Css class 18 placemaking 120309

Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Class 18 Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design

Placemaking with CSS

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Placemaking with CSS Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design

“We will never bring disgrace on this, our city, by any
act of dishonesty or cowardice. We will fight for the
ideals and sacred things of the city, both alone and with
our companions. We will revere and obey the city’s
laws. We will try unceasingly to quicken the sense of
civic duty in others. In every way we will strive to pass
the city on to our children greater and better than it
was when our parents passed it on to us.”
— Oath taken by the young men of Athens upon reaching adulthood during
the Golden Age (500-400 B.C.)

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So..What Makes It a Place? Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design

Northgate

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Why Make Places? Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design

6th Street Austin

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Placemaking Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design

• What is a great street?
• What is great public space?
• The role of managing street vs. building it?
• Negotiating diverse interests adds value:
best structure for managing context
sensitive design?
• Judging economic/ social return: appropriate
time frame?
• Applicability to other settings?
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Placemaking
•Began in the 1970s by architects and planners
•Describes the process of creating squares,
plazas, parks, streets and waterfronts
•Designed to attract people
•Usually pleasurable or interesting
•Landscape important in the design process

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The philosophy of "placemaking" centers on the
belief that a public-participation process defining
and responding to community conditions and needs
from the outset is one of the most critical factors in
achieving transportation design that is truly
sensitive to its context.

Placemaking begins with a thorough understanding
of the dynamics, desires, and conditions within a
community.

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Community Defined Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design

• Sense of place: Geographic setting or
natural/physical boundaries, standards of
living, political jurisdictions
• Sense of community: Social interaction,
common ties, mutual satisfaction of needs,
and often a shared space

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),
from Community Culture and the Environment: A Guide to Understanding a Sense of Place

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Transportation Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design

How can Placemaking be applied
to transportation projects?

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Sense of Place Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design

Yoakum


Las Colinas


Uvalde

Placemaking Principles Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design

Philosophical Underpinnings
1. The community is the expert
2. Highways create place
3. Teamwork is fundamental
4. Obstacles create opportunity

From the Wisconsin Department of Transportation
(adapted from Project for Public Spaces)
http://www.contextsensitivesolutions.org/content/topics/what_is_css/core-principles/principles/

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Planning with the Community
5. Learn by observing
6. Develop a joint vision

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Designing with the Community
7. Form supports function
8. Synergistic solutions

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Implementation
9. Start with quick, small, visible success
10. Money will follow vision and action
11. The project is never complete

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“Placemaking strives to balance all the users of a street
- pedestrians, transit riders, motorists, and bicyclists,
rather than on just designing roads to accommodate
motor vehicles. The focus is on how these streets and
roads connect to the surrounding districts and public
spaces and make these areas more economically stable,
safe, and productive. The input of those who use and
experience a place on a regular basis is essential to the
Place-making process."
How Transportation and Community Partnerships are
Shaping America: Part I: Transit Stops and Stations
http://www.contextsensitivesolutions.org/content/readin
g/how-transportation/resources/how-transportation/
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Legacy Town Center Main Street, Plano

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Master Planned
Business, Retail
and Residential
Community


16th Street Mall in Denver
Pedestrian and Transit
• Original 13-block Mall
opened in October 1982
• 2 years to build
• LoDo portion from Blake
Street to Denver Union
Station constructed in 1992
• 1.25 miles long


• The idea for the Mall was initiated in 1976
• City of Denver
• Downtown Denver Partnership (DDP)
• Downtown Denver Business Improvement District
(BID)
• Regional Transportation District (RTD)
• Average 55,000 people use RTD’s Free MallRide shuttles
every weekday
• More than 15 million riders annually
• 36 ultra-low emission hybrid-electric vehicles
• Each shuttle can carry approximately 115 passengers


16th Street Mall
Denver


Main Street Houston

"The emphasis (of the plan) is on public
spaces - the streets and squares that will link
various uses together. High-coverage
buildings are encouraged to promote street-
oriented architecture and active sidewalks.
Although there is less open space, it will be of
a much higher quality."
Main Street Corridor Master Plan

Main Street Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design

• Most historic street in Houston
• Was lined by Houston’s finest
architecture and retailers
• De facto bus mall by the 1980’s

Main Street Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design

1990’s planned as Transit Street- 130 buses/ hour

Main Street Corridor Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design

• 1998- Mayor Brown wanted light rail
• Main was the logical choice
• Main Street Coalition formed and sponsored a
master plan for corridor
• Ehrenkrantz, Eckstut & Kuhn Architects (EEK)
won competition

Main Street Coalition Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design

• Central Houston, Inc. (a business association)
• The Midtown Redevelopment Authority
• The South Main Center Association
• Institutions such as the Texas Medical Center and the
Museum of Fine Arts
• The City of Houston
• Harris County
• The Metropolitan Transit Authority
• The Houston-Galveston Area Council, the metropolitan
planning organization (MPO) for the region
• The Texas Department of Transportation
• Other civic groups and nonprofit and businesses

Main Street Coalition Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design

Coalition Goals
• Revitalize and transform the Main Street Corridor through the
strategic integration of land use and transportation/transit;
• Stimulate and intensify development, including inner-city
residential housing, new businesses, and urban beautification;
• Offer an alternative to the continuation of the fragmented,
haphazard development patterns of the last few decades;
• Coordinate and leverage public and private investment; and
• Institute innovative techniques to evaluate activites’ success.

Main Street Corridor Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design

• Metro determines that it
can build $324 million
light rail with local funds
• 7 mile corridor with
250,000 employees
• 50,000 residents
• Major museums, schools,
parks, hospitals, sports

Main Street in Downtown Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design

• METRO limited funds-
$33.1 million downtown
• Vision for great street
• Economic development
worries
• Diverse, long standing
stakeholders
• Concerns about follow
through

Main Street LRT Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design

Stakeholders debated optimum configuration
for Main Street with light rail


EEK’s vision for great green street: “oasis”


TIRZ/District funded sidewalk enhancements
& other upgrades- $16.8 million

Main Street Streetscape Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design

Transit to Tunnel Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design

Superstop- 1993

Vision for Core Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design

• Stakeholder group
effort with EEK
• Major public square
• LRT Central Station
• Safety concerns of
METRO
• High quality finishes
• Funding sources?

Design Concepts Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design

Main Street Square Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design

Central Houston funding of $6.4 million of
three blocks public space


Implementation

• Fulfills 1992 concept for public place in the core
• Extremely difficult deadline: New Year’s Day 2004
• Funding risk
• Multiple construction contracts
• Agreement of City to close street-conflicting views
• Operating responsibility: Downtown District

Main Street Square Today Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design

• Highest pedestrian concentration in City
• Retail sales have increased
• Attracting new development
• But…remaining needs to upgrade adjacent
properties
• Street management challenges
• Central station vs. central square?

Main Street Lessons Learned Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design

• Communication and coordination are critical.
• Build trust through small-group and one-to-
one meetings.
• Keep people continuously engaged.
• Private-sector involvement is critical to
success.
• Urban arterials can be reinvented with a
transit and pedestrian focus.


Key Attributes of a Great Place
• Access and Linkages
• Comfort and Image
• Uses and Activities
• Sociability

http://www.pps.org/info/gps/60places?referrer=gps_home

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Project for Public Spaces
• Building Community through Transportation
• Streets as Places
• Thinking Beyond the Station

http://www.pps.org/info/gps/60places?referrer=gps_home

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• Getting Ready
– Step 1: Assess public space challenges
– Step 2: Select a site
– Step 3: Identify key stakeholders
• Evaluating your neighborhood
– Step 4: Collect data

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• Making a place plan
– Step 5: Conduct place evaluation workshop
– Step 6: Translate the ideas into action with a working group
– Step 7: Develop a visual concept plan
– Step 8: Create a summary report and presentation
• Implementing your place plan
– Step 9: Implement short-term actions
– Step 10: Develop long-term design and management plans
– Step 11: Assess results and replicate

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Css class 18 placemaking 120309

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