a river; others have a harbor. In Birmingham Alabama, residents cozy up to an 11-track railroad corridor. Still very active, the railroad serves as a vital emblem of local history and character but also, by running through the heart of downtown, splits the city in half. To help stitch the downtown back together, Tom Leader Studio’s masterplan re-envisions the area as a park that puts Birmingham’s train infrastructure in the spotlight.

Tom Leader’s design concept for the park was apparent from the get-go. As principal of Tom Leader Studio, he explained that “rather than sticking a park next to a rail viaduct and calling it a day, the idea was to put primary park circulation up at the level of the train because they love trains. [Birmingham residents] actually go on weekends and trainspot on some of these overpasses.” Using this quirky hobby as a cue, the firm aimed to provide greater access to the trains by designing a catwalk structure that runs parallel to the rail corridor. The park, which will cover a total of 21 acres, is organized into different zones with themes of rail, community, and nature. Besides the rail catwalk, the plan features a community-oriented segment at the eastern end that includes an amphitheater with a whimsical rain curtain, an arts plaza and a stage platform for regional events such as Birmingham’s celebrated “Crawfish Boil.” The middle and western edge fulfill the “nature” piece of the vision through a zone of open space with several knolls that Leader describe as waves that “rise up and down against the railroad track.” Though filled with intimate and unique details such as the wave-like hills and the rain curtain, the park’s strongest asset still remains its dynamic rail-oriented circulation.

For the Railroad Reservation Park, Tom Leader Studio collaborated with ConsultEcon, and Tom Martin economic planners for the client, the City of Birmingham Mayor’s Office. Currently, the plan is being further developed through schematic designs, and construction is projected to begin later in 2007.

The "Sameness of Communities"

Change is the new permanence, and as Adam Gopnik pointed out so elegantly in a recent New Yorker column, this yields a weird sameness everywhere. Manhattan is but one example of this phenomenon:

...New York is safer and richer but less like itself, an old lover who has gone for a face-lift and come out looking like no one in particular. The wrinkles are gone, but so is the face. This transformation is one you see on every street corner in Manhattan, and now in Brooklyn, too, where another local toy store or smoked-fish emporium disappears and another bank branch or mall store opens. For the first time in Manhattan’s history, it has no bohemian frontier. Another bookstore closes, another theatre becomes a condo, another soulful place becomes a sealed residence. These are small things, but they are the small things that the city’s soul clings to.
By a city we don’t mean, or just mean, a place where many people live; we mean a place where many kinds of people live, all more or less on top of each other. Though Mrs. Astor knew nothing of the Lower East Side, and the Lower East Side could only dream of Mrs. Astor, they were still nodes on one grid. In the course of any even semiconscious wandering through the city—much less the kind of conscious wondering that marks the city’s poetry and literature from Walt Whitman to Alfred Kazin and beyond—each group bumped visually and tangibly into the other. Only twenty-five years ago, a walk from Tribeca to SoHo and the Lower East Side would show as many kinds and classes—rich, aspiring, immigrant—as it had a century before; now that walk is likely to show only the same six stores and the same two banks and the same one shopper.

(Left: typical Lower East Side street scene, around 1900.)

The demise of insular enclaves of all sorts is not necessarily bad, if only what replaces these things is the ideal multicolor, socioeconomically diverse metropolis that most people dream about owning together. (Which no one believes the gentrified city is, except perhaps for the people who can easily afford it.) So how that distinctiveness is maintained, preserved, or encouraged across the "one grid" of the city is thrown into extremely sharp relief.

Sustainable Building Checklist

workinproperty.com 06 March 2007

A checklist has been prepared by Checklist South East to help all parties in the development process consider the true impact of any project.

The checklist is intended for the use of developers to ensure that they have tackled the critical issues in their proposal. Similarly it is adopted by planners when considering an application.
The Checklist takes into account industry standards such as BREEAM, Ecohomes, Urban Design Compendium, National Standards Framework.

The Checklist is divided into sub sections, as taken from their website:

• Climate Change and Energy To ensure that new developments are appropriately adapted to the impacts of present and future climate change and to minimise their own impact on greenhouse gases, flooding, heat gain, water resources and water quality.
• Community
  To ensure that the development supports a vibrant, diverse and inclusive community which integrates with surrounding communities.
• Place Making To ensure that the most sustainable sites are used for development and that the design process, layout structure and form provide a development that is appropriate to the local context and supports a sustainable community.
• Transport and Movement To ensure people can reach facilities they need by appropriate transport modes, encouraging walking and public transport use and reducing the use of private cars for shorter journeys.
• Ecology To ensure that the ecological value of the site is conserved and enhanced maintaining biodiversity and protecting existing natural habitats which can contribute to and enhance the amenity of the area.
• Resources To promote the sustainable use of resources, including the reduction and re-use of wastes, related to both the construction and operation of new developments.
• Business To ensure that the development contributes to the sustainable economic vitality of the local area and region.
• Buildings To ensure that the design of individual buildings does not undermine the sustainability of the overall development.
  Checklist South East allows the various parties to answer the numerous questions on-line, providing policy guidance as well as the relative importance of each question.

An important tool in an ever changing (planning) climate..

"Complete" Streets

Courier-Journal 3/8/2007

''For decades, we in Louisville -- and cities around the nation -- have built roads only for vehicles,'' said Metro Mayor Jerry Abramson in endorsement of its proposed ''Complete Streets'' design guidelines, which also focus on sidewalks, bike lanes and curbs easy for wheelchairs and baby-strollers, confident the new policy will rectify that old ''urban planning mistake.''

Promoted by the Washington-based National Complete Streets Coalition and the Prescott, Arizona-based Thunderhead Alliance of bicycle and pedestrian advocacy organizations, the Complete Street guidelines are in force in 22 cities so far.

For Louisville Metro, writes Louisville Courier-Journal reporter Marcus Green, they were drafted and explained in a 163-page manual by a broad-based area committee, which included neighborhood activists, transit champions and advocates for the disabled.

They agreed that all new streets should have dedicated lanes or paths for cyclists, along with pedestrian-oriented and wheelchair-friendly sidewalks -- requirements also applicable to street realignment and improvement wherever possible.

''You have to think about that at the time of construction,'' said Louisville Metro Planning & Design Director Charles Cash, to make local residents aware that they will have ''alternative means of getting where they want to go.''

Set as a key goal at the city's bicycle summit two year ago, the reporter notes, the anticipated Complete Streets policy has already prompted officials to earmark $1 million in federal money for planning work on a seven-mile bikeway on River Road, the future top cycling corridor along the Ohio River.

''Bike paths and bike lanes are good,'' observed local cycling advocate David Morse, who lived for several years in the bike-friendly Los Angeles and San Francisco bay areas, ''because they inform drivers that, yes, bicyclists are legitimate transportation users just like car drivers.''

Smart Codes For Smart Places

by Jason Miller

Mention zoning codes to the average person and the reaction is predictable: a stone-faced stare, glazed eyes, a yawn. But communities across the United States are discovering that the very fabric of their neighborhoods and towns is built on those codes—or, more accurately, because of them. And communities are doing something about these codes.

Conventional zoning codes are fundamentally flawed, says Geoffrey Ferrell, a principal with Geoffrey Ferrell Associates in Washington, D.C. “Ever since the industrial years, the conventional separation-of-uses approach has been the wrong approach to control”—to keeping unpleasant uses away from the residential areas. “It has devolved to micromanagement of use and density. The [built environment] that has resulted is very, very poor about 99 percent of the time. No one’s happy with what they’ve been given.”

Ferrell’s co-principal, Mary Madden, agrees. “That micromanagement of uses has resulted in a huge number of unintended consequences, namely, suburban sprawl. Everybody hates sprawl, but the builders aren’t violating rules; they’re building exactly what the codes call for. Those codes are a blueprint for sprawl. Under the existing conventional codes, you can’t help but build it.”

Community frustration with conventional codes and the type of development they spawn has driven new urbanist- and smart growth–minded planners to create new zoning codes. While these new codes go by many names— form-based codes, new urbanist codes, TND (traditional neighborhood development) ordinances, smart zoning, the SmartCode© from Miami-based town planners Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company—they are all designed to create places that emulate the urbanism of older, well-loved places, while preserving rural areas and historic sites threatened by conventional development.

Communities that have replaced their conventional codes with new ordinances have generally reported success in the process leading up to the new codes’ implementation, as well as favorable upturns in their real estate markets.

Live Theater & Shopping

excerpt from Shopping Centers Today

Federal Realty Investment Trust’s Village at Shirlington, in Arlington, Va., gained a dramatic anchor last month — literally. The locally based Signature Theatre production company moved from its space in an industrial garage to a 48,000-square-foot playhouse at the center. The Village is an outdoor, Main Street-style shopping center last renovated in 1989 and made up largely of restaurants and cafés. Tenants include Capital City Brewing Company, Caribou Coffee and Johnny Rockets. Shoppers can have dinner and then see a show, and Sam Sweet, managing director of Signature, says this has worked out very well. “We’ve promoted it as a total entertainment experience,” he said. “Instead of having to find parking and run across the street, people can park in the free garage, walk into Shirlington, perhaps have dinner and see a show.”


The playhouse is in a four-floor complex, with the first floor occupied by the Arlington County Library. The mostly musical repertoire includes Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods, which has been a big success, according to Sweet. Walls of glass in the lobby allow patrons to sit at the bar and look out onto the shopping crowd. With the mixture of retail and theater entertainment, Sweet says, traffic has increased, with more visitors walking in for ticket purchases.

SOCIALIZATION OF RETAIL SPACE

by David B. Polinchock, Brand Experience Lab

The impact of socialization of the retail space and the impact of online shopping on retail is growing daily. With the growing impact of Internet shopping, it's critical that the physical retail space adapts to this trend. What is the value of real estate for retailers today? Does a record store really need to exist as it's been for the past 40-plus years? What about banks, grocery stores, fashion retailers? If, thanks to the Internet, people are much more comfortable getting their purchases sent to them, rather then getting them right away, do we need that much space dedicated to merchandise? If we could do away with the inventory portion of most retail spaces today, what else would you do with the space? How could you make it a much more social environment, rather then being a retail environment? After all, this is exactly why places like Starbuck's or the Apple stores have boomed: they created a social space, rather than a retail space.

While people look at Starbuck's or the Apple stores and say "Yea, that's great for them, but it doesn't apply to me," I think that they're missing a huge opportunity. We think there's a coming trend to socialize the retail environment instead of just merchandising the real estate space. One such retailer plans to open this fall, Epicenter, where not only will you be able to see samples, but purchase using a "Buypod" and have everything shipped to you. They won't carry a deep inventory and may even charge you extra if you want to buy the item in the store. It will be very interesting to see how this concept works.

Socially Responsible Retail

By Amanda Gore of fashion.psfk.com

Rough Sleepers is a clever new twist on the traditional idea of a charity shop. Working with the same business model, all the proceeds go directly to the social exclusion and homelessness charity Novas, but this is no second-hand store. The rather inconspicuous facade on the main road through Camden Town hides an impressively designed space with a feast of fashion treats inside, and wonderfully friendly assistants who were very happy to guide me around the store and introduce me to the fabulous collections.
The store itself is sensitively designed by Sonoko Obuchi to emulate a shopping trolley, an object that is both the primary choice for many homeless people to transport their possessions, and a striking symbol of our consumer-led culture. A mixture of white walls, metal frame and mirrors, the space puts you inside the shopping trolley and makes you reflect on these themes.

The clothing and accessories on offer come from a range of designers from all over the world, an important point for the charity who are keen to stress this global synergy for their cause. Some designers including Robert Carey Williams, Zest by Ikuko Kato, Not Morris (Kim Jones’ team), and Ramon Barreto have created ranges exclusively for Rough Sleepers, whilst the store also sells a well-chosen range of young designers including Dexter Wong, NOM*d, Sylvia Rielle and Vinti Andrews. Currently also stocking recent LCF graduate Georgie Ichikawa, they are keen to involve graduates too, and to offer help to designers through their studio facilities located at the back of the store.
Yet another clever facet of the store is Rough Sleepers fully functioning studio/ workshop which will soon be home to the store’s four resident designers (including Georgie) who each have bartered deals enabling them to use the space for free.

Having only opened a couple of weeks ago, the store is sure to become a fashion destination for those in NW London, not only due to its unique pieces at great prices (ranging from £30 to £500), but also thanks to the guilt-free shopping it offers. Unlike the marketing ploy of Bono’s project (RED), this scheme has roots within its own community and Novas are making sure that 100% of profits are reinvested in helping the homeless in Camden and across the country. What could be more virtuous than shopping here?!

TOD...Why Now?

From Reconnecting America

Housing Preferences Are Changing:

Demand is changing dramatically because of profound demographic shifts, including the aging of baby boomers, the number of new immigrants, and the fact that younger adults prefer urban, mixed-use environments. While two-thirds of demand is still for large single-family dwellings, a third is for smaller housing choices, including apartments, townhomes, live-work spaces, and bungalows. The market isn’t meeting this demand, and the increasing competition for units in denser, mixed-use neighborhoods has caused a cycle of price increases, displacement and gentrification. There is an urgent need to increase this housing stock in order to meet market demand and protect and grow the affordable housing inventory.

Workers and Firms Prefer "24-Hour Neighborhoods":

In the past companies have preferred suburban campus environments near freeways, and regions have lured employers without regard to bigger picture development goals. But other issues are coming into play, including the rise of the "creative class," and the increasing importance of talent, technology and tolerance in a region’s economic development strategy. Because firms are chasing talent, which is choosing to locate in diverse, lively urban regions, firms now prefer these locations. A recent Jones Lang LaSalle survey found access to mass transit is very important to 70 percent of New Economy companies. And, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers' respected Emerging Trends publication, 24-Hour places are the best real estate investment locations.

Rail and Bus Systems Are In A Building Boom:

More regions are developing mass transit and more consumers are choosing mass transit over driving on congested roadways. Whereas public transit had existed primarily in older Northeastern cities, new systems have begun service in cities like Dallas, Denver, Salt Lake City, Sacramento, Charlotte, San Diego, Portland and San Jose. In fact, new rail or rapid bus systems are planned or under construction in all but three of the top 30 metropolitan areas.
At the convergence of these three trends is an opportunity to create the armature for a new growth and development strategy that meets the demand for location-efficient mixed-use places, supports regional economic growth strategies, and increases housing affordability — by increasing supply in neighborhoods with lower transportation costs. TOD occurs within a half mile radius of rail or rapid bus stations, encourages walking and cycling, has a mix of retail, commercial and residential uses, and a diversity of housing types suited to a mix of generations and incomes. It is the one strategy that promises to simultaneously meet these seemingly disparate goals.

Indeed, transit-oriented development has been touted as the palliative to traffic congestion and air quality problems, the high cost of housing, and Americans’ need for physical activity. But analysts have looked at projects on the ground nationwide and found few that deliver on this promise, and they’ve concluded TOD offers few advantages. In fact, the truth lies somewhere in between. Most so-called transit-oriented projects are simply conventional development located adjacent to transit, and cannot live up to the potential of truly effective transit-oriented development.

Municipalities Adopting TOD Policy

By Amy Gardner and Bill Turque
Washington Post,March 13, 2007

Fairfax County embraced a new policy yesterday encouraging dense, pedestrian-friendly development near current and future transit stations, continuing the transformation of car-friendly suburban neighborhoods.

The policy, approved unanimously by the county Board of Supervisors, will promote "compact" development with a mix of housing, office space and retail stores within a half-mile of rail stations. The most intensive development would lie within a quarter-mile of stations. Fairfax is home to 10 transit stations, five for Metro and five for Virginia Railway Express.

The point, supervisors and the new policy say, is to create communities that encourage walking, biking and transit use to reduce sprawl and automobile travel.

Another purpose is to create a clear definition of so-called transit-oriented development -- a term that means different things to different people.

Last June, for example, the county approved MetroWest, a development of 2,250 homes as well as office and retail space at the Vienna Metro station, over the objections of residents who said the proposal lacked the mix of uses and neighborhood input needed for successful transit-oriented development. Previously, the county blocked a nearby neighborhood from selling to a developer who planned to build a high-rise project, on the grounds that the community was too far from the Metro station to qualify for the label.

TOD or Transit-Adjacent Development

by Patrick Siegman, in Tumlin and Millard-Ball


What’s the difference between a true transit-oriented development, which will deliver
promised social and economic benefits, and a transit-adjacent development? A true TOD will include most of the following:

• The transit-oriented development lies within a five-minute walk of the transit stop, or about a quarter-mile from stop to edge. For major stations offering access to frequent high-speed service this catchment area may be extended to the measure of a 10-minute walk.

• A balanced mix of uses generates 24-hour ridership. There are places to work, to live, to learn, to relax and to shop for daily needs.

• A place-based zoning code generates buildings that shape and define memorable streets, squares, and plazas, while allowing uses to change easily over time.

• The average block perimeter is limited to no more than 1,350 feet. This generates a fine-grained network of streets, dispersing traffic and allowing for the creation of quiet and intimate thoroughfares.

• Minimum parking requirements are abolished.

• Maximum parking requirements are instituted: For every 1,000 workers, no more than 500 spaces and as few as 10 spaces are provided.

• Parking costs are “unbundled,” and full market rates are charged for all parking spaces. The exception may be validated parking for shoppers.

• Major stops provide BikeStations, offering free attended bicycle parking, repairs, and rentals. At minor stops, secure and fully enclosed bicycle parking is provided.

• Transit service is fast, frequent, reliable, and comfortable, with a headway of 15 minutes or less.

• Roadway space is allocated and traffic signals timed primarily for the convenience of walkers and cyclists.

• Automobile level-of-service standards are met through congestion pricing measures, or disregarded entirely.

• Traffic is calmed, with roads designed to limit speed to 30 mph on major streets and 20 mph on lesser streets.

Transit Oriented Development: Defined

Transit Oriented Development (TOD) refers to residential and Commercial Centers designed to maximize access by Transit and Nonmotorized transportation, and with other features to Encourage Transit Ridership. A TOD neighborhood has a center with a rail or bus station, surrounded by relatively high-density development, with progressively lower-density spreading outwards. For example, the neighborhood center may have a transit station and a few multi-story commercial and residential buildings surrounded by several blocks of townhouses and small-lot single-family residential, and larger-lot single-family housing farther away. TOD neighborhoods typically have a diameter of one-quarter to one-half mile (stations spaced half to 1 mile apart), which represents pedestrian scale distances. It includes these design features (Morris, 1996):

• The neighborhood is designed for Cycling and Walking, with adequate facilities and attractive street conditions.


• Streets have good Connectivity and Traffic Calming features to control vehicle traffic speeds.


• Mixed-use development that includes shops, schools and other public services, and a variety of housing types and prices, within each neighborhood.


• Parking Management to reduce the amount of land devoted to parking compared with conventional development, and to take advantage of the parking cost savings associated with reduced automobile use.

Transit Oriented Development generally requires at least 6 residential units per acre in residential areas and 25 employees per acre in Commercial Centers, and about twice that for premium quality transit, such as rail service (Pushkarev and Zupan, 1977; Ewing, 1999; Robert Cervero, et al, 2004). These densities create adequate transit ridership to justify frequent service, and help create active street life and commercial activities, such as grocery stores and coffee shops, within convenient walking distance of homes and worksites. However, other factors are also important beside simple density. Transit ridership is also affected by factors such as employment density and Clustering, demographic mix (students, seniors and lower-income people tend to be heavy transit users), transit pricing and rider subsidies, Parking Pricing and Road Tolls, the quality of transit service, the effectiveness of transit Marketing, walkability, and street design. A particular density may be inadequate to support transit service by itself, but becomes adequate if implemented with a variety of Transit Encouragement and Smart Growth strategies. The assumption that transit cannot be effective except in large cities with high population densities can be a self-fulfilling prophecy, because it results in transport and land use decisions that favor automobile travel over transit.