Gil Penalosa inspires a discussion about communities that meet the needs of everyone from age 8 to age 80.

Making communities safe and welcoming to all people regardless of age, income, race or ethnicity was the topic of a panel I moderated at the ICSC Midwest Urban Forum in Detroit this past week. One panelist came from slightly further afield. Urban planner Gil Peñalosa, former Parks Commissioner for the City of Bogota, Colombia (where his brother Enrique served as Bogota's Mayor) offered a compelling vision and rationale for communities to meet the needs of people from the ages of 8 to 80 - which is why he founded a non-profit based out of Toronto called 8-80 Cities.

Gil Penalosa, former City of Bogota Parks Commissioner speaking at the IDA Midwest Urban Forum in Downtown Detroit. If you are wondering about the empty chairs in the background...it started raining and we improved beautifully by bringing everybody onto the stage with us! 

He succeeded in painting one of the more compelling visions of a walkable downtown that I've heard in a long time. He started by asking the audience to imagine an 8-year old child that they love. Then he asked them to imagine an 80-year old senior that they love. He finished by asking "would you feel comfortable with that person walking or crossing the street in your neighborhood? Would you send them along to the nearest store to grab a pint of milk and eggs?" By putting walkability and safety in these very personal and blunt terms, he said more in just a few sentences than most people can say with charts and graphs in a half hour. 

This challenge, making communities realize the importance of connectivity, walk-ability and bike-ability to local commercial districts, has been coming up for us more and more here at LOA, particularly when we deal with neighborhood commercial districts that are struggling to remain relevant as shopping destinations. When you talk to business and property owners in many of these districts - our most recent project in a small NJ town comes to mind - they complain about lack of parking. Yet in this case, the district is surrounded by fairly well off walkable neighborhoods. Unfortunately, over time the safe walkable/bikable connections between the commercial district and the neighborhood they serve have been eviscerated. Roads widened and sidewalks narrowed to accommodate vehicles moving at faster and faster speeds. So the impact of road expansion is two fold. Not only are cars encouraged to speed, but when people consider going to their local commercial district, they hop in their cars. And once they are in their cars, a few extra minutes takes them someplace with more parking, more retail offerings and more selection. In this environment, traditional commercial corridors struggle to compete. 

So what are the elements of a successful walkable, bikeable commercial district? Here are a few:

• Bike parking. Adequate,convenient places to safely park your bike. 



DO: Consider setting aside adequate parking for bikes.
One parking space can fit up to 12 bikes.

• Bike lanes. This is not just about bike lanes on the commercial street, it is also about outfitting connecting streets with bike lanes that offer safe and convenient access to the district from nearby neighborhoods. 

DO: Do your best to create safe, dedicated bike lanes.
In Long Island City, Queens the dedicated two-way bike paths
offer cyclists safety at a very busy intersection. 

• Sidewalks wide enough, safe enough, and comfortable enough for an 8 year old, or an 80 year old, to walk on.

DO: Even streets without trees can be comfortable for pedestrians.
In Great Barrington, MA awning provide much welcome shade during hot days. 

• Slow(er) moving vehicles. Consider traffic calming measures that prioritize pedestrians at crossings. 

  

  DO: Bump-outs are a way to give your road a diet...
  and narrow streets are a great way to slow down cars. 

• Pedestrian lighting. The traditional cobra head light does a great job of lighting streets at night, but what about sidewalks? Pedestrian lighting is scaled to offer light for those who use sidewalks. 

  

  DO: Pedestrian lighting is for pedestrians. Cobra heads are for cars. 

• Benches. Offer a reprieve for seniors and when placed in front of stores, are more likely to be monitored. 

  

  DO: Find out if your businesses can set out benches in front of their stores.
  If the regulatory powers that be allow it, it can be a great way to offer kids and elderly much needed reprieve between visits to stores. 

Mending Our Divided Cities

Have you ever been driving through a city on a road that clearly split the city in two?  Unfortunately this is a dilemma that has been written into the history books of American cities.  LA's Interstate-405, Austin's I-35, NOLA's Claiborne Expressway, Syracuse's I-81, New Haven's Route 34, St. Louis' I-70 just to name a few have all divided the cities they call home.

What are we doing as a nation, as citizens, urban planners, designers to mend these broken seams to our cities? Sometimes natural disasters provide opportunities to mend urban highways, as was the case with San Francisco's Embarcadero, or an economic downturn provides opportunities, like Route 99 in Portland.  

Some communities that face this challenge:

• I-280, Newark, NJ - The Urban Essex Coalition is federally funded effort led by Together North Jersey, trying to use "complete streets" as a solution for I-280's splitting of the community.
• I-5, Seattle International District - While there is no solution yet, our client, Seattle Chinatown International District, faces the challenge of connecting both sides of the interstate highway that bifurcates the traditionally Chinese portion of the district from the growing Vietnamese community. The underbelly of I-5 poses a challenge to connectivity that the community has tried to overcome by painting the piers that hold up the highway.



Image: Sunnysidepost.com

• Sunnyside, Queens, NY - The up and coming neighborhood of Sunnyside is making progress to connect the northern district with the southern district which is severed by the elevated 7 subway.  Sunnyside BID is working to add plazas, seating, events with music, and farm stands (seen on right).
• In New Orleans, the challenge was outlined in “Imagining Cities Without Highways" by Diana Lind. Claiborne Avenue was once a bustling corridor with grassy medians lined with trees. After the highway was built, its neighboring community of the Treme slid into decline. 
• In St. Louis, I-70 is vastly underused and severs a resurgent downtown from the Mississippi River. Plans are in the works to create a park like platform over the highway, but local advocacy groups are calling for the highway to be replaced entirely by a boulevard. 
• And finally in the Bronx, the Sheridan Expressway separates the South Bronx from the rest of NYC and discourages economic development.

So how do we seam together communities that have been torn apart by infrastructure, trains, roads, etc.?:

In Rotterdam, painted viaduct columns make for a
nicer pedestrian passageway

• Lighting - Metaphorically suturing the west and east of I-35 together, Austin utilized customized lighting.
• Art and Music - Boston's Rose Kennedy Park over the Big Dig puts outdoor free piano's in the spotlight.
• Creating safe and attractive passageways with art, such as a painted installation in Rotterdam, or plants, such as the installation of dense greenery on a pedestrian bridge in Windsor, Canada
• Decking sunken freeways and creating parks - Duluth, Minnesota; Trenton, NJ; Dallas, TX; Phoenix, AZ
• Lowering traffic speeds, reducing noise and pollution, and narrowing the roads are initiatives envisioned by the McGrath Project to humanize the space.
• Greening of elevated freeways creates a softer, less industrial feel 

Greater connectivity of our cities provides greater mobilization, interaction, and livability, potentially leading to more community interaction, increased economic activity, and decreased disassociation.  

Proposal to sink and cap I70 East in Denver, CO 

Proposal to cap Autobahn A7

Further reading:

• Making over downtowns - Christian Science Monitor 
• Prospective teardowns - http://www.cnu.org/highways/freewayswithoutfutures
• History of six freeway demolitions 
• Rio Madrid Park replaces M30 motorway 
• Ambitious covered highway project over Autobahn A7 (seen above)
• Proposal to sink and cap Denver's I-70 (seen above)