Coding for Character: The Architecture of Community |
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APRIL 29, 2011 10:12 AM Jump to Comments
Coding for Character: TheArchitecture of Community
My career as an urban designer has been spent, not
surprisingly, doing what urban designers do: crafting plans and
regulations for municipalities to build great places. A side effect
of this, much to my wonderful wifes chagrin, is that whenever
we travel I remain on the job, annoyingly interrupting her
shopping with some variation of: Would you look at that
terminated vista!
She walks away as I take 37 pictures of the enclosure!
We willingly pay thousands of dollars to travel long distances to soak in the
character of wonderful places. My wife intuitively knows that the shopping
will rarely disappoint, and I know that these places are invigorating,
inspiring and flat out illegal to build in my home town.
Americans can drive from one ocean to the other, stopping every day for
the same hamburger and every evening at the same hotel, as traveling in a
straight line is no longer much different than traveling in a circle. Dan
Gilbert
Gettin Paid: Placemaking and the
Importance of Compensation
Measure Local, Share Global, Part 2:
From app to main course
Words on the StreetMeasure Local, Share Global, Part2: From app to main course
Coding for Character: TheArchitecture of Community
Gettin Paid: Placemaking and theImportance of Compensation
Sustainability is so ten years ago Lets talk Resilience
Measure Local, Share Global:Theres an app for that
Ignorance was Bliss: How myurban learnin almost ruined
H O M E A B O U T U S E V E N T S
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Coding for Character: The Architecture of Community |
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The roads to Sedona, Taos, Kona or just about anywhere else are paved with
supercenters, office parks, and vacant strip malls. Placeless places whose
future relevance rests on our ability to wrangle redevelopment, formerly
vilified as urban renewal, in service of somewhat smarter outcomes.
But newsflash: Redevelopment is just about dead. Here in California, the
Governor is raiding local redevelopment coffers to balance this years
budget. And yet, at the local level, we continue to hang onto redevelopments
past slash-and-burn approach to generate tax revenue to keep the lights on,
fill potholes, and keep pension plans funded.
Lets be honest. Our cities are broke and redevelopment was unpredictable
at best except in causing a lot of angst among the general public. And,
despite Einsteins definition of insanity, a majority of our nations Planning
Departments have stubbornly continued to use the same Land Use-based
planning tools over and over again, expecting different outcomes. These
same municipalities have also separated placemaking responsibilities: Public
Works regulates streets; Park & Rec regulates civic spaces; General Services
builds civic buildings; and now, with planning departments being cut across
the nation, it appears Code Enforcement will be regulating private
development.
It is time to bring out a new set of tools to help our cities grow more
strategically in our new economy and re-focus new development to
contribute towards a sense-of-place that is socially, culturally and
economically valuable.
1. ITS A NEW CENTURY, GO AHEAD AND USE NEW TOOLS
everyday places
Oberlin, Ohio, and the Promise ofPlace: A Love Letter
St. Patrick, Charles Dickens andthe Role of Beer in Community
Everything is Multiplied: Socialmedia as tool, threat and totalwaste of time
Settle Down Now: Is communitythe new frontier for Generation X?
New Urban Development: Toorisky, too costly. Not.
Youre terminated, hippie. Where does that leavelocal sustainability?
Good News: The End IsNear. Really.
Redevelop this, California!
The Revolution Will Not beOrganized (But the food and drinkwill be pretty good)
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Coding for Character: The Architecture of Community |
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The rise of Form-Based Codes, from Denver to Miami, is an obvious 21st-
Century planning tool that needs to be embraced by every municipality
across the nation. To stop building sprawl, and start building urbanism, we
need these urban-to-rural, place-based planning tools.
2. PLAN FOR THE COMPLEXITY OF NEIGHBORHOODS
City Comforts
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Shakers69,920 hits
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Coding for Character: The Architecture of Community |
http://placeshakers.wordpress.com/2011/04/29/coding-for-character-the-architecture-of-community/[5/2/2011 5:01:20 PM]
Urban Design Mystic, Leon Krier, defined the following basic elements of
community. First, the citys Public Realm is made up of Foreground / civic
buildings and civic spaces (streets / churches / parks / libraries), and that
the Private Realm consist of Background / privately owned buildings and
spaces (houses, offices, shops). These realms are inter-dependent and shape
our neighborhoods and towns. Neighborhoods are where we live, and they
are filled with people and places that provides for our daily need to be
healthy, social, and spiritual.
3. UNDERSTAND THE COMPLEXITY OF URBAN PATTERNS
Coding for Character: The Architecture of Community |
http://placeshakers.wordpress.com/2011/04/29/coding-for-character-the-architecture-of-community/[5/2/2011 5:01:20 PM]
Second, the structure of the neighborhoods pattern of streets, blocks,
squares, plazas, parks, is either less formal / ordered, organic (the language
of specific place, or Vernacular) or more formal / ordered (Classical), or a
combination of both. The English Village is Organic; the American Grid is
formal / classical; and Madrids Plaza Mayor combines both elements with a
classical foreground civic plaza and a more organic background of private
streets and blocks.
4. UNDERSTAND THE COMPLEXITY OF ARCHITECTURE
Coding for Character: The Architecture of Community |
http://placeshakers.wordpress.com/2011/04/29/coding-for-character-the-architecture-of-community/[5/2/2011 5:01:20 PM]
Thirdly, Krier found that the character of the Architecture is also either less
formal / ordered (Vernacular) or more formal / ordered (Classical). That
means the buildings are of either a very simple vernacular or a very formal
classical character.
5. UNDERSTAND THE CLASSIFICATION OF YOUR
COMMUNITYS CHARACTER
Coding for Character: The Architecture of Community |
http://placeshakers.wordpress.com/2011/04/29/coding-for-character-the-architecture-of-community/[5/2/2011 5:01:20 PM]
These elements allow us to begin studying Three-Dimensional patterns of
great places (as well as boring places) through a legible pattern that blends
the urban and architectural background/foreground elements with formal
and informal elements to identify unique characteristics of each place. The
image above is of the elements that regulate Santa Fes distinctive character.
The study below identifies 16 general community character types. Ranging
from the naturalistic Taos Pueblo to Beijings oppressively ordered
Forbidden City, this 16 character type analysis assists in understanding
existing places and to plan for new places.
6. WORK WITH LOCALS TO UNDERSTAND VALUES AND
NEEDS
Coding for Character: The Architecture of Community |
http://placeshakers.wordpress.com/2011/04/29/coding-for-character-the-architecture-of-community/[5/2/2011 5:01:20 PM]
It also appears that this place-less-ness has freaked people out, and how we
talk to each other has suffered for it. Propose a new development and people
will be falling out of trees to oppose it. In really nice places, theyll oppose it
for fear that it will lessen their property values; where there is no there
there, theyll oppose it fearing the next development will get something
more than they got. As urban design professionals, we need to explain our
principles and foster an inclusive, localized public process built first around
the identification of character, rather than responding to or negotiating
with developer proposals after the fact. Call it Fair Trade Placemaking.
7. FUND NEW DEVELOPMENT IN LAND RATHER THAN
CONDEMNATION
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Coding for Character: The Architecture of Community |
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The old redevelopment model pays fair market value, assembling and
clearing a full block of private properties. It puts the pressure on the fronts
of all surrounding buildings, increasing the potential number of angry
neighbors who dont want to participate.
But consider this:
This is a new model that reconfigures redevelopment from one based
entirely on private parcels to one built around the creation of civic centers.
Using city land, it reconfigures large, formal intersections into an informal
Urban Pattern that terminates the street view from four ways. This new
approach makes conflicts with new development happen mid-block, backs
Coding for Character: The Architecture of Community |
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on backs, and focuses change on creating complex public and private places.
Rather than using condemnation, the city actually has skin in the game by
putting land into the deal, and reconfigures overly-wide streets and setbacks
at the intersection to balance the needs of pedestrians, bikes, transit and
cars.
This idea is intended to solve for infill development over the next ten years
as we move out of this Great Recession. It is not intended for every
intersection but is ideal for neighborhood and regional centers typically
identified in city plans as Commercial or Mixed-Use Nodes. In addition,
these are usually located at Transit Stops and Stations on Transit
Authorities. Usually, street improvements come from a citys General Funds,
rather than an earmark allocated to a specialized department, or Tax
Increment Funds. Transit Authorities have State and Federal funding access
to redevelop important sites throughout a region.
CASE STUDY MY LOCAL NEIGHBORHOOD
My neighborhood is a mostly forgettable but orderly grid of overly-wide
streets with pawn shops and taco shops behind parking lots. The
surrounding architecture is eclectic, informal modernist boxes. However,
being adjacent to San Diegos Balboa Park, there is a precedent for Classical
and ordered architecture in the area.
Coding for Character: The Architecture of Community |
http://placeshakers.wordpress.com/2011/04/29/coding-for-character-the-architecture-of-community/[5/2/2011 5:01:20 PM]
The Commercial Node is transformed into a civic space, instead of an
intersection, making it a textbook American Square, set in the
neighborhoods best location, right in the center! The informal foreground
urban pattern is in contrast to the formal urban background pattern, which
creates a civic and mixed-use destination within the neighborhood that will
capture trips as well as generate/receive trips. The Square is complex, with a
transit plaza, paseos, sidewalk dining, fountains, and crosswalks/cars.
The architecture is designed to be seen. When retail is seen, such as the
Macys at the end of the mall, its leasing value is increased by 15 20%. The
informal foreground urban pattern creates paseos to the parking areas,
dignified transit plazas, and a properly enclosed square. The square
increases surrounding land/building values by 10 15% for being adjacent
to a civic space. Purposely, the redeveloped intersection becomes complex
civic space that is an amenity for the entire neighborhood. The amenity
allows for increased density and commerce, attracting both locals and
visitors. 25th Streets place-less-ness is now being solved for purposely,
creating a sense-of-place by designing for a system of complexity.
Coding for Character: The Architecture of Community |
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PLAN FOR THE BILBAO EFFECT
The results are seen in Bilbao, Spain, where Frank Gehrys Starchitecture,
inadvertently succeeding in building toward social and cultural value,
equates to economic value. A complexity of architecture and urbanism
transformed a forgettable Spanish city into a world destination. Fortunately,
the world is changing, and in the 21st Century we are now limited in our
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ability to build large-scale master planned projects. We have to enable long-
term economic, social and environmental value created from building
neighborhood-scaled places of distinctive character. For it is in that place
that we want to spend time, linger, sit, and spend money.
To address the economic and emotional anxiety that place-less-ness causes
our society and economy, I recommend we use these steps to purposely
build places of Community Character that reinforce our sense-of-place and,
with it, our sense of selves. I believe it is community that will get us through
the changes of the 21st century and theres hope in the fact that, through our
internet-enabled smartphones and computers, were more connected and
linked to each than ever before.
But its how were able to subsequently connect physically that will define
our ability to endure and thrive.
Howard Blackson
2 CommentsFiled under Architecture, Development, Planning
and Design, Public Engagement, Public Policy
Tagged as Bilbao, Dan Gilbert, form-based codes, Frank Gehry,
Howard Blackson, Leon Krier, redevelopment
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2 Responses to Coding for Character:The Architecture of Community
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Fernando CentenoApril 29, 2011 at 1:26 pm
Thanks for some thoughtful work, but, for every built environment
planning article Id like to see 10 planning articles built around greater
human connections, complementary to the idea of greater quality of life
and standards of living. Brainpower needs to be channeled for the good
of humanity in comparison to whats visibly appealing or econmically
beneficial to land speculators or land developers. Thanks.
Steve MouzonApril 29, 2011 at 6:25 pm
Fernando, the built environment is the stageset for human connection! If
you dont set the stage properly, people dont connect. Designers and
planners cant control what they do when they connect, but they can
make those connections much more or less likely.
http://www.originalgreen.org/
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