Fighting sprawl

Sorry for the lack of posts - I've been having quandaries - about blogging in general and also about the cookie contest. (Only one group has submitted. It seems the cookie contest is DOA this year.)  Here's something I meant to post about last week.

I just finished a project about creating walkable communities for a class on urban design and public health.  The idea behind the assignment was to research some aspect of "healthy" cities, find a case study, and then apply it in some way to Columbus.  I did a case study on an existing project to create a "main street" in Arlington, VA, specifically the Columbia Pike Corridor.  Basically, using form-based code, they are changing 3.5 miles of sprawly, car-oriented stretch of roadway to a dense, walkable, mixed use environment, that is designed to be public transit ready.  The goal is not to gentrify, but to create a vibrant, urban environment.  (Of course whether it will push out completely is still yet to be seen.  A lot of projects say they aren't going to do that but then only build expensive housing - and even if they do build mixed income housing, some people always get pushed out.  I am very curious to see or to know of projects that don't just gentrify.)

Anyhow, as you might guess from the long paragraph above, I have become an urban planning nerd.  I love to talk about things like form-based code, new solar technologies, using wetlands for water treatment, etc.  The reason I chose this topic was that the suburb I intern with is writing a new plan for one its neighborhoods, and I helped at a community meeting.  Also, one of the other interns and I like to have lunch and discuss what we think would strengthen and make this area better.  I saw this project as an excuse to put these ideas to paper, and to think about them more critically.  It was fun - my friend and I did our own mini walking audit, and I think I came up with some sensible suggestions and shared them with the city's planner.

Last week, after I had given my final presentation for class and turned in my papers, I heard this piece on Morning Edition, about Tyson's Corners in N.  Virginia.  (I'm also a huge Morning Edition nerd.)  Over the next thirty years, Tyson's Corners is going to try and change from a sprawled edge city that has a day time population (ie: workers) that more than dwarfs the  number of actual residents (117,000 workers to 17,000 residents - can you imagine the congestion?).  This is a feat that has never been done before.  A lot of the literature I read seemed to suggest that a project like this would be something of a fool's errand - massively expensive and difficult from a legal perspective.  It will be very interesting to follow this project's progress, because I think other cities like Tyson's Corners are going to looking to change their modus operandis, especially if they can't  count on building (and filling) new spec office  parks.

Comments

[Kathleen Maher]

I love walking, Claire. No cookies? That's sad. Maybe after last year, people need a rest.
Still, you were probably looking forward to all those delicious packages.
Me? I'm lucky if I get a few cards out. The thought of buying presents makes me panic.

[Sara]

OMG, I stayed in Tyson's corner for a few days (for a friend's wedding) about four years ago and it was truly the most unappealing area in which I've ever set foot (or car, as the case may be :) ). I remember almost crying trying to get to the hotel because we kept driving right past it but couldn't figure out how to navigate the enormous roads jutting out all around it to turn inside. We had to drive EVERYWHERE because the roads were so crazy and it was just huge building after huge building after huge building. Yuck.
My second year in C'bus, I used to drive from my apt. building to the Borders next door because the road (Kenny) was so unsafe to walk on. But I always felt like it wouldn't be THAT HARD to make some changes to C'bus that would make it more walkable. I'm not an expert, obviously, but it seems like some well-placed sidewalks would be a good start. :) I also lived in Clintonville and found it totally walkable. I never had a car when I lived there and was able to fulfill all my needs (groceries, gym, a park, library, coffeeshop, etc.) by walking. I loved living there, partly because it was so walkable. :)
Ok, my comment is starting to sprawwwwwl.

[Mandos]

I'd have sent you cookies, but life got in the way. Maybe you can be Cookie Queen next year again.

[Snag]

If you haven't seen Complete Street's stuff, they do some interesting work on the sorts of issues Tyson Corner's struggling with.

Speaking from experience, one of the most difficult issues involves the politics of sidewalks. People like them or hate them, but the people who hate them, really, really hate them. Crazy hate them.