October 16th, 2009 | Go to Placemaking Blog Home

Toward a Robust and Accountable Transportation Planning Process

Posted by: Gary Toth

Gary Toth following up on his reflections on the USDOT webinar, Forum on Livability.
As a career transportation geek, I found it particularly encouraging to hear talk about a new transportation planning process attached to performance measures which go beyond the overused and myopic focus solely on auto oriented benchmarks such as pavement quality, bridge inspections and level of service (congestion). To be clear, I am not saying it is bad to keep our bridges standing and safe and the roads that I use to travel to Vermont, Pennsylvania and Delaware from getting overclogged with traffic. Keep it up DOTs! However, we the public allow government to tax us because we want our lives improved and our agencies responsive. Having worked in the state DOT world for 34 years, I can tell you that most DOT insiders have lost track of that concept – and the public has noticed. There is no doubt in my mind that this is a major part of the reason why states and federal politicians will no longer vote for increased gas taxes. Do we transportation professionals need to be hit in the head with a rock to figure this out?

USDOT gets this, as evidenced by last months webinar on Livability. So what would a more robust, 21st Century planning process look like?

For starters, it would be one which addresses environmental, energy, housing, economic, land use and development, and equity policies. There are ample models out there within some of the more progressive Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs), which are the regional planning organizations mandated by federal transportation legislation. For instance, the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Council (DVRPC) has generated a number of Scenario Performance Measures including amount of land development, average annual household transportation expenses, vehicle miles traveled and relationship within planning areas of jobs to housing. California’s State Bill 375 mandates Blueprint planning, which – like the DVRPC model — measures success of transportation planning against benchmarks that matter to the average citizen in every day life: how much does transportation cost eat into their budgets; is the regional planning helping folks to find affordable housing; does the transportation network help economize personal time or it is forcing them to drive around everywhere to bring kids to school, get a quart of milk, to take mom to the doctor?

These kinds of people based performance measures must count for as much (if not more) than how smooth the pavement is. Examples like DVRPC and California’s SB 375 must become the standard, not the remarkable case study.

This robust and accountable planning process must then be used to drive transportation investments. Sounds like a no brainer, right? Yet, the American public would be disillusioned to find out how much mismatch there is between long range plans and how state DOTs actually invest the transportation dollars that we provide to them. Federal law requires only that the investment plans (Transportation Improvement Plans or TIP for short) be “consistent” with metro or long range transportation plans. “Consistent” has become a term of art and is subject to strong-arming by the DOTs, which come equipped with bridge, pavement and congestion performance measures: DOTs can threaten to move money from one MPO to another if they don’t toe the DOT line. Politics also plays a big role in distorting the planning process. A majority of MPO voting members are elected officials who feel compelled to press for investment in the sub region that they represent. Fix it first projects often give way to huge investments in freeways or roadway widening. These have much more political visibility, satisfy economic interests in opening up new land for sprawling development or to satisfy the complaints of voters sitting in traffic. The end product barely resembles the plan.

Read the rest of this entry »





October 14th, 2009 | Go to Placemaking Blog Home

Placemaking at Harvard Yard: Enhancing the Humanities with Human Activity

Posted by: Robin Lester

Kris Snibbe/Harvard News Office

The memorable experiences of one’s education often take place in the most comfortable and socially engaging places on a campus. Campus planning has sometimes been neglectful of allowing for and creating such places, instead focusing more narrowly on single-use facilities and isolated design statements.

Harvard University has been quietly challenging this pattern and opening up to our Placemaking approach. PPS worked with the university’s North Campus – which previously felt disconnected from the school’s well-known Harvard Yard – to develop recommendations in 2005 regarding seasonal uses and short-term experiments to activate the campus and make it feel more connected to the Yard. In 2006, Harvard announced plans for a new Allston Campus, which will be built over the next 50 years. With PPS’s help, this plan is being framed, in part, around key campus destinations and connections to the surrounding community.

This semester, Harvard brought Placemaking to its main campus, establishing a Steering Committee on Common Space to make campus life even better. The Committee, dedicated to making sure the campus’ physical environment better supports the intellectual and social vitality of the University, has already installed colorful movable chairs and tables in Harvard Yard and the Radcliffe Quad. A variety of foods will be offered nearby, and student performances will further activate the spaces. For such a revered space, which never had any seating simply because there never was any historically, this is a big move and we applaud Harvard’s willingness to have a little fun with their most sacred space.

We are excited to see Placemaking being embraced on many college campuses. A former PPS intern has been leading campus Placemaking efforts on the campus of Colorado College. PPS has also been applying Placemaking to campuses in the development of new student unions, gathering areas and master plans on for institutions including, University of Madison Wisconsin, Stanford University, Duke University, George Mason University and University of Michigan Flint. Please share with us any examples that you may be involved with.

With Harvard taking these bold but simple steps, we are hopeful that campuses around the world will be inspired to find innovative ways to make their campuses more inviting and more memorable, and better contribute to the public realms of the communities they serve.





From Place to Place: Reinventing Transportation Planning with Placemaking

Over the past 34 years, PPS has often discovered that what would most benefit the communities in which we work is the opposite of what transportation professionals propose. Fortunately, that recurring paradigm is becoming a challenge of the past. Progressive transportation planning is in the midst of a boom, and we are pleased to highlight initiatives helping communities rethink how to connect people with the goods, services and destinations they need and desire. In this newsletter we focus on several new endeavors in the US, followed by an upcoming issue that looks at innovative transportation planning practices abroad.

Cities across the US are beginning to experiment with design innovations that safely and comfortably accommodate various modes of travel. This curbside bicycle lane on 9th Avenue in New York City is modeled after similar facilities in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Transportation agencies are finally paying attention to issues that have long been the focus of advocacy organizations: the importance of diverse modes of transport, the fair allocation of road space and public spending, and the opportunity to create more context sensitive transportation facilities. PPS’s own Building Community through Transportation campaign has sought to do just that, in addition to reinventing Streets as Places and promoting Thinking Beyond the Station. These advances are critical to creating an accessible and sustainable transportation system, and we are encouraged by the growing excitement surrounding these issues.

“The real point of transportation planning is to get people to places they want to go, therefore all transportation planning should start with Placemaking.”

The real point of transportation planning is to get people to places they want to go, and therefore all transportation planning should start with Placemaking. Great places are defined by their ability to let us do many things at once, often accomplishing many spontaneous, “unplanned” goals in the process. Imagine for instance all that can be accomplished in some of the best public markets or civic squares in the world, even when mobility is low by North American standards. The American Main Street is also a classic example of an efficient place, even though, in many cities, it has been undermined by street designs that diminish downtown activity and land use practices that encourage rather than discourage sprawl.

America's historic Main Streets are high quality destinations that allow visitors to accomplish many activities in one location.

Rather than focusing simply on mobility, throughput and traffic, the transportation conversation in the US is beginning to discuss what kind of cities, communities and streets we want to have. And rather than pitting advocates for various “alternative modes” (transit, bicycles, pedestrians) against one another, a broadly focused transportation movement is now bringing these groups together—in conjunction with unlikely partners like AARP and public health agencies—to create the types of neighborhoods that benefit everyone.

This is a central goal of the new US Department of Transportation (USDOT), US Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD), US Environmental Protection Agency, and (EPA) Partnership for Sustainable Communities. This emerging program will work towards ensuring that housing and transportation goals are met while simultaneously protecting the environment, promoting equitable development, and helping to address the challenges of climate change.

Transportation planning provides a unique opportunity to create—both directly and indirectly— spaces that encourage all kinds of exchanges between people. As shown by the success of the New York City and San Francisco Plaza Programs (which grew out of local Placemaking projects) people now understand how transportation projects can transform streets into community destinations. Furthermore, transportation projects are now seen as catalysts for creating great places—well designed streets and transit facilities encourage economic activity, non-vehicular travel and human-scale development. These are important goals of the new street design guidelines being developed throughout the U.S. and the world.

A newly created public plaza in NYC's Herald Square teems with activity

In this newsletter we highlight the progress that is being made in San Francisco and Savannah, where citizens are re-envisioning their city around both great streets and lively public gathering places.

Categories: Articles, Newsletter



Savoring Savannah

New street and public space projects add to this Southern city’s charm

Savannah, known for the beauty of its squares and tree-canopied streets, conducted a recent survey inviting residents to name the city’s best and worst streets. The survey, which was conducted on behalf of Savannah Forward, a coalition of public and private institutions looking for ways to increase Savannah’s livability, drew four times as many responses for “worst” as for “best”.

One of Savannah's "best" streets...

Following the survey, six citizens groups in organized a conference in February, 2009 focusing on how to transform the city’s car-oriented streets into pedestrian-friendly destinations, and how to create true gathering places in Savannah’s beautiful natural environment and historic squares.

They invited PPS president Fred Kent to speak at the conference and to comment on the results of the survey. The “worst” streets, according to the survey, promoted car traffic at the expense of everything else. Bay Street, for example, cuts off the city’s downtown from the riverfront. Kent urged the city to consider narrowing the roadway, widening the sidewalk, and adding attractions like sidewalk cafes to turn it into a gathering place.

...And one that could use improvement

The “good” streets identified by the public were split between convenient throughways and slow, tree-lined residential streets that maintained a balance in preserving the region’s character with easy accessibility to its destinations.

“Mr. Kent inspired us to take action now,” said Theodora Gongaware and William Stuebe of Savannah Forward. And it’s a great time to act — not in spite of the economic downturn, but because of it. The lull in development offers “an excellent window of time to try new things.”

Savannah's historic squares could be enlivened with more uses and activites

Among the changes taking place in Savannah are the creation of a citywide Traffic Calming Task Force, the debut of the Blue Ocean Film Festival, and the first “meet and greet” for a group of citizens and local businesses seeking to improve the downtown Columbia Ward. That group plans to continue meeting in order to foster dialogue about using their community square creatively and starting a neighborhood watch program.

Public-private partnerships have been at the heart of Savannah’s most creative projects. The county government, the Historic Beach Neighborhood Association, and the Savannah Tree Foundation teamed up to restore and revitalize a local park. Plans are also underway to move the historic Mother Matilda Beasley House to the park, upgrade existing ball fields, and build a pavilion to serve as a community gathering place.

Categories: Articles, Newsletter, Transportation



Streets of San Francisco

New plazas and more vibrant streets sprout across the city

Last year, PPS helped set up the San Francisco Great Streets Project modeled after our New York City Streets Renaissance Campaign. Now, with the successful launch of two municipal projects that allow greater pedestrian use of road space, San Francisco is showing its commitment to Placemaking as a strategy for creating more vibrant public life.

Applying lessons from a PPS led training workshop for transportation planners as well as a forum for Business Improvement Districts earlier this year, the city has launched the Pavement to Parks program, which reconstitutes swaths of roadway into temporary parks and plazas, as well as the Better Market Street Project, which aims to transform the downtown arterial into a world-class street.

Pavement to Parks was inspired by the New York City Public Plaza program and has already implemented three temporary plazas across San Francisco and has plans for a dozen more. One of these newly created plazas was championed by the San Jose/Guerrero Coalition to Save Our Streets, a community group PPS helped to institute traffic calming measures in their auto-dominated central San Francisco neighborhood beginning in 2005. The idea for a temporary plaza first arose during a PPS workshop at that time, and has finally happened thanks to the Pavement to Parks Program, as well as a lengthy citizens’ campaign.

Newly created public plazas at Castro Street (top) and in the San Jose/Guerrero neighborhood (bottom)

The “Better Market Street Project,” a partnership of numerous city agencies and community organizations, has planned numerous improvements to Market Street including concerts, events, mini-plazas and public art displays in at least ten storefronts. Several blocks of Market Street have already been closed to private vehicle traffic in one direction to allow for temporary public space experiments including food kiosks and performance spaces. More public amenities and pedestrian, bike and transit improvements are being planned for the following months.

As longtime advocates of short-term public space improvements as a way to inspire long-term change, PPS is thrilled to see these changes coming to life. And as a partner in the San Francisco Great Streets Campaign, we are proud of our instrumental role in urging both the city and Business Improvement Districts to make the most of their streets and public spaces as a way to generate both social and economic vitality.

For more information, see this article from SF Streetsblog.

Categories: Articles, Newsletter, Transportation