designer democracy

2. Designer Democracy

3. Threats
Global
urbanization
Rising Inequality
Climate Change
Crisis in
Governance

4. Our Urban Reality
• By 2030, 6 in 10 people will live in cities.
• There are currently one billion people living in slums and
squatter settlements and that number is expected to double
by 2030 and reach 3 billion by 2050 – UNHABITAT

5. Example: Pearl River Delta – China
-The Guardian

6. Housing Crisis
• Based on current trends in urban migration and income
growth, we estimate that by 2025, about 440 million urban
households around the world—at least 1.6 billion people—
would occupy crowded, inadequate, and unsafe housing or
will be financially stretched. – McKinsey Global
• To replace today’s substandard housing and build additional
units needed by 2025 would require an investment of $9
trillion to $11 trillion for construction; with land, the total
cost could be $16 trillion.– McKinsey Global

8. Climate Change – It’s Science
• 2 degrees Celsius is a given. How much more
is unknown.
• "Present temperature targets may commit
Earth to at least six meters sea level rise“-
scientists
• According to the International Energy Agency,
the world needs $1 trillion a year between
2012 and 2050 to finance a low-emissions
transition.

9. Climate Change Impacts
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

10. • To adapt to a world 2 degrees Celsius warmer,
developing countries will require an estimated
$75–100 billion per year over the next 40 years to
build resilience to these changes, and mitigation
costs are expected to be in the range of $140–175
billion per year by 2030. – World Bank

11. Rising Inequality
• Since 1990, inequality among households has
grown significantly in the United States.
• The average white household has five times
the wealth of the average Hispanic
household and six times that of the average
black household.
• Across neighborhoods, the story is stark

12. In Manhattan, the top-fifth
earned nearly $400,000,
versus less than $10,000 for
those in the bottom fifth —
meaning the wealthiest
residents now make more
than 40 times as much as
those on the bottom rung.
OUCH!
from The New York Post

15. The other global warming

16. Global Crisis in Governance
Recent Urban Protests across the world – A Sample

17. Our democracy is…disappearing

18. • Just 13% of Americans say the government
can be trusted to do what is right always or
most of the time. (10% say NEVER)
• Only 17% of Americans believe that big
business can be trusted to do what is right
always or most of the time
Our trust is…disappearing

21. These are unaddressed crises

23. Del Paso Heights, Sacramento

24. Skid Row, Los Angeles

25. Camden, New Jersey

26. Central City, New Orleans

27. Indianapolis

28. Bridgeport, CT

29. Detroit

30. Washington, DC

31. Baltimore

33. “Civilizations rise and fall-and
sometimes if they are lucky-they
renew themselves”
–John W. Gardner

35. The Challenge & the Opportunity
• Create a grassroots movement for
community change, driven by citizens at the
local level, across the world, scaling up for
global impact

36. Urban Design Matters more than ever

37. Every action has to be climate
positive

38. Place & Identity is @ the core of
design

39. Happiness is a real metric

40. Fremont Troll, Seattle

41. Independence Beer Garden - Philly

42. Make it fun. Celebrate community!

43. It’s about people. It’s not sustainable
unless it involves the community!

44. Cities have the capability of providing something for
everybody, only because, and only when, they are
created by everybody-- Jane Jacobs

45. People Power

46. Citizen-Led Change Resources
• Volunteerism = $171 billion
(only 64 mill people)
• Total Charitable Giving =
$298.42 billion.
• Non-profits = $300 billion in
investment into local
communities
• Over half of all states have
enacted legislation to enable
private-sector participation in
infrastructure projects, where
there is an estimated $180
billion to be leveraged
• Crowdfunding - $3 billion in
2012 alone!

47. 100+K people from 182 countries
=€2million in 2 weeks

48. Pallet Pavilion, Christchurch

50. Started in 2010, rapidly spreading
US, Canada, Australia, Iran, etc

51. Civil Society - Example
• Global crowdfunding experienced accelerated
growth in 2014, expanding by 167 percent to
reach $16.2 billion raised, up from $6.1 billion
in 2013. In 2015, the industry is set to more
than double once again, on its way to raising
$34.4 billion. - Massolution’s 2015CF –
Crowdfunding Industry Report

52. The Difference Community Makes:
Broadmoor, New Orleans
• 13,000 volunteers mobilized
• Revitalization Plan
• Formed CDC
• Charter School
• Education Corridor
• Formed Improvement District
• In 7 years, 85% of the 2,400 homes
were rebuilt and occupied

54. Now happening all over the world…

55. Design Assistance Teams

56. Design Assistance Teams: Since 1967, the DAT
program, a public service of the AIA, represents
over 1000 professionals from more than 30
disciplines providing millions of dollars in
professional pro bono services to more than
200 communities across the country.

57. What is a DAT?
The DAT program brings together
multidisciplinary teams of professionals to work
with community stakeholders and decision-
makers in an intensive 3-5 day planning process.

58. R/UDATs & SDATs

59. • We ARE:
– Public Service in the
Public Interest
• “Consultants work for
somebody. Design
Assistance Teams work
for everybody.”
– Action-Oriented
– Community-focused
– Holistic, Customized
• “It’s about the space
between the buildings,
and the people that
inhabit that space”
• We are NOT:
– Another Consultant Team
– A process to produce a
planning document
• “Please don’t give us
another plan. We have
plenty – they all sit on the
shelves. We need
implementation
strategies.” – Almost Every
community
– Government-focused
– “Green”-focused
– Building-focused
What distinguishes a DAT?

60. Objectivity

61. Multi-disciplinary Expertise

62. Community Participation

64. Community Tours

65. Stakeholder Meetings

66. Community Meetings

67. Team Working Sessions

68. Team Working Sessions

69. Final Presentation

80. Projects

81. Provincetown, MA ‘365’
Design & Resiliency Team (DART)

83. Provincetown speaks

84. “I’ve been
dumping bodies
for years, and it
seems to me that
the sea level is
rising.”
Resiliency
Standard and Poors: “…large and very diverse property tax base and
extremely strong per capita market values; strong reserves…; and
favorable debt position… The town's limited, tourism-centered
local economy somewhat offsets these strengths.”

85. Resiliency Themes
• Year round community: people, vibrancy, jobs
• Economic development: people, vibrancy, jobs
• Climate: sea level, rain storms, surges

91. “I can’t thank you and the team enough for all the
ideas and good will you generated. So many
people have told me it's the best thing that ever
happened to the town!” – Town Planner

92. Title slide
Austin, Texas SDAT

93. “Verde”
Water-receiving
Landscapes
Human Health and Well-being
Active Recreation
Wide Riparian Buffers
StormwaterTreatment
Landscapes
Stormwater Streetscapes
Urban Agriculture

94. “North SoCo”
Buildings
Repurposed for
Housing
Human Powered
Travel
Bicycle Training
Park
Market Space
Statesman
Repurposed for
Hotel
Public Space
Buildings
Repurposed
Bars/Hotels/
Restaurants
Food Trailers and
Public Space

95. Today’s “Super Blocks”
• Car oriented, high traffic, pedestrian barrier, lower tax base
and jobs

96. Soften
• More pedestrian friendly, less of a barrier

97. Fully redevelop and grid
• Urban center, abutter and user friendly, taxes, jobs

98. View from Congress Avenue Bridge

99. View from Congress Avenue Bridge

100. South Congress Looking South

101. New Street Life

102. Port Angeles, WA SDAT

103. Prioritization Survey

104. Port Angeles, WA 2009 Project: 2 months later, 43 buildings repainted with
volunteers and donated paint, (at least 3,500 volunteer hours, or roughly
$66,500 worth of donated labor) led to a façade improvement program, then
private $

106. Bike Facilities

107. Wayfinding & Signage

108. Implementation
Today, major investments all over town
Some
Examples:
Waterfront
Redevelopment
$17 million
Marine
Campus
Facility
$12 million

109. Waterfront: from Team Process to
Masterplan to groundbreaking , to…

110. Realizing Their Aspirations, in
5 years

111. Bringing People Back to the
Waterfront

112. Transforming Downtown:
Before

113. Transforming Downtown: After

114. Snowball Effect: $100 Million+
Leveraging Investment for
Placemaking

116. Tampa, FL SDAT

117.  Downtown
 Highways and
car oriented
environment
 Disconnected
Neighborhoods
 Untapped
Natural
Resources
 Sprawl
The time has come for Tampa to ease into urban maturity
Tampa’s Urban Design Challenges

118. Tampa’s Urban Design Opportunities
Densify and Retrofit Urban Core and Urban Corridors
YBOR
Tampa
Heights
Downtown

119. Tampa’s Urban Design Opportunities
Complete Redevelopment of Downtown
•Build an Intermodal Transit Hub as a Bustling Civic Space
•Create Memorable Places
•Introduce Midscale of
redevelopment

120. Tampa’s Urban Design Opportunities
Densify and Retrofit Urban Corridors at Transit Oriented Development
Nodes

121. Tampa’s Urban Design Opportunities
Improve Connections and Mobility Between Employment Centers and
Residential Areas
University of
Southern
Florida
R&D
Centers
Other
Economic
Clusters
Neighborhoods
And
Residential
Areas
TransitConnector

122. Bikeshare

123. From Parking Lots to Parks

124. Re-connecting to the Waterfront

127. For More Information
• www.aia.org/liv_sdat