Places to Flourish: Principles of Placemaking for the New Economy. Townscape, Inc. Town Planning and Urban Design

Transcription

1 Places to Flourish: Principles of Placemaking for the New Economy

2 Cultural and Economic Shifts:

3 Cultural and Economic Shifts: The Creative Class Knowledge workers Bobos Awesome Talent

4 Cultural and Economic Shifts: Awesome Talent has the freedom to roam the earth to pick off the best gigs, to pocket the largest financial rewards. But to attract, retain, and obtain the most from Awesome Talent, organizations will need to offer up an Awesome Place to Work. Tom Peters, Re-Imagine

5 Cultural and Economic Shifts: Knowledge workers are free to roam the earth, to pick off the best gigs Technology has made the talent mobile Jobs are following the best talent (not the other way around) Talent attracted to quality of place

6 Cultural and Economic Shifts: Place is becoming the central organizing unit of our economy and society, taking on the role that used to be played by the large corporation. Richard Florida, Rise of the Creative Class.

7 Cultural and Economic Shifts: Who s benefiting? Cool places. San Francisco Bay area Seattle Washington, D.C. Austin Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, among others

8 Cultural and Economic Shifts: Cities are responding: Mpact Memphis Live Baltimore Creative Baton Rouge Michigan s Cool Commissions

9 Cultural and Economic Shifts: Total Population Male Female Age Aging boomers More childless households Energy realities Careers we haven t thought of

10 Cultural and Economic Shifts: Enhancing livability, therefore, should be a central objective in every city s economic transition strategy, and the elements of livability should be employed as economic development tools. Partners for Livable Communities, Urban Land, May 2006

11 Cultural and Economic Shifts: Placemaking as economic development strategy (this is very good news)

12 Cultural and Economic Shifts: What types of places should we be making?

13 Fieldwork % of super creative jobs Geographic dispersal Mid-sized cities Washington (18.4) Raleigh-Durham (18) Seattle (16.9) San Francisco (16.4) Austin-SM (16.1)

14 Fieldwork: Seattle

15 Fieldwork: Washington, D.C.

16 Fieldwork: Austin

17 Looking for Common Threads Places aren t transferable; principles are.

18 Planning and Design Implications Insights fall into two levels: Core values, rooted in values and attitudes of interview subjects Planning and design strategies a toolbox of ideas rooted in recurrent physical attributes

19 1. A green framework

20 Green framework (cont d) Choices of recreational outlets, variety of landscape experiences, and linkages to city-wide network and important destinations.

21 2. Distinct, self-contained neighborhoods

22 Distinct, self-contained neighborhoods (cont d) Mixed-use: convenient retail and services within walking distance of housing and transit

23 Distinct, self-contained neighborhoods (cont d) New mixed-use: Retail, restaurants and services at sidewalk level; residential above. Creates comfortable scale, density, patronage, sense of safety.

24 Distinct, self-contained neighborhoods (cont d) Variety of housing within compact, walkable neighborhoods. Dovetails with public life.

25 3. A compact urban grid Seattle Austin Washington Optimizes walkability Provides connectivity, flexibility, route choices, traffic dispersal, visibility and interaction Protect it, avoid superblocks, reestablish it.

26 4. An urban village at the center of the neighborhood

27 Urban village (cont d)

28 Urban village (cont d)

29 5. A range of viable transportation choices

30 Transportation choices (cont d)

31 Transportation choices (cont d)

32 Transportation choices (cont d) Redevelopment of six-lane thoroughfare (K Street) into attractive, people-friendly boulevard

33 Transportation choices (cont d) Creating viable choices through balancing infrastructure needs

34 6. A vital public realm Great streets designed for walking

35 A vital public realm (cont d) Walker-friendly connectivity

36 A vital public realm (cont d)

37 A vital public realm (cont d) Public space is great, but adjacencies are everything

38 7. A wealth of third places

39 Third Places (cont d)

40 Third Places (cont d)

41 Third Places (cont d)

42 8. Preserve vintage landmarks, buildings and districts Preserve authenticity no conflict here Age + grit = funky = low rents =local establishments= cool clientele

43 Vintage Landmarks, Buildings, Districts (cont d)

44 9. A range of cultural opportunities

45 Cultural opportunities (cont d)

46 10. A stimulus-rich environment

47 Stimulus-rich environment (cont d)

48 Stimulus-rich environment (cont d)

49 Stimulus-rich environment (cont d)

50 Core Values Diversity Choice Connections Authenticity Flexibility

51 Places to Flourish We shape our communities, and then they shape us. -With apologies to Sir Winston Churchill