DOWNTOWN REVITALIZATION RESOURCES

Transcription

1 AN ANNOTATED WEBLIOGRAPHY OF DOWNTOWN REVITALIZATION RESOURCES This collection was compiled for urban planners, architects, city management officials, and concerned citizens involved in revitalizing the inner core of a town or city. Revitalization of a downtown becomes necessary when businesses choose to locate in newer shopping malls or industrial zones rather than building or remodeling in the older downtown area. There are many issues involved in urban renewal. An important one is the land use regulations permitting business use exclusively in central city districts, so that people are no longer allowed to live above or in back of retail shops and offices. This webliography focuses on the re-introduction of mixed use zoning in urban centers, the historic preservation of architecturally and culturally important buildings, and the replacement of overly restrictive and unnecessarily proscriptive building codes with performance-oriented codes that allow compliance alternatives. Sources are also included providing essays and bibliographies on the history of zoning regulations, the traditional design of cities, the future of the city, the contributions of Jane Jacobs, author of The Death and Life of Great American Cities ( and the new directions following trails carved by such people as Andres Duany, originator of the New Urbanism city planning approach ( Sites that require payment of fees for information are not included, unless they offer some free (i.e., selected articles from an issue of a fee-based journal). For this reason, the National Main Street Center, though a gold mine, is not included in this webliography. For a look at a small town revitalization project in its early stages, Wailuku, County seat on the island of Maui, with a rich historical and cultural heritage, appears as an example ( Urban planning, its related literature and its communications have not yet been made available extensively on the Internet. The resources available for this webliography will expand in the very near future, as, for example, more towns and cities take advantage of the invaluable convenience of having their municipal codes available for reading and searching on the Net. COMPILED BY NANCY LYNN KLEBAN, GRADUATE STUDENT IN THE LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCES PROGRAM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI`I AT MANOA, IN A DIGITAL LIBRARIANSHIP CLASS TAUGHT BY DR. PÉTER JACSÓ. PLEASE ADDRESS ANY COMMENTS, SUGGESTIONS, OR ADDITIONAL LINKS TO nkleban@yahoo.com. RATINGS JUNE 1999 The Web sites are rated according to the four criteria shown in the legend below. A solid diamond indicates superior achievement in the rating category of the corresponding color; an empty diamond indicates failure to meet that category of criteria. signifies excellence in authority; signifies deficiency in authority. The absence of symbols indicates a site that is satisfactory in all respects. Further evaluation is included in the annotations.

2 LEGEND: authority (credentials of author, publisher, and/or domain) objectivity (purpose, goals and objectives, level of detail) currency (date published, vitality of links, currency of update) coverage (generous coverage, profitable links, user-friendly viewing)* *These criteria are adapted from those given in Jim Kapoun, "Teaching Undergrads WEB Evaluation," College & Research Library News, July/August 1998, page 522. SOURCES In addition to searching with ProFusion, WebCrawler, Northern Light, MSN, and Scout Report Signpost, and following links from promising Web pages such as Cyburbia ( ) and Center of Excellence for Sustainable Development ( ), the following subject guides provided particularly useful citations: Yahoo: Society & Culture - Environment & Nature - Environment & Development Policies; AltaVista: Society & Politics, Community & Culture - Urban Culture; InfoSeek: Government & Politics - Social Issues - Urban Life; LookSmart: Society & Politics - Urban Culture; LookSmart: Business & Finance - Industry &Trade - Construction - Permits & Standards; HotBot: Science & Technology - Social Sciences - Urban & Regional Planning. The subject guide most closely related to this webliography is the Cyburbia Planning Resource Directory, located at providing a much wider range of topic areas than found here, and not specifically focused on revitalization. SUMMARY OF CONTENTS 1. Organizations and Associations Providing Planning Resources. Providing architectural, urban planning, historical preservation, and city management resources. 2. Historic Preservation Information. Architectural, governmental, community, and marketing information. 3. Model Code Organizations. This webliography emphasizes performance-based codes, allowing for alternative compliance to the traditional codes (which make it expensive and difficult for

3 businesses to locate or relocate in decaying urban areas). Access is also provided to the major publishers of traditional codes. 4. Federal, State and Local Government Sites. For locating the planning departments in towns and cities that have executed or are executing successful revitalization programs. Also, for quick access to geographical and demographic information, and for researching legislation. 5. Codes and Ordinances. These Web sites contain direct links to online full-text building, zoning and development codes for hundreds of towns and cities. 6. Community Participation and Local Issues. A key to successful redevelopment is the collaboration with the local community. 7. Dreamers and Thinkers. A small sampling of the writings of some innovative architects, planners and thinkers, and some historical background. 8. Bibliographies and Anthologies. For further reading. THE ANNOTATED WEBLIOGRAPHY 1. Organizations and Associations Providing Planning Resources American Planning Association. The APA is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting planning policy and research. The Web site offers valuable resources to nonmembers. There is an annotated list of APA publications, including Planners Press and Planners Advisory Service reports on sale in the Planners Book Service pages. A click on "Publications" takes you to a page that offers a searchable database of the APA's publications. Instructions for entering keywords were not viewable. A search on 'downtown' yielded citations; 'revitalization' resulted in a list of publications including some on historic preservation and economic development. Summaries can be viewed. Planning magazine offers one full-text online article from each issue, and the Journal of APA gives a searchable list of citations for its classic articles, and the contents of back issues. Full-text articles from The New Planner, a newsletter written by the student members of APA, are available. From the APA home page I found, by clicking on Public Information - News - Hot Topics - "Downtown: Where the Living is Easy," on downtown housing nationwide with a bibliography that includes hotlinked items; and by clicking on Public Information - Personal Computing - Making the Most of Your Computer - "Remaining Afloat in a Rising Tide of Data."

4 Cyburbia Planning Resource Directory. Cyburbia's Planning Resource Directory page is organized into categories and sub-categories, and there is an internal search engine. Categories to browse for downtown revitalization information include Community and Economic Development, History and Preservation, Land Use, and Urban Design. In the Publications and Plans section, Planning Documents provides a long list of briefly annotated links to master plans, land use plans, etc., worldwide. Cyburbia is published by the School of Architecture and Planning, State University of New York in Buffalo, and appears to be the largest and most comprehensive collection of planning-related sites and documents available at this time on the World Wide Web. PlannersWeb: Planning Links Directory. Published by the PlannersWeb, an independently owned and operated enterprise, this cheerfully designed site offers links to a variety of planning documents. Clicking on either a listed state name or on a map of the US, leads to a table showing and hotlinking to the types of documents available for each entity: agendas and minutes of planning commission meetings, local ordinances, community master plans, detailed information on local permitting processes, etc. The table provides easy accessibility; however, the list of regions and towns is very short--just a few for each state (which includes most but not all of the states in the US). Worth monitoring the growth of this site in the near future. PlannersWeb also publishes the Planning Commissioners Journal, and a sidebar links to articles of interest from the PCJ. Planning Reports Center. Due to open at the end of June 1999, this site is designed to link planners with "reports, fact sheets, ordinances, and other planningrelated written material (and videos, too)." Users of the site are encouraged to submit appropriate materials for lowcost distribution. Each report is displayed with an illustration of its cover, a short summary, the author/agency's complete contact information, price, and links if the document is also available on the Web. The site is organized by topic and by state, and is searchable by keyword. It looks promising.

5 2. Historic Preservation Information Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. A Federal agency created by the National Historic Preservation Act, encouraging historic preservation activities "carried out by Federal, State, local, and tribal governments, and the private sector." The Web site offers complete information on the National Historic Preservation Program, including its legislative history, a directory of the State Historic Preservation Officers in all states and territories, state and tribal program links, current news, and a small library (with some full text online) of related documents. The pages are well designed, well organized, and the links are easy to follow. A keyword search facility, with very simple search guidelines, is included. I tried the search term 'ADA', to see if any information would be provided relating to the Americans with Disabilities Act requirements that often cause problems when historical structures are renovated. The result was a paragraph addressing this concern. National Register of Historic Places. This site lists the 70,000 properties in the National Register of Historic Places, with easily accessible addresses and code numbers. Attempt to find the details kept by the National Register, photos, maps, physical description, information on history and significance, bibliographical materials, were not successful These materials may be available through the National Register Information System linked page, which includes a downloadable (ftp) 10,841Kb "DETAIL.EXE" file, but the instructions for accessing it are skeletal. In the "What's New" section, some draft versions of National Register Bulletin items are available. The National Trust for Historic Preservation. In addition to supporting the preservation of historic buildings, the National Trust for Historic Preservation is also concerned with preserving and revitalizing America's urban neighborhoods. These are the central goals of the National Main Street Centers and the Community Partners Program, sponsored by the Trust. The Web site provides the complete table of contents and excerpts from selected articles in the current issue of Preservation magazine. A link to lists of endangered places leads to a report on a major drugstore chain that is razing old downtown buildings in order to construct facilities with large parking lots and drive-through windows.

6 3. Model Code Organizations Building Officials Code Administrators International, Inc. BOCA is a nonprofit association dedicated to the use and enforcement of model building codes. Many municipalities adopt or adapt these model codes to avoid reinventing the wheel. Although BOCA is a membership organization and there is a charge for its publications (with a discount for members), some information is freely available on this Web site. There is a subject index to articles that have appeared in BOCA Magazine from Articles in the current year are free. There are reports on drafts and errata in codes currently being amended, and reports on legislative actions, including postings on the approval, denial, modification or withdrawal of proposed changes. International Code Council. A nonprofit organization established recently (1994) to develop "a single set of comprehensive and coordinated national codes," to overcome the disparities among the BOCA, ICBO and SBCCI (see below) model codes. The ICC is also developing a set of international codes, that include plumbing, private sewage disposal, mechanical, fire and building codes. The 1996ff Newsletters of CABO (Council of American Building Officials), an umbrella organization for BOCA, ICBO and SBCCI that was incorporated into ICC in 1997, are available on this ICC Web site. A short article, "Performance Code Will Encourage Innovation," reviews this new type of code that describes the intent of a code requirement rather than providing detailed specifications as codes traditionally do. Links are given to related articles, and there is an internal search engine. International Conference of Building Officials. The ICBO Web site includes articles from its publication Building Standards, reports ICC Code Hearing results, features a "Find Which States Use Which Codes" map (in the Code Talk section), along with its organizational and membership information. The pages are clean and simple, and easy to navigate. Under "Related Sites," "ADA Experts" links to an abundant collection of American with Disabilities Act-related materials. Other pertinent links are available by clicking on Index from the home page, and navigating through the subject areas.

7 Southern Building Code Congress International. Since 1940, SBCCI has been developing and maintaining a set of model building codes that are used primarily in the southeast US. The Web site is similar to those of the other model code organizations, BOCA and ICBO. There is an internal search engine. In the Technical Articles archive of Southern Building magazine, I located full-text articles on "A Common Sense Look at Performance Codes" (July/August 1997), and "Performance-based Regulations Foster a New Approach to Fire Safety (January/February 1998), and other various articles on performance-based regulations. The issues of the Newsbriefs newsletter and magazine that are available from this page in their entirety, in PDF files, do not display browsable article titles. 4. Federal, State and Local Government Sites California State Statutes. An example of one state's on-line legislation, including the State Constitution and Statutes complete, current, and searchable. I tried a search on 'existing buildings' and effortlessly retrieved the California Codes Health and Safety Code, Sections , full text. Maintained by the Legislation Counsel of California. The Federal Web Locator. Agency/fedwebloc.html Provided by the Center for Information Law and Policy, a site that hotlinks to all available federal government Web sites. Can be searched by Boolean keyword expression or Perl regular expression for any federal agency or organization. There are Quick Jump links to agencies, organized by branch, very easy to see and use. I tried the Federal Executive Branch DOT (Department of Transportation), and jumped to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's home page in a matter of seconds. State and Local Governments - A Library of Congress Internet Resource. Links to a long list of "meta-indexes" including the Piper Web site (see following entry), State Statutes, The U.S. State and Local Gateway ("an interagency project in collaboration with Vice President Al Gore's National Partnership For Reinventing Government"), as well as a linked list of the states of the USA, and many more. Last updated

8 4/9/99. The list of hot-inked state names is similar to that on Piper, but there is no immediately accessible list of counties and major cities as there is in Piper. The section "State Maps", a link from the top of the page, was not retrievable. State and Local Governments on the Web. This Web site, which adds new links on a daily basis, leads into a stateby-state, county-by-county, city-by-city pyramid of governmental Web sites, making it easy to find, for example, the telephone number or address of a staff member of a municipal planning department. A simple keyword search offers a more direct route for navigation. Thomas. Named for Thomas Jefferson, this Legislative Information on the Internet site is searchable by bill number or by word/phrase. Texts of bills in all of their versions, and summaries and status indicators are given, as the bills pass through legislative stages from introduction in the House or the Senate until the final copy appears as an Enrolled Bill. I did a search on 'central city' and was led to S.25.IS, and H.R.701.IH, the Conservation and Reinvestment Act of 1999, recently introduced in the Senate and in the House. See the FAQ page for helpful introductory information. US Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System By typing the name of a town and state, you can retrieve the county it is in, the latitude and longitude, elevation and population (1990 census), and follow a link to the Tiger Map Server for a printable, zoomable location map of the area. To find a list of towns or cities in a certain population range, you can enter the range in the query form. This site also retrieves information on many other features, such as waterfalls, beaches, airports, hospitals, and trails, to name just a few. 5. Codes and Ordinances Cyburbia - Land Use - Zoning.

9 A list of over 200 links to full-text zoning ordinances and development codes, with a few from Canada, UK, Hong Kong, Australia, Spain and South Africa. Municipal Code Corporation. MCC has a collection of over 500 town and city ordinances from almost 40 states, in their entirety, available at no cost. Searching and navigating are somewhat slow and cumbersome, but there is a query function and an advanced query page that, once learned, call up references to the query terms that are highlighted in color in the text. MCC posts a caveat that these documents are not official versions, and may not include recent adoptions. Dates are given that include all code adoptions posted up until that time. For research and codewriting, this site is excellent. Performance Zoning Model Ordinance--Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Concerned with natural resources, open space, and residential development rather than city or town code issues, but included here for its performance-oriented code theory and language. Strategic Land Use Plan to Revise the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance of the City of New Orleans. Documentation of the recent revision of this city's strategic land use plan, undertaken to correct problems in zoning administration and enforcement, in response to a team of land use planners' and lawyers' advice that the current ordinance did not facilitate the preservation of neighborhoods and commercial centers, or economic development. The report includes a forum for community participation and input, analysis of demographic, economic data and land uses, and implementation of a geographic information system. There is a long section on the process of developing a strategic land use plan, and the document ends with sections on the problems, the solutions and the strategies encountered in the development of this plan. 6. Community Participation and Local Issues The Enterprise Foundation.

10 "Dedicated to bringing lasting improvements to distressed communities," this organization focuses on affordable housing and community development. Web pages related to downtown revitalization are available through Headlines and What's New. Clicking on Public Policy led to a page on a bill currently in the Senate, The Financial Modernization Act of This bill challenges the Community Reinvestment Act, a 1977 federal law that requires banks to help meet the financial needs of their communities. The Enterprise page links to the full text of the Senate and House bills, a background & summary page, a current update page, "Our View," and a link called " Your Representative" complete with a scrollable list of Senators and Representatives for all states and the suggested text for an message. Participatory Design in an Urban Context. The Ph.D. thesis of John Gøtze, Technical University of Denmark, "examining and assessing the possibilities for increasing public participation... in urban development." Clickable relevant chapters include The Democratic Perspective in the Urban Context, Participatory Design and Urban Development, Participation in the Information Age, with sections on The New Public Sphere Internet, and Government On-line, Community Networks Another Road Ahead? Navigate to desired sections from the "Long Table of Contents" links. Revitalization of Downtown Wailuku, Maui, Hawaii. Revitalization of the central business section of the town of Wailuku, Maui, Hawaii, in a decline for the past few decades, has been in the local news since the swearing-in of Maui's new mayor, James "Kimo" Apana. One of these articles from the Honolulu Star-Bulletin describes the feelings of some of the local residents at the beginning of the new County administration, and the other announces a community workshop organized by the Maui Redevelopment Agency in February 1999 to discuss and organize downtown priorities. San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association. A nonpartisan civic planning organization dedicated to bringing together the full range of people involved in urban revitalization to debate, learn and plan for the needs of the city. Reports available here

11 include The Central Waterfront (a plan for a new mixed-use neighborhood, March 1998), and Zoning for More Housing (February 1998). 7. Dreamers and Thinkers America: "Looks like the Kinda Place Fairies Really Would Live?" Impressions of a European architect touring the southwestern United States, where neon and billboards and franchise lookalike stores dominate the built environment, and where historic main streets are becoming "mere adjacents to the strip." American Zoning and the Physical Isolation of Uses. A brief history of land-use zoning in the United States from 1867 until the 1950s, written by Laurence C. Gerckens, national historian for the American Institute of Certified Planners. Considers the use of zoning regulations to employ physical separation and isolation as a solution for social ills. Caring for our Towns and Cities. An illustrated report from the UK, with sections on Town Centre Management, Shopmobility (the provision of wheelchairs and sometimes escorts for mobility-impaired shoppers), pedestrianisation, urban design, and town and city management. Published by the Resource for Urban Design Information (RUDI). Through this site you can also follow links to Urban Design in Europe, with articles from the Quarterly Journal of the Urban Design Group, in the Urban Design Sourcebook Center of Excellence for Sustainable Development: Land Use Planning Introduction. A short essay on planning the physical layout of a community in a way that emphasizes sustainable growth. Links to text on urban sprawl and to pages on New Urbanism, to basic strategies in land use planning for sustainability, and civic participation, success stories, etc. Each link provides an introductory statement, and gives annotated links to other

12 organizations, on-line articles, and print publications that can be ordered. This is a very well organized and professionally designed site (a little slow to load). Overviews are provided to issues such as brownfields, open space, smart growth, greenways, urban forestry and the transfer of development credits. Links to many online full-text articles. Jane Jacobs: Writing on the Web. A short list of Web sites containing summaries of and excerpts from Jane Jacobs' works, and links to a complete bibliography and a biography. Jane Jacobs book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, published in 1961, changed the direction of urban planning away from a trend that was creating congestion, pollution and blight, toward cities that are pleasant to live in and encourage healthful human interaction. Making Places. Subtitled A guide to good practice in undertaking mixed development schemes, this is a beautifully designed and illustrated 43-page book (downloadable with Adobe Acrobat Reader). A textbook of 'mixed development', including sections on stages from project definition to project implementation, planning policy (in England), design principles and financing, an appendix on Guidance on Urban Design Codes, and a Bibliography. Thorough, well-written, professional and authoritative, published as a joint venture of English Partnerships and the Urban Villages Forum, with a foreword by John Prescott, MP, Deputy Prime Minister. New Urbanism. Written by students in the anthropology department at Lawrence University, Appleton, Wisconsin. The home page links to a basic, illustrated definition of New Urbanism--including walkability, "sense of space," and other features of this neotraditional type of town planning. Other pages included are a description of sustainable development, and the home pages of a few city planners and some towns that incorporate the principles the New Urbanism. A short bibliography is provided on the home page. Searching for Answers to Planning Questions: Capitalizing on the Resources of the World Wide Web.

13 An online version of a paper submitted to an APA conference in 1998, giving a short introduction to the use of the Web and online forums, and demonstrating, with appropriate urban planning examples, their use. This paper links to Part II, with annotated samples of planning news, online ordinances and comprehensive plans, and a few links to planning departments that have put their permit application forms and procedures online. Another site published by the PlannersWeb, well designed, easily navigable, providing excellent information, but not a great deal of it. Urban Redevelopment, Displacement, and the Future of the American City. A report by C. Theodore Koebel, Ph.D., of the Center for Housing Research, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, written for the Communities Affairs Section of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, Virginia. A long essay, including an historical synopsis of the decline and redevelopment of cities, a history of slum clearance and redevelopment, and current (1996) public policies on residential displacement. Endnotes with references from the text and suggestions for further reading are included. 8. Bibliographies and Anthologies [A] Bibliography [of Jane Jacobs Writings]. Citations for the complete works of Jane Jacobs, books and journal articles, and articles written about her and her writings. Included are citations for book reviews and New York Times articles documenting Jane Jacob's community activism in the 1960's. This site was prepared by students in a class in urban theory at the Department of Urban and Environmental Planning at the University of Virginia in Spring The Bibliography of Urban Design. From the University of Liverpool, over 1000 entries, with brief abstracts. Using the "search term search", I chose 'regeneration,' and received a list of about 50 citations, including such titles as "Revitalising Historic Urban Quarters," "Inner City Regeneration and Good Design." In the tables version of the site, a table of authors and titles is presented, and a click on the title produces an abstract. Another page gives often redundant definitions of the search terms, not hotlinked to the rest of the document.

14 National Center for the Revitalization of Central Cities. This Web site, published by the College of Urban and Public Affairs at the University of New Orleans, offers abstracts of reports on current studies in the NCRCC's Urban Research Program. The Center collects and maintains research materials, provides training, and acts as a clearinghouse. At this time, there are 27 publications, published between 1992 and 1997, with abstracts available. See The Effect of Code Enforcement Strategy on Central City Revitalization. Urban Planning, : An International Anthology of Articles, Conference Papers, and Reports. The development of city planning up to the end of World War I, with 174 entries, by Dr. John W. Reps, professor emeritus of Cornell University. The text is searchable by author, date, and subject, with 15 subject categories. A search on 'renovation' brought up a 1912 article discussing "The Question of Municipal Improvement" of Boston, then "nigh on three hundred years old," mentioning regrets for the "old unchanged Boston which was so delightful." Clicking on the author's name led to substantial information. A supplementary bibliography is included, a work in progress, partially annotated.