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Coding for Character: The Architecture of Community |

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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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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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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

Congress for the New Urbanism

CoolTown Studios

Cyburbia

Eat Local Challenge

Form-Based Codes Study

James Howard Kunstler

Land8Lounge

Local Harvest

Making Places (PPS)

Market Urbanism

New Urban Guild

New Urban Network

Off the Green Wall

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Ped Shed

Planetizen

PlannersWeb

Reconnecting America

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Smart Growth America

SmartCode Central

Street Trip

StreetsBlog

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Switchboard

The Urbanophile

Transportation for America

Treehugger

Urbanism and the New Economy

Veritas et Venustas

Vince Graham

Visualizing Density

Shakers69,920 hits

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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



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



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



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



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

http://placeshakers.wordpress.com/2011/04/22/gettin-paid-placemaking-and-the-importance-of-compensation/



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



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.



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.



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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