2019 Great Places in America as identified by the American Planning Association
The 2019 Great Places in America designees are listed alphabetically. With this year's list, I don't have much personal experience with any of the places.
The webpage has brief articles on each of the designees.
- Downtown Lee’s Summit – Lee’s Summit, Missouri
- Downtown Patchogue Village – Patchogue, New York
- Short North Arts District – Columbus, Ohio
- Historic Downtown Delaware – Delaware, Ohio (pictured at right).
- Pioneer Park – Mesa, Arizona
- Neponset River Greenway – Boston and Milton, Massachusetts
- Mohawk Valley Gateway Overlook – Amsterdam, New York
- Governors Island – New York, New York
- Gathering Place – Tulsa, Oklahoma
- Discovery Green – Houston, Texas
- Artery Hopkins – Hopkins, Minnesota
- Water Street – Henderson, Nevada
- Cleveland Street – Redmond, Washington
Labels: urban design/placemaking
posted by Richard Layman @ 1:52 AM&Permanent Link
7 Comments:
and I've been to one of them!
Mohawk Valley Gateway Overlook
(Sorry, I've been away for a few weeks -- no computer, and when I comment with my phone it disappears into the internet.)
Again, I might say this again in terms of your shaw article, but you can see you advice/tactics work very well in small cities -- got to see plenty of examples of that as well as the Gateway Overlook.
Does any of it work in a larger environment? Or it that just so much weaker in comparison to market forces.
Depends on the element/action/focus.
I've always said that "big cities" for the purpose of revitalization aren't "big cities" they are smaller districts, e.g., H Street or Kennedy Street, and the recommendations work.
As importantly, that you can learn from smaller places. Because a city neighborhood is comparable to a smaller town in terms of size and dynamics.
But there's a lot of hubris with city people in the business concerning learning from smaller places. It's never been the case for me.
2. But with the big things, like housing. It might not work. It's not that it won't work. But the will and vision to do it are difficult to muster.
And things take so long.
I think about the new cycletrack on Florida Avenue NE. While I didn't suggest that specifically, I wrote to DDOT about the need for a road diet on that street in 2005.
By the time they get around to things, I've had 10 more years of advances in my understanding and learnings, so it's difficult to be positive.
3. The biggest lesson for me is the need for plans before, not after, the velocity and depth of change changes significantly.
And if anything, the city's planning function is much much weaker than it was 10-15 years ago.
In the 2009 comp plan amendment cycle they rejected every one of my recommendations as unnecessary, including additional protections on non industrial use of industrial lands. Then in 2015 there was the ward 5 industrial lands study.
And at a presentation, one of the planners said, one of the things that could come out of it was a zoning study.
I said, do a study after, you should have already done it, and by the time you do one, most of the land will be gone, shifted to other uses.
I was so pissed.
http://urbanplacesandspaces.blogspot.com/2015/01/dc-ward-5-industrial-land.html
Today, planning seems so much more focused on "being positive."
I got my start in revitalization planning, where instead, you have to be honest about where you are, and your opportunities. Or you won't make any progress.
I am a fish out of water.
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Ironically, even though the other guy gave one of the worst presentations I've ever seen, partly because I did one of my best, and the team that was constructed, we ended up winning the bid for the Eastern Market study, so I will be back and forth through May/June, subscribed to the e-edition of the Washington Post, etc., but I did leave on Saturday, finally.
The house is awesome now. ALl that deferred maintenance has been addressed. It's nicer than when we got it, for sure.
Yep, phone access isn't conducive for writing. I had a similar problem. The computer was breaking down and finally that hit the wifi card, so you could only connect to the Internet via an ethernet cable. But when you don't have direct access to a router, that means no Internet.
Not that I had much time to write. Getting the house ready for inspection and renters was a sprint. Lots of stuff to do.
But one of the last things I did was get a "new" (reconditioned, from PC Retro) computer and it's awesome. $320
Market forces matter a big deal.
In _Building Neighborhood Confidence_, Goetze argues the point of government support in funding or programs for neighborhood improvement isn't to breed dependence, but to be a priming action to rebuild confidence, so people would start reinvesting again on their own.
I saw this on H Street c. 2000-2005. When a few property owners on different blocks did really great renovations, not with much help from the city/others, and this helped to spark confidence, especially because in each instance they did a great job with the building's historic architecture.
But ultimately, market forces lead, because they have the money and the ability to act much more quickly.
But at the same time, actions like creating plans and implementation organizations, funding pilot projects, funding the right kind of transit projects, etc. can shift things too.
Look up that Hennepin County journal article about Hennepin Works. It's a model for how local governments can spark improvement. But, we have to recognize they had a lot of great assets to work with and build upon. The situation in Gary, Indiana is much different.
Given the reality of "he who has the money calls the tune," you have to have really robust planning systems and thorough planning frameworks.
Because as I say "you only get one bite of the apple," and these projects last easily for one to three generations.
So if you don't get what you want at the outset, you're pretty much screwed.
Much obliged to you for giving such essential data, and a debt of gratitude is for sharing this issue.
it is really a preferct place to be. but definetely you have to visit a take a tour to Greece Athens. its astonishing with views food culture and history. I did with this www.royaltrip.gr and i had a great time and ill go again this year
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