Photo: www.chattanooga-charm.com

Chattanooga, Tennessee has taken a PPS recommendation to heart! Inspired by a speech by PPS Founder and President Fred Kent, the Chattanooga Department of Parks and Recreation announced that it will be installing multicolored steel tables and chairs in several of its waterfront parks. The project is called the Park Animation Project, and it intends to increase social interaction in parks and to create a sense of ownership among park users.

            Initially, the 130 tables and 21 chairs were to be placed on the waterfront in Coolidge Park this month, but the installation has been delayed based on reports that the existing furniture was too unstable for Coolidge Park’s uneven terrain. Picnic tables with umbrellas will still be added to the portion of the waterfront by Ross’s Landing.

            PPS has long been an advocate for free-standing, movable furniture because they help to create “minidestinations” and allow people to customize spaces so they can have a range of different experiences. Coolidge Park is one of the best places to employ this concept as it already contains a notable amenity: according to Fred Kent, the fountain in Coolidge Park is one of the top five in the world.

 

East-1 Zhongshan Road in Shanghai's landmark Bund area is about to get a serious road diet. Decades ago, it was a tree-lined boulevard that served as a gateway to the region's financial and global trade core. Today, it looks more like a moat full of vehicle traffic that separates the waterfront from the majestic buildings facing the harbor and the vibrant city life further inland.

Ten lanes of traffic will be reduced down to four to create more pedestrian space, parks, shops and better linkages to surrounding areas, such as the Nanking Road shopping corridor - one of the busiest in the world. Most of the traffic will be redirected underground to a new tunnel, which will let through traffic vehicles bypass East-1 Zhongshan Road.

Currently, views of the Huangpu harbor from East-1 Zhongshan Road are blocked by raised levees and an elevated promenade. Visitors mostly come to the promenade to see the new skyline shaping up in the Pudong district across the Huangpu River.

The hope is to bring people to the area for many more activities than currently exist. The proposed design promises to improve the physical and visual connection to the water. 

Related Articles:
A New Look for the Bund [Shanghaiist]
Shanghai Waterfront Redesigned [Architecture Magazine] 

Despite the large number of Americans now living in cities, urban issues have been astonishingly absent from the U.S. presidential debates. PPS did a spoof article for Faking Places, the annual April Fool's Newsletter, in which Hillary, McCain and Obama make promises for more livable neighborhoods. The glaring omission of urban issues from the national discourse is actually no laughing matter.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports:

"There are three times as many urbanites in America as country folk, yet you wouldn't know it listening to the three main presidential candidates, or perusing their Web sites. Instead, you might come away thinking the United States is a collection of Norman Rockwell small towns surrounded by picture-book farms."

Related Stories: 
The Candidates and the City [Gotham Gazette]
Urban Issues Get Short Shrift [Politico]
Candidates Largely Ignore Urban Issues [City Mayors]

 

The Western Distributor in Sydney wouldn't be the first urban freeway to be dismantled so a community could access the waterfront. The Embarcadero Freeway in SF was demolished after an earthquake in 1989. The Miller Freeway in NYC has become a successful waterfront park and recreation area. And, tearing down the Central Artery in Boston created the possibility of reconnecting the rest of the city center to Rowe's Wharf, which now boasts unobstructed views of the Boston Harbor.

From the Press Release:
"Imagine a new green space almost the size of Hyde Park at Darling Harbour and the Western Distributor buried so the city is reconnected to our harbour.

This is just one of the visionary project ideas put forward as part of the City of Sydney's Sustainable Sydney 2030 vision."

Planetizen has named PPS/Jay Walljasper's The Great Neighborhood Book as one of its top 10 planing books of 2007.  http://www.planetizen.com/books/2008

Also, Urban Land magazine recently reviewed The Great Neighborhood Book in the November/December 2007 issue. Click here to read the review.

The Great Neighborhood Book also received an honorable mention on the American Booksellers Association's list of books about promoting local businesses.

Jay Walljasper discusses the need for cities to have life on their streets -- even in the most frigid days (and nights) of winter.

"Plunging temperatures don't necessarily sentence us to months of house arrest. People around the world from Copenhagen to New York are figuring out how to keep things lively throughout the colder months. City streets bustle with festivals and outdoor attractions showing that winter is something to enjoy rather than endure.

My colleague Cynthia Nikitin, vice president of Project for Public Spaces, describes Berlin in the dead of winter: "It gets dark at 3:30. It's snowing like crazy. But it's no problem. People are playing bocce ball on the ice. There are tents selling hot mulled wine. You are walking down the street just watching all the other people. Life is good, and winter feels good, too."

But you need to give people reasons to be outside, Nikitin adds -- "a market, ice skating, music, decorative lighting. No one will stay outdoors to stare at an empty plaza."

The Rockefeller Foundation is now accepting nominations for the 2008 Jane Jacobs Medal on its website through February 1, 2008. The 2008 Rockefeller Foundation Jane Jacobs Medals will recognize two living individuals whose creative vision for the urban environment has significantly contributed to the vibrancy and variety of New York City.

Click here for the full  press release

Click here for the The 2008 Jane Jacobs Medal Nomination Form

The faces of San Antonio's parks are beginning to change as work has begun on several new greenbelt parks along the city's major creeks and rivers.  This is big news for the "park-starved" community.  The parks will be along creeks and rivers, many of them connecting - each specifically for hiking, biking and preserving beauty.

For one skateboarding advocate here, creating a system of skate parks in West Seattle isn't just about building places to do aerials and flip tricks.

So far it's just a blueprint with no funding, but the citywide skate park plan is gaining momentum in West Seattle, fueled by passionate skaters like West Seattle resident Matt Johnston.

Johnston, who served on the skate park advisory task force that helped develop the plan last year with Seattle Parks and Recreation, is also determined to change some minds along the way. At 36, he remembers what it's like to be thought of as a delinquent simply for the kind of sport he enjoys.

"What we want to do in West Seattle is make sure skate parks are successful for everyone in the community and not just the skateboarders, because a successful skate park requires community support," said Johnston. "The last thing we want to do is be skateboarding in a community who hates us or who doesn't want us there."

He brought up a community meeting held this past March to discuss the design of the future Myrtle Street park at the site of Myrtle Reservoir on 35th Avenue Southwest. The location was recommended for a skate facility in the citywide plan but so far the community has been largely opposed to the idea.

Some at the meeting said a skate park would attract "derelict teenagers" and be noisy. Johnston is concerned common fears like these associated with the sport will isolate West Seattle's skate parks and its estimated 4,000 skateboarders.

Built in the right location, with an appropriate design and a welcoming community, skate parks can actually serve as a vibrant part of a neighborhood and discourage bad behavior. But anything pushed to the fringes, whether it's a skate facility or a basketball court, can invite unsavory activities, he said.

"(Skate parks) actually deter bad activities because it programs the space and puts people there," Johnston said. "You have to build it for some people to see how great it can be. This is something positive for the kids."

New Book Release
MIT Press  

Book Abstract
Today's urban riverfronts are changing. The decline of river commerce and riverside industry has made riverfront land once used for warehouses, factories, and loading docks available for open space, parks, housing, and nonindustrial uses. Urban rivers, which once functioned as open sewers for cities, are now seen as part of larger watershed ecosystems. Rivertown examines urban river restoration efforts across the United States, presenting case studies from Los Angeles; Washington, D.C.; Portland, Oregon; Chicago; Salt Lake City; and San Jose.

Each case study in Rivertown considers the critical questions of who makes decisions about our urban rivers, who pays to implement these decisions, and who ultimately benefits or suffers from these decisions. In each case, authors evaluate the ecological issues and consider urban river restoration projects in relation to other urban economic and environmental initiatives in the region. Rivertown is a valuable resource for urban planners and citizen groups as well as for scholars.

To purchase the book or read sample chapters please visit:  

After funding the research that helped Jane Jacobs produce her landmark book "The Death and Life of Great American Cities" nearly 50 yeas ago, the Rockefeller Foundation has inaugurated the first Jane Jacobs Medals.

Barry Benepe, the 79-year-old founder of Greenmarket, will receive the first medal for "lifetime leadership." Omar Freilla, the 33-year-old founder of Green Worker Cooperatives in the Bronx, was named the winner of the first medal for "new ideas and activism."

The medals will be presented in September in conjunction with the opening by the Municipal Art Society of an exhibit titled "Jane Jacobs and the Future of New York."

The five proposals for Governors Island hold clues to what’s right and wrong about how public space is designed.

"All five concepts are thoughtful approaches to a complex design problem. And the emphasis on public space is reassuring; responses to the agency’s earlier requests for proposals typically included more commercial development. But the five plans still fall short of the sweeping ambition such a unique parcel of undeveloped public land in New York City should inspire. We are mostly left with good intentions."

New York City's tremendous success in revitalizing its waterfront will require about $ 100 million a year to meet new management and operating needs, according a new report by Regional Plan Association.  Close to 700 acres and 58 miles of new waterfront parks, greenways and other public spaces are being created in all five boroughs.  To ensure that this legacy is well maintained and managed in the public interest, the Association has recommended more than a dozen specific policy recommendations to ensure that responsible public agencies have the resources and authority to take a primary stewardship role.

Policymakers are ignoring the wishes of local people and exaggerating the importance of “metropolitan” urban design in creating successful public spaces, according to a new report, the Social Value of Public Spaces.  

“Most public spaces that people use are local spaces they visit regularly, often quite banal in design, or untidy in their activities or functions, such as street markets and car boot sales,” the report said.

On July 15, the day after Bastille Day, Parisians will wake up to discover thousands of low-cost rental bikes at hundreds of high-tech bicycle stations scattered throughout the city, an ambitious program to cut traffic, reduce pollution, improve parking and enhance the city's image as a greener, quieter, more relaxed place.