Shrinking Cities

When I first heard about this phenomenon in America and some other parts of world, it was quite unbelievable as we are quite used to concept of cities growing and constantly pushing their boundaries out. But, some cities are shrinking and there's a need to find a solution to the problems they are facing. These are mostly triggered by a setback in local economy giving way to abandoned homes, empty lots and further to a loss of social fabric with people moving out and crime making neighborhoods unsafe and dreaded places to live. Rather than taking a route of bringing back the economy and people, the solutions proposed admit the fact of shrinking and focus on making it a safe and viable place to live in for the existing population.
We discussed its possible solutions and one of the most fitting was to bring back nature into the neighborhoods. The empty lots present a good opportunity to be converted into community gardens and parks or just to be restored back into forests. These could also be used  for farming by the local people and therefore be a source of fresh food and outdoor recreation activity. If the produce is sold, it can bring economic benefit to the community. But these would require careful planning and a way to acquire the empty/abandoned homes; 'land banking' in this case. The challenges to implementing this 'rightsizing' strategy are many a times political where its hard for politicians to accept the reality. Nevertheless, if these solutions are accepted i see the neighborhoods developing a unique identity of their own, with a new healthy image. This could lead to a different genre of people being attracted towards these places , who love nature and want to live close to it and engage themselves with it. They would buy land here, which would not be expensive and build their homes. This would revitalize neighborhoods again and bring back a sense of community and belonging. Hence, the rightsizing might seem to be a notion devoid of hope, but it is potent of serving as a tool of revitalization.

Post Disaster

This week we attended a presentation by Rzey, from Urbanxyz on redeveloping Louisiana, after it got devastated by hurricane Katrina.
It was very helpful to note how they addressed the design at different scales, from a building to entire region, for various issues ranging from landscape and natural features, to infrastructure and social equity.
A striking feature of the presentation was its sensitivity to context. Louisiana is home to two different ethnic groups who have a very different culture. They have developed a unique style of architecture over a period of time. The redevelopment proposal didn't give a hasty design solution; one size fits all, rather took into account this diversity; carefully studying elements of each style and taking community responses to refine it further. One community cherished the open nature of their houses which look on to street, and make a rich social life as well as their close connection to nature and food. These were mostly farmers.  The other community liked the class and elegance of their houses which were richly decorated, and luxuriant, which the farmers found frivolous. The design respected both the communities and gave them houses that they desired.
Another achievement of design was its sensitivity to natural systems, which echoed with the community's concerns. Since most of people in Louisiana were born within a mile of where they lived,they know their land and knew what the solutions were to the problems city faced, like of natural drainage. The design proposal was congruent to local wisdom and aimed to restoration of nature.
I took back a design solution , to a city which was wholesome in its approach and therefore very sustainable in social, environmental and economic spheres.

That's How It Goes

Meeting with public officials

We went downtown this week to meet members of SWPC towards our studio design which is a transit oriented design (TOD) for the county.

We were seeking some answers:

What is the vision of SPC for transit for Allegheny County?
How is the project realized? Who gives the money?                                           
What does the growth demands? What do the county people really need?

The answers we got hit us with reality, were not very optimistic. Nevertheless, we got some parameters to make our design proposal legible.

To start with, they said given their position they are not allowed to have a vision(irony!). It’s really hard to get money for a development(another irony!). Our proposed TOD needs to fulfill certain criteria before government decides to invest over it. Government says: show us the density then we'll send the line. But can’t it be other way?  We can lay the line first which attracts the people to the place. From their perspective this is a risk, when billions of dollars are involved. They need to make the transit line legitimate, for them density makes it so.
But there can be other reasons to justify the line, which are equally legitimate:

• From the perspective of economic growth and investment in the area-- which will attract more workforce.  More people will want to live near where they work.
• Controlling sprawl for ecological reasons, to stop further deterioration of nature.
• Decreasing traffic on roads- saving limited fuel. Increased benefits of decreased air pollution.
• Creating a sustainable society
  

I am myself a light rail rider in my home city, Delhi and I know how convenient light rail makes commuting. It saves time because they have their own corridor and don’t get caught up in traffic jams. It Saves money as it is much cheaper than using a car.

Moreover, all the important nodes of city are connected, so we can reach any place and take on a Feeder bus that runs to and fro the stations to our destination. The transit line connects bus terminals, train stations and airport making it all an interconnected web of transit over the city. Since it offers safe, affordable and convenient commute, people use it extensively.  

Lastly they asked us ; students who were from outside US, will it be successful and will people use it?
We concluded its success will depend on:  frequency, reliability, optimum density, design -- how convenient we make it for people to access it.  A Design which promotes walkability, bikeability and frequent shuttle/feeder service and connected destinations, a transit line that takes me where I want to go.

It was a meaningful interaction, helpful in understanding the real world scenario of our design proposal. 

The Nature of Cities

This week we saw a movie called the nature of cities.Cities by their very character are very active ,dynamic and full of energy. According to a study by US census The average urban dweller will spend an hour traveling to work each day ,about 9 hours of work,7 hours of sleep, and rest in miscellaneous activities and recreation which is mostly indoors.Ironically,'Urban life' has become highly introverted, in terms of physical environment.

As shared in the movie by the Yale University professor Stephen Kellert , relation between efficiency of a person and physical environment is very deep. Studies prove that a person feels less motivated, less energetic, has less attention span when made to work in a windowless, air conditioned environment over a long period of time. Our cities have been designed to compete with nature, in a effort to prove the might and control of man over nature. This mindset helped man , achieve great innovations. But now, we find ourselves at a deadend where our cities, and the structures have being designed to be so independent, that they have no relation to natural environment whatsoever.The movie introduced a very intriguing concept of Biophilia. I searched online and found the term literally means "love of life or living systems." Introduced by Edward O Wilsonm,The biophilia hypothesis suggests that there is an instinctive bond between human beings and other living systems. Wilson describes it as "the connections that human beings subconsciously seek with the rest of life.” He speculates that this affection is part of our biology. It is in our microcosm. It follows that to achieve harmony, it should be present in our macrocosm as well,Where our physical environments are designed to reflect this.

I know how sometimes, i just want to get away from all crowd and find my solace, to refresh myself and get a break from the daily routine. That's a tendency of  life i guess, that we seek a pleasant change, where we are just being.When we see on a collective level,majority of people who live in Cities live very busy lives.A connection with nature will make them to be efficient, get refreshed and rejuvenated. This can be established by the presence of nature in our physical environment. It will be a source of energy for the people and ultimately not only help build a fine quality of life for an individual but also a healthy and progressive society and further ripple into the world at large.

Design with Nature

This week we read chapters from the landmark book; 'Design with nature' by Ian McHarg for our discussion this week. In this book he recollects his childhood memories, where he was struck by the contrast between a city and wilderness. He loathes the grey city in comparison to the green wilderness.

We started the discussion by sharing our personal experiences with nature. For Lance, it was the memory of his childhood years where he played with the neighborhood kids on the lawn by his grandma's house and ran wild but safe on the tree sheltered sidewalk. Now, those trees are gone. For Ian, the wide open desert by his home was his ground to enjoy ride with his friends but it was taken to build new homes, for Pin the sweet memory of the lilies in the lake in palm of the mountain valley was a treasure, for Cai the open countryside, and for Rambha the peaceful streets of European villages at night was a memoir seldom found in a city. For me, our journey to north Himalayas was discovering a lost paradise which I was so unaware of in my city Delhi. It was like coming back to home, where I belong. I was particularly impressed by simple yet joyous life of people there.

Modern cities have made us lose this connection with nature and with oneself. All noise, crowd, congestion, haste, hurry, pollution of the city has seeped inside us. It puts a vacuum around us, keeping us away from all that's real, true and natural.  Ian McHarg very strongly criticizes planners, designers and engineers for this folly. He argues that cities will continue to grow and expand with the needs of humanity but that doesn't mean that it has to be at cost of nature. With a deep concern for natural environment, he gives us a method to extract areas worth urbanization from ecologically sensitive areas. In today's times of rapid growth, where more than 2/3rd of the world is predicted to live in cities by 2050, we can’t afford to continue the endless sprawl lest it should leave us with a earth void of all nature and beauty. McHarg's call for designers and planners to design with nature is the need of the age, to be heeded seriously for a safe future.

I would like to end with few lines, which come to my mind as I recollect today's discussion;

nature creates memories

nature evokes emotion 
nature is connection to oneself
deep inside, we are one with nature

Movement Systems

Our seminar this week was focused on city design and transit. Just as our body needs a complex network of veins and arteries to circulate blood that helps keep the body alive, active and sustain various complex mechanisms, our cities need a well designed network of transport lines to sustain them and their various functions. Commuting needs of human society are natural and synonymous with their lives, for each activity we do requires movement from one place to another. The commuting needs of the society are varied; we need to travel to school, work, shopping,socialize or for entertainment. People visit churches, temples or mosques, they visit hospitals and institutions. Our industries are fed by trucks, railways or  sometimes airplanes. 

                    To sustain this complex network of activities, we need a well integrated transit system in our cities. Looking back at history, ancient cities developed along waterways, as they facilitated trade and movement.The cities during the industrial era developed around railway lines. Hence,the cities have grown around and along transit. Our guest speaker this week, a colleague of Don at urbanxyz discussed with us the transit oriented design. Through a digital presentation, he gave us examples of  how TOD designs are helping develop beautiful viable urban environments. A transit oriented development on a city level facilitates the use of public transit. It focuses dense growth around the transit stop and makes way for walkable urban environments.

                    The reading for this week, The Next American metropolis by Peter Calthrope clearly describes that transit exists to serve a city and make it a healthier place to live in and not the other way round. As he says " A healthy walking environment can succeed without transit, but a transit cannot exist without the pedestrian." Next principle which Peter highlights is that a TOD makes development affordable. Affordable for communities ; as it provides various housing options, reduces auto dependence and for environment as it preserves open space and controls air pollution. This lays out some of the most important principles, that we can use in our urban lab. I will try to incorporate them into my design proposal.  

Planning Evolution

This week we discussed how city planning came into origin. The dawn of the industrial era brought with it new towns and urban settlements as people started moving out of villages to work in areas in close proximity to industries and coal mines. As more and more people migrated into these towns they started to expand without required infrastructure. This led these new cities to face challenges never known before; of health and sanitation, traffic,over crowding,and erosion of nature, very similar to the problems our modern cities face.
         To manage the growth effectively, or rather as a solution to these problems, new planning principles were laid.Its interesting to note that Europe where the industrial towns first appeared was conscious of the fact the the uncontrolled growth of its cities will someday engulf all  the rural landscape.Hence,to protect the nature,laws were established. This is where America is getting to today and the world is awakening to. But a century of uncontrolled spread of our cities has affected nature in ways hard to reverse or replenish.
         Its sad that some of the theories of leading architects, like Corbusier and  Frank Lyold wright contributed to this pattern. Their visions though utopian in their ideology and modern in their embrace of automobile, led to creation of cities which are car dependent, lack 'street life'  and a cohesive fabric. Most of the cities reflect this model today.
        Our discussion from here turned its course towards future. Based on the reading of Peter Calthorpe,we discussed principals of regional planning. Congruent with smart growth, we zoomed into the planning of a region, to a city,to a neighborhood and down to street. key points that came out were conservation and restoration of what exists;of nature, culture and communities.The community is defined as made up of civic places, commercial , residential and natural systems. This very beautifully translated a concept into a picture.