"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

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.

Creating Walkable Neighborhoods

by smartgrowth.org

Walkable communities are desirable places to live, work, learn, worship and play, and therefore a key component of smart growth. Their desirability comes from two factors. First, walkable communities locate within an easy and safe walk goods (such as housing, offices, and retail) and services (such as transportation, schools, libraries) that a community resident or employee needs on a regular basis. Second, by definition, walkable communities make pedestrian activity possible, thus expanding transportation options, and creating a streetscape that better serves a range of users -- pedestrians, bicyclists, transit riders, and automobiles. To foster walkability, communities must mix land uses and build compactly, and ensure safe and inviting pedestrian corridors.



Walkable communities are nothing new. Outside of the last half-century communities worldwide have created neighborhoods, communities, towns and cities premised on pedestrian access. Within the last fifty years public and private actions often present created obstacles to walkable communities. Conventional land use regulation often prohibits the mixing of land uses, thus lengthening trips and making walking a less viable alternative to other forms of travel. This regulatory bias against mixed-use development is reinforced by private financing policies that view mixed-use development as riskier than single-use development. Many communities -- particularly those that are dispersed and largely auto-dependent -- employ street and development design practices that reduce pedestrian activity.



As the personal and societal benefits of pedestrian friendly communities are realized – benefits which include lower transportation costs, greater social interaction, improved personal and environmental health, and expanded consumer choice -- many are calling upon the public and private sector to facilitate the development of walkable places. Land use and community design plays a pivotal role in encouraging pedestrian environments. By building places with multiple destinations within close proximity, where the streets and sidewalks balance all forms of transportation, communities have the basic framework for encouraging walkability.

Importance of a SQUARE

by whaday 1.30.07

Take a look at "Squares" by Mark Childs, published in 2005. It is a design manual book for urban designers around the concept of the plaza, square, green, etc. (he does discuss other forms of public space and classifies them).

In planning and architecture here in New Mexico, the plaza is a key typology we all must study. No plaza is worth its weight in frijoles without retail to ring the exterior. This is what gives it life. It is the "third place" and provides the excuse for being there at all, let alone a reason to stop.

The typical scenario (not always followed) for the Laws of the Indies settlement requirements included an open rectangle of specified proportions with the church on the north side, government functions on the south and retail on the sides.

Make sure you do consider the role of vendors in public space in some sense, though, They are extremely important in addressing some of the key factors that make public space lively (and are adaptable to locations where a permanent structure may be impractical or costly). Again, Childs' book has lots on this, as does William Whyte and the Project for Public Spaces (based largely on Whyte's writing). Food is especially important, which Childs relates to the psychologist Maslowe's "hierrchy of needs" (meet the most basic needs first).