The Ground Floor

Beautiful and Sustainable at a Surprising Price

Buildings can be judged successful thanks to good architecture, sustainable design, or a positive social impact. San Francisco's Plaza Apartments is a rare example of one that succeeds at all three.

A nine-story mixed-use building near downtown San Francisco, the Plaza Apartments contains 106 rental housing units, 1,000 square feet (93 sq m) of retail space, and a 99 seat performing arts venue. Not a conventional urban apartment building -- all 106 units are reserved for the previously chronically homeless. Developed by the nonprofit Public Initiatives Development Corporation on a $22 million budget, the project also contains services for building tenants, which include on-site case managers, a psychiatrist, and a nurse practitioner.

The project is part of a nationwide trend of "housing first" when dealing with homeless. New approaches recognize that securing housing is the first step to independent living. Cities across the country are finding that providing housing first and then treating underlying causes -- such as mental illness or drug addiction -- reduces the overall costs to taxpayers and social service agencies. Tenants of the Plaza Apartments pay half their income in rent, $410 on average.

In addition to the social mission, the structure also features cutting-edge LEED Silver environmental design. The roof sports both a sundeck and 26-kilowatt photovoltaic system. The creative facade is fine-tuned to maximize winter sun on one side and provide summer shade on another. The San Francisco Chronicle raved that the "designers crafted a structure of lasting warmth and presence," concluding the design features a "creative depth you don't find in most residential projects, including condominium complexes stuffed with seven-figure units."

Although the project wasn't developed for a profit, it has taken over a hundred of formerly homeless off the street and improved the character of the neighborhood. With city residents and officials pushing hard for community benefits, particularly in return for allowing lucrative investments in urban neighborhoods, the Plaza Apartments could contain ideas useful elsewhere. Instead of writing a check to a faceless housing fund, a donation towards a facility like the one described here could improve the neighborhood and set formerly homeless people on a path to recovery.

A complete case study of this project can be found on ULI's Development Case Studies web site, which features detailed descriptions of urban development projects around the world updated each quarter.

Only subscribers can access the complete case studies, but short descriptions are available to all. The complete case study for Plaza Apartments includes floor plans, contact information of the development team, description of building features, and a summary of important lessons learned.

Cities Strive to Lessen Environmental Impact

As cities continue to grow, so does its impact on the environment. In recognition of Earth Day today, the National Press Club hosted an event, "Protecting the Environment in Cities, the U.S., and the World," where Ben Grumbles, assistant administrator for water at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and Richard Baier, the director of transportation and environmental services for Alexandria, Va., discussed how cities are tackling stormwater management and other infrastructure issues.

Grumbles informed attendees and other guest panelists about the EPA's recent efforts in green infrastructure and green transportation. Green infrastructure can be defined as management approaches and technologies infiltrate, evapotranspire, capture and reuse stormwater to maintain or restore natural hydrologies.

Of note, Grumbles detailed a recent initiative formalizing an effort among EPA, the National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA), the Association of States and Interstate Water Pollution Control Administrators (ASIWPCA), the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), and the Low Impact Development (LID) Center, in addition to over 50 companies who signed a statement of support, to assist state, city, and local governments in implementing and evaluating innovative and effective green infrastructure approaches.

Moving Beyond 'Drive until you Qualify'

In a joint effort by the Chicago-based Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT) and Washington, D.C.-based the Brookings Institute, an interactive mapping web tool -- the Housing + Transportation Affordability Index -- was developed to measure the true affordability of housing by applying transportation costs.

The tool provides housing and transportation costs as a percentage of income on a neighborhood-level basis for 52 metropolitan areas using 2000 U.S. Census data and analysis of household transportation costs.

Urban planners, policy-makers, and transportation and housing advocates measure housing affordability as 30 percent or less of household income. However, housing affordability is not always what it seems.

As Scott Bernstein, president for CNT explained during a presentation today at the Brookings Institute, the old adage of "drive until you qualify" is really no longer an appropriate measure of housing affordability. As gas prices increase along with suburban sprawl, much of the population is paying as much for transportation as they are housing.

Urban Farming

The publication Growing Cooler, released September 2007, demonstrated how redesigning our metropolitan regions will reduce the release of greenhouse gases by reducing vehicle miles traveled (VMTs) –-- the more compact we design communities, the less people have to drive. While this is a seemingly obvious conclusion it is important to have the research to demonstrate and quantify its benefits.

But there is more that must be done in redesigning metropolitan areas in addition to building compact communities. Space must also be planned for urban and regional farms close to where people live and shop.

Stop, don’t click away.  This is not about how nice it is to have a farmers' market, though that is more than nice.  Nor is this a cute ‘60’s throwback, “Let’s all get back to the land.” Eating local food reduces energy and thus greenhouse gases, possibly as much as cutting household energy use by 20 percent, according to a Japanese study reported in Bill McKibben’s excellent book Deep Economy.

Compact Communities - Is Density Incompatible With Safety?

Reducing the carbon footprint of metropolitan areas will require making them more compact in order to reduce driving or vehicle miles traveled (VMTs). Forgive me for saying this (density being a four letter word) but this will require increasing the density of existing communities and building new ones with appropriate density. 

So what are the best ways to design compact, densely populated, walkable communities which are attractive, safe and lively? One thing clearly needed is enough housing so people live in the community; this is what creates the "24/7" communities which have been shown to be most successful over time. What are the best ways to do this while reducing crime and enhancing public safety?

HOPE VI Zeroed Out in the President's FY 2009 Budget

The President's $3 trillion budget was released on Monday to the usual fanfare, and, like most Presidential budgets was declared dead on arrival. That said, what it does lay out is where the the fights will be for more funding.  One is HOPE VI.

HOPE VI, the revitailization of the oldest and worst public housing projects in the US, has been the most effective urban renewal program of the Federal government in the past two decades. It has been slow, expensive and controversial, but it has turned blights on neighborhoods into community assets that raise the value of surrounding properties. According to the President's housing budget, "Cumulative results of the HOPE VI program as of June 30, 2007 follow: 68,657 households have been relocated, 87,445 units have been demolished, 61,222 units (new and rehabilitated) have been completed, and 58,719 completed units have been occupied."

Each HOPE VI development is no longer a bleak crime-filled high rise. They are attractive, safe mixed income developments, often tied in with new schools, retail, home ownership opportunities, and community services. Though the original goal of the program was to redevelop the worst 100,000 public housing units (of the some 1.2 million in the country), it has done its job so well, despite delays and cost overuns, that it needs to be continued in order to bring the same neighborhood revitalization to small and mid-sized cities which often have one or more public housing projects in need of total redevelopment.

Housing Prices at The Edges Falling Faster

It's always a (somewhat unexpected) pleasure when facts begin to support one's theories. So the report in the Sunday, January 20th Washington Post on their front page no less, was a welcome arrival. The headline of the report: Region's Home Prices Continue to Fall; Some Pockets Thrive.

Now before I'm accused of schadenfreude, and taking joy in falling home prices, let's be clear that I own a home as well, the price of which has fallen more than I care to say.  What was satisfying is that my theory about the greater volatility of home prices on the suburban edge appears to be reflected on the ground, at least in the Washington Metro region.

The Theory:

Even though regional development patterns have been the same in the past few years as the past few decades (since the late 1940's to be precise), and most housing has been built on the suburban edges, now some 50 plus miles from downtown, the market for this suburban edge housing is declining. This is due to a number of factors including:

• changing demographics (fewer households with school age kids),
• longer commute times due to growing traffic congestion,
• higher gas prices (and the growing realization that they will continue to rise for years to come),
• concern about the need to reduce driving and greenhouse gas emissions, and
• the growing desire to live in more urbanized settings among the Baby Boomers and their kids, the Echo Boomers, the two largest American demographics.

Good News for Urban Housing

The headline in USA Today is that the FBI reports violent crime fell 2% in early 2007. The story goes on to say, "The FBI's preliminary review follows two consecutive years in which the federal government recorded slight increases in violent crime. Among the first indicators to signal a possible shift in the troubling crime trend came in October when a national police advocacy group reported that a rising number of cities were recording significant declines in assaults and assaults with firearms during the first part of 2007. Assault offenses are generally regarded as precursors to more serious violent crimes."

The FBI report itself has additional interesting news, namely, "Violent crime rose 1.1 percent in non-metropolitan counties and in cities with populations between 10,000 and 24,999." In other words, while big city crime is begining to fall, rural and small town crime may be on the rise.

Why is this good news for urban housing? The fear of urban crime has been one of the biggest roadblocks to encouraging people to move back to the city. As urban crime and unrest rose in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, people who could moved out of the cities to the suburbs. 

As urban crime fell in the 1990s, people began to migrate back to the city. In the past several years, with the rise in the number of teenage males, crime began to rise again, fortunately not enough to slow the urban renaissance, though it could in time. So the fact that urban crime may be stabilizing or even falling is very good news.

There are, of course, other factors that have been behind the migration out of cities and back in -- schools, cleanliness, and demography to name a few. But crime has been a major factor and will always be a threshold issue -- if a city cannot provide an environment that feels safe, people won't move in and its population will continue to decline.

So for now at least, the news is good for the Back to the City movement.

ULI Advisory Services Panel at Work in Dubai

This post was submitted by ULI Senior Resident Fellow Bill Hudnut, who reflects on his participation in a recent ULI advisory services panel in Dubai.

I recently had the privilege of participating in a ULI advisory panel in Dubai. Our assignment was to evaluate the work process and product (to date) of URBIS, an Australian consultant charged with developing an Urban Development Framework for Dubai. Our client was the Urban Planning Committee, which in turn reports to The Executive Council. The Ruler in this absolute monarchy has final say on everything. The panel was composed of ULI members Jim DeFrancia, panel chairman; Stephen Barter of London, Eric Britton of Paris, Robert Grow of Salt Lake City; and Daniel Brents of Houston; Bill Kistler, president of ULI Europe, Middle East, and Africa; Michael Pawlukiewicz and I were ULI staff representatives.

In our report, formulated after six days of visiting, interviewing, participating in a workshop, and discussing among ourselves, we noted that there are five criteria for a successful world city: skilled workforce, liquidity/transparency, connectivity, quality of life, and good governance. We felt Dubai was well situated with the first two, so our report concentrated on the latter three.

The Urban Health Advantage

A recent article in New York magazine by Clive Thompson called "Why New Yorkers Last Longer" pulls together some intriguing facts that anyone interested in walkable, mixed use, mixed income communities should consider. The article, as the title suggests, explores why the "average life expectancy" of New Yorkers has grown faster than that of the U.S. as a whole, especially in since 1990. Now it is 78.6, while the national average is 77.9; as recently as 1990, the average life expectancy of a New Yorker was three years shorter than the national average.

Certain factors may be unique to New York, such as the drop in the crime rate (New York is now the safest city in the U.S.) and new drugs that have extended the life of AIDS patients. But other factors are more generic to all urbanized areas.

Here are some excerpts:

Experts Demand More Federal Prioritizing in Restoring Louisiana

The Woodrow Wilson Center's Comparative Urban Studies Project (CUSP) recently hosted a panel discussion on Louisiana's comprehensive plan for developing a systems approach to protecting the coast, protecting the population, its vital infrastructure, and the significant ecological area known as America's WETLAND.

The early morning discussion included experts in marine science and coastal restoration, along with transportation and levee specialists, who pointed out the challenges to developing a master plan for coastal restoration and hurricane protection, such as cooperation between Louisiana government leaders and the federal government.

Sidney Coffee, chair of Louisiana's Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, stressed the need for a "program approach" to the issue of coastal restoration, instead of a number of individual projects aimed at fixing the problem. Coffee went on say that federal agencies need to help Congress prioritize national spending for a program to address the levee and ecosystem problem in Louisiana.

Newark Redux?

The 21st century is the Century of Urbanization, and cities across the U.S. are gaining population and economic vitality. But will this new life come to all cities in the U.S.? Maybe not, but take a look at Newark, N.J., historically one of the poorest, toughest, most corrupt and crime ridden cities in the country.

Talk of a comeback for Newark is not new, to be sure. In fact it's part of every mayoral campaign and has yet to take hold. That said, there is no reason why Newark should not become a thriving satellite of New York City if several previously intractable challenges can be met -- and a couple of them look like they are on the way to being resolved, namely crime and corruption.

Gen-Xers Leading the Way in Developing Walkable Urban Plac

This post was written by The Ground Floor contributor and ULI communications associate, Robert Krueger.

This week, Christopher Leinberger, visiting fellow with the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., held a luncheon to discuss his recently published book, The Option of Urbanism: Investing in a New American Dream, at the National Press Club in Washington. The focus of his book is based on his market findings from across the country pointing to the increased market demand for walkable urbanism -- living, working and entertainment within a pedestrian environment provided by downtowns and similar places in American metropolitan areas. Leinberger discussed how the redevelopment plays out on the ground, the steps that need to be taken to encourage redevelopment, the role of transit, "private/public" financing options and the new management models evolving to keep up with the growing consumer demands.

As part of the discussion, Leinberger included a new list of 30 metropolitan areas ranked by the number of walkable places per capita throughout the areas – not just in the downtown cores. The Washington, D.C., metro area ranked first; the Tampa-Clearwater-St. Petersburg (Fla.) area ranked last. One key finding: There is a balanced distribution of walkable places located in suburban areas and urban areas.

Growth in the West: Arizona Takes The Lead

This post was written by The Ground Floor contributor and ULI director of media relations, Marge Fahey.

Arizona is the fastest growing state in the nation. Its current population of 6.2 million is projected to increase to 12 million by 2035. The U.S. population of 300 million will increase by 2.8 million per year; of which one in 14 will reside in Arizona.

This rapid growth will have consequences for Arizona and the West as a whole, according to a panel of industry experts assembled at ULI's fall meeting.

Phoenix will absorb 70 percent of the growth, while Tucson and the surrounding areas will add 15 percent. The Phoenix-Tucson area will merge into one large megapolitan area. This additional growth will consume 30,000 acres per year and 1,000 square miles over the next 30 years. Tucson has to grow in the state trust lands and has major water constraints; a population of 1 million is expected to grow by 20,000 people per year.

A Look at What's to Come

You may have noticed that we've been a little quieter around here these past few weeks. It's not that we're losing interest, but rather because we are ramping up for blanket coverage of ULI's upcoming fall meeting in Las Vegas, which runs from October 23-26. We have a great schedule of blog postings, webcasts, and podcasts on tap, which we'll be previewing during the coming week.

However, for those of you who will be joining us in Las Vegas, I'd like to invite you to a special session on Wednesday, October 24, which features some interesting thought leaders that we've featured (and linked to) from the blog. City Vision assembles three people writing about and working in the urban development field to discuss where our cities are headed and how some emerging concepts have the potential to transform the way these urban areas are developed. Moderated by Los Angeles Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne, this session taps the expertise of Ted Bardacke, senior associate with Global Green USA; BLDGBLOG founder and Dwell magazine senior editor, Geoff Manaugh; and Neil Takemoto, founder of CoolTown Studios. In conjunction with the panel, we have created a Facebook group, ULI Urban Futures Visioning (it is a closed group, so you will need to request permission to join), that we hope will function as a place to begin and continue the conversation around the larger issues that come up on October 24. Also, we'll be podcasting highlights from the discussion for those of you unable to join us in Las Vegas. Bring your most innovative ideas for how to make our cities better to the discussion in Las Vegas, to the Facebook group, or leave them in the comments section of this post. We hope to see many of you on the 24th!

Building Great Places for People

This post was written by The Ground Floor contributor, Matthew Rader.

Can we build great places for people? Helle Soholt, a principal with Gehl Architects in Copenhagen, challenged ULI Place Making Conference attendees in Toronto this week to create livable urban environments by placing human enjoyment and comfort at the top of the design goals. Historically, urban environment mattered less because limited mobility and economic systems required people to use cities. Today, new and old urban centers must create engaging human environments to compete successfully as place to live, work, shop, and play.

Ms. Soholt challenged popular notions that it "takes 300 years" to evolve an engaging urban environment. Developers and designers can create lasting, enjoyable places by designing with a human scale (most engaging architecture at eye level), human pace (manageable at 5 km/h), and human interest (a new stimulus every 4 seconds). Ms. Soholt's recommendations offer a challenging lesson to developers often faced with designing to the standards required by retailers.

The Place Making Conference demonstrated that investors and buyers value mixed use, pedestrian, and transit-oriented development. Speakers like Ms. Soholt demonstrated the need for continued design and development program innovation to continue the evolution of place making efforts. Backed by their success in pioneering mixed use development, developers now have the opportunity to create the next generation of great places to be loved and nurtured by people.

Is Gentrification Good?

Does gentrification hurt poor residents by forcing them out of their neighborhoods?

The tantalizing answer found by most researchers who study the question is no.

In fact, research suggests low-income residents of gentrifying neighborhoods benefit from the influx of higher-income neighbors through greater political clout, enhanced municipal services, new businesses, and safer streets. Such findings are enough to convince writers like Richard Cravatts, who claims gentrification to be good for “the poor and everyone else” in a recent article for the American Thinker. Dismissing opposition to a controversial Columbia University plan to expand into West Harlem, he concludes such a plan should be embraced by the community since it will bring economic activity to the neighborhood.

Unfortunately, the research he cites tells a more nuanced story. Although the revitalization of many urban neighborhoods is a positive trend, it is not without downsides. Furthermore, eminent domain, which Columbia has threatened to use to acquire property for their plan should owners refuse to sell, has an entirely different history.

Urban Crisis or Urban Rebirth?

In a recent edition of The Washington Post, a commentary by Ohio State University Professor Kevin Boyle claims that urban areas in the U.S. are largely suffering from the same neglect and racial and economic divisiveness that led to rioting in Detroit and other cities four decades ago. The difference between now and then, he says, is that now no one wants to confront the problems. He bases much of his conclusions on the past and current situation in Detroit.

Boyle, who teaches American history, seems to have overlooked the 1990s. During that time, Census figures show that several U.S. cities -- among them Houston, Seattle, Chicago, Denver, Portland (Ore.), Atlanta, Memphis and San Diego -- experienced greater percentage increases in their downtown populations than in their entire urban areas over that time. The reason? A downtown migration by young childless professionals and, to a lesser extent, empty nesters seeking to live closer to work and  cultural amenities. As a result, much housing was created from redeveloped warehouse, industrial and older office space; and retail started springing up in places long ignored by developers and investors.

To be sure, gentrifying neighborhoods have created a challenge for the public and private sector in meeting the needs of both new residents and existing residents, and in ensuring that people of all incomes benefit from the new investment in cities. Creating such a "win-win" situation is not easy.

Obviously, despite the many economic and social benefits of urban regeneration, cities do have problems. There is crime. There is poverty. There are struggling public school systems. (Education is one of the top reasons that few families are joining their childless counterparts in moving into cities.) Boyle is correct in saying that racial divisions and economic inequalities still exist.

Still, to claim that no progress has been made is wrong. A walk in downtown Chicago, downtown Los Angeles, or downtown Washington shows a vastly different urban core than one would have seen 40 years, or even 20 years ago. These areas are safer, cleaner, and energized. It's a step in the right direction. 

 

A Tree Grows in Tokyo

Working in one of the largest cities in the world (the largest, if you count the entire urban area; 11th or 12th if you're just talking about the 8.5 million people living within the city's boundaries), Tokyo developers are hard-pressed to incorporate large quantities of urban space into their new developments. However, the Tokyo Midtown project in the city's Roppongi District (profiled in the April issue of Urban Land) has bucked that trend, dedicating half of the ten-acre site to public open space, including parks, plazas, promenades, and streetscapes. EDAW, the global landscape architecture powerhouse that designed the project's open spaces, has now put together an interesting slideshow of the ideas that drove the design of Tokyo Midtown. Check it out -- the visuals are stunning.

Are We Really There Yet?

At ULI's recent spring council forum, Ray Suarez, senior correspondent for "The NewsHour" in Washington, D.C., discussed the changing roles being played by cities and suburbs in 21^st century. Both appeal to different types of households for different reasons, and to the same households at different stages of their lives, he noted. "The great resorting of American lifestyles may be over," Suarez said. "In general, people are where they want to be or are planning to get there...There are plenty of Americas for everyone to choose the one they want."

The urbanization of suburbs through more mixed-use, dense development is "making it easier" to live in suburbs by reducing individual trips for errands, Suarez pointed out. However, he said, attempting the reverse -- in terms of making cities more suburban -- would likely backfire. "Cities need to resist the temptation to stop acting like cities...The membrane separating the city and suburb is becoming more permeable, so people can make more choices in (how to live out) different aspects of their lives."

Agree or disagree? Do you think "most people are where they want to be" in terms of living environments? It seems to me that demographic changes alone would challenge this theory. With baby boomers aging, and Gen Y wanting no part of the daily commute grind, I think big changes are in store for suburbs and cities, in terms of who winds up living where.

Lifestyle with a View

Perhaps no city in the United States is a better example of downtown revitalization than Chicago. Its extraordinary Millennium Park is an icon, catalyzing as much as 90 percent of the development that has occurred on the East Loop over the past five years. The extraordinary revival in this area was evident during a mobile workshop hosted this morning during ULI’s Spring Council Forum.

The tour featured The Heritage at Millennium Park, a luxury 57-story high rise condominium building set back one block from the park. The top selling point: the view of Millennium Park and Lake Michigan. With prices ranging from the $400,000s to more than $2.5 million for units ranging from 1,400 square feet to 4,000 square feet, this project, developed by Mesa Development LLC, appeals to affluent buyers seeking a downtown lifestyle rich in culture, entertainment, and recreation.

About half of the residents have moved in from the suburbs; others are already downtown dwellers seeking a prime view of their city. In keeping with Chicago’s focus on environmentally conscious building, The Heritage has green open space on several floors. For those bringing their dogs, there is even a dog run on the ninth floor.

The Future Looks Bright

Five students from the University of California Berkeley walked away with the $50,000 prize in the 2007 Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition for their bold scheme, "Tectonics." UC Berkeley beat out three other finalists from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and two teams from Harvard University.

Team leader Christopher Lollini, Aditi Rao, Brooke Ray Smith, Robert McCracken and Andrea Gaffney, adopted the theme of "Tectonics" based on the idea of neighborhoods coming together. "Tectonics" was a mixed-use scheme that incorporated market-rate and affordable housing, retail, green space, civic space, cultural space and linked the two sides of the Los Angeles River.

The plan stayed true to the character of the neighborhoods and to the needs of the three communities represented. The plan also provided open space for community festivals, a 1.2 acre public park, a 43,000-square-foot recreation center, and an arts gallery with subsidized rent and exhibit space.

BIDding for Five More Years

This post was written by Richard Reinhard, deputy executive director of planning and development for the Downtown DC BID.

Last week, the property owners and tenants of downtown Washington, D.C., voted to reauthorize the Downtown D.C. Business Improvement District for five more years by the vote of 24,787 to 6. (The vote was weighted, where the more property you own or space you lease, the more votes you get.)

Howard J. Riker, vice president in the Washington office of Hines and chairman of the Downtown D.C. BID Board, noted that the BID has helped create a positive investment climate for developers in Downtown D.C. that didn't exist until its formation ten years ago.

A business improvement district is an area in which property owners pay special assessments above and beyond their normal property taxes, in return for the ability to govern how the money is spent to improve the area.

In an era of careful watch on property taxes -- and sometimes downright revolt -- BIDs have proven to be popular. In addition to downtown, other D.C. area BIDs include those in the Golden Triangle (west of downtown), Georgetown and Capitol Hill; Crystal City and Rosslyn in Virginia; and Bethesda in Maryland. BIDs are currently being formed in the Mount Vernon Triangle and NoMa (east of downtown) areas and in Southeast Washington, around the new baseball stadium.

ULI LA Urban Marketplace to Focus on Underserved Neighborhoods

This post was written by The Ground Floor contributor and ULI Los Angeles Executive Director Phil Hart.

ULI Los Angeles's seventh annual Urban Marketplace (UM 07) -- which focuses on the region's underserved neighborhoods by urging real estate professionals to "Make a Deal, Make a Difference" -- is adding a new twist at its March 21 conference at the L.A. Convention Center. This year's theme, "Where is LA Headed? Solving the Real Estate Puzzle: Case Studies from Hollywood, Downtown LA, East LA and Inglewood," will be podcast on March 23 by ARTSCAPE. Among those participating in the podcast are Tom Murphy, ULI senior resident fellow and ULI/Klingbeil Family Chair for Urban Development, who moderates the panel discussion; Jan Perry, who represents L.A. City Council District Nine; Gail Goldberg, director of planning for the city of Los Angeles; and Tom Cody, principal with Gerding Edlen Development & The South Group, Downtown LA. Two roundtables will also be included in the podcast: Team Hollywood and Public Sector Magic.

Councilwoman Perry is to read a poem at UM 07  written by a ULI LA Urban Plan student, Marquise Johnson. More than 800 attendees are expected on March 21, including a delegation from ULI Washington (D.C.), which will be hosting their first Urban Marketplace in September 2007. To learn more about ULI LA's seventh annual Urban Marketplace, go to www.uli-la.org.

Blogging the Competition

There's a discussion going on at Curbed LA about the four finalists and six honorable mentions in the ULI Hines Student Urban Design Competition.

You can learn more about this year's competition at udcompetition.uli.org, which is still going on for the finalists. They've been presented with the challenge of proposing a mixed use development at the corner of First and Alameda as a "bookend" to the earlier stage challenge of a development at First and Boyle. The four finalists will publicly present and defend their proposals at a public forum to be held at the Japanese American National Museum on March 30, 2007.

Before you get too worked up about the schemes and what Curbed LA calls "pretty pictures" read the competition brief -- most of the bloggers missed the part of the brief that emphasizes that this is an ideas competition and that the proposals are not intended to be applied to the site.

Any questions -- email udcompetition@uli.org.

Small is Beautiful

When designed well, small spaces can be very rewarding places. The Boulders in Seattle, located in Washington's Greenlake neighborhood is a cluster of nine single-family houses on a small (3.5-acre) lot. In the last ten years, Greenlake has become a very desirable neighborhood, with homes there commanding very high prices in the area market.

The site originally consisted of two seperate parcels, each with its own house, that had been upzoned for multifamily housing. However its small size, awkward triangular shape, 15 to 20 percent change in slope, and proximity to freeway noise presented major challenges to local developer William N. Parks. Parks met these challenges with a site plan that takes maximum advantage of the property's characteristics. The nine four-story, 1,800-square-foot houses are clustered around a central open space and placed on the slope in such way to create sight lines and view corridors for each of the residences. Mature trees and boulders further emphasize the site design, and a manmade stream flows between the houses masking the noise from Interstate 5.

A complete case study of this project can be found on ULI's Development Case Studies Web site. (If you are not already subscribed to the Development Case Studies, you can subscribe here.)   

Context is Everything

How a building relates to its surroundings and neighbors is crucial for the creation of an active streetscape and to foster a sense of community. West River Commons, a small (one-acre) mixed-use project in the Longfellow neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, is an excellent example of context-sensitive design.

Like many pre-WWII inner suburban neighborhoods, the Longfellow neighborhood comprises single-family homes sited on a dense and walkable street grid. Also like many neighborhoods from this time period, the scale and walkability of the area has been comprised by fast moving traffic on arterial streets lined with one-story commercial strip centers.

West River Commons fronts one of these arterials, Lake Street. Its 53 apartments, three townhouses, dry cleaning shop, two restaurants and one cafe are designed in such a way to provide a transition from the activity and traffic on Lake Street to the more quiet residential feel just a block away. The focal point of the project is a small park which provides outdoor setting for the restaurants and serves as an informal community gathering point.

A complete case study of this project can be found on ULI's Development Case Studies Web site. (If you are not already subscribed to the Development Case Studies, you can subscribe here.)

Living on the (Urban) Edge

There's an article about the pros and cons of living in a transitional neighborhood in The Wall Street Journal. In addition to the obvious points (low rent, the spector of crime), the article states that young people have virtually replaced artists as the agents of neighborhood change. Interestingly, the early homesteaders rarely reap the benefits of gentrification since they often do not buy properties and can find themselves priced out when "the urban trenches become rose gardens." According to CUNY geography professor Neil Smith, "People who are moving in at the front end of the process often become victims, along with the long-time residents, of the very gentrification that they helped foment."

Robert Moses, Reconsidered

An interesting article posted on The New York Times website (it will appear in Sunday's Arts print section) highlights three concurrent exhibitions in New York that cast master builder Robert Moses in a more positive light. Since the publication of Robert Caro's 1974 Pulitzer Prize-winning biography The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York, Moses's reputation has been largely unfavorable. However, as grand planning once again becomes fashionable after a few decades of a more cautious approach, the curators of the exhibits believe that Moses deserves a second look.

"Every generation writes its own history," said Kenneth T. Jackson, a historian of New York City at Columbia who with Ms. [Hilary] Ballon edited "Robert Moses and the Modern City: The Transformation of New York" (W. W. Norton), the catalog accompanying the exhibitions. "It could be that 'The Power Broker' was a reflection of its time: New York was in trouble and had been in decline for 15 years. Now, for a whole host of reasons, New York is entering a new time, a time of optimism, growth and revival that hasn't been seen in half a century. And that causes us to look at our infrastructure."

What do you think? Could it be that history has judged Robert Moses too harshly? Or does the insensitivity of his grand plans speak louder than his physical legacy?

Information about the exhibits:

• "Robert Moses and the Modern City: Remaking the Metropolis" at the Museum of the City of New York; February 2 to May 28.


• "Robert Moses and the Modern City: The Road to Recreation" at the Queens Museum of Art; January 28 to May 27.


• "Robert Moses and the Modern City: Slum Clearance and the Superblock Solution" at Columbia University's Miriam & Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery; January 30 to April 21.

Ontario College of Art and Design's Sharp Centre

An architectural revolution is taking place in one of Canada's premier cities. New cutting-edge architecture projects are helping Toronto reaffirm its cosmopolitan status. One of the most amazing examples is the Ontario College of Art & Design's Sharp Centre. Canada's largest university specializing in art and design has received much acclaim and publicity with this startling two-story addition. Classrooms and workspace are located inside the giant rectangular box that hovers over the orginal building, all of which supported by a central core and a dozen legs constructed from repurposed natural gas pipes. This 2004 Royal Institute of British Architects Worldwide Award winner was designed by Will Alsop and Robbie/Young + Wright Architects, Inc.

For more information check out OCAD's Web site on the project.

The Fine Line Between Success and Failure

Wednesday's New York Times brought news of an interesting phenomenon for those of us who are cheerleaders for downtown residential development -- that Vancouver's push to encourage downtown living may have worked too well. Blogger Zach Korb, in a piece about the challenges of creating the much-vaunted 24/7 neighborhood, picks up on the article and notes with concern that Vancouver may be becoming a "16-hour neighborhood."

Anecdotally, though, cities trying to reinvigorate their flagging downtowns can only hope to have the sort of problems that Vancouver is now facing. Most of the problems that cities face are more of the chicken-or-egg variety -- build housing and hope that retailers come to serve the housing or build retail and hope that residents come to take advantage of the urban amenities. Either way, the cities assume that the commercial development that is downtown will remain downtown. (Christopher Leinberger has an excellent paper tracing what he terms are the 12 steps to a downtown revitalization -- centered around his concept of walkable urbanity -- which he believes ends with the reemergence of an office market.)

Will the nascent downtown living efforts in cities such as Los Angeles, San Diego, and Miami place enough pressure on the market to drive away commercial tenants? How can Vancouver restore the balance needed downtown? Do downtown areas need office workers to remain vital and vibrant -- and will this change as technology allows office workers to become increasingly decentralized and mobile?

Here's to Dancing, not Puttering

In a recent interview in the Wall Street Journal (subscription required), Toll Brothers co-founder Robert Toll discussed the company's decision to add downtown condominium development to its product line, which for nearly 40 years has centered around suburban single-family home construction. "We are following our people," Mr. Toll, 65, says in the article. "We have been a builder to the baby boom since we began…We (baby boomers) want the sophistication and joy of culture and music that comes with city dwelling -- and doesn't come with sitting in a big home in the burbs watching the day go by while puttering, painting, reading, writing, making flies for fishing, customizing your own golf clubs, stringing your own tennis racket, tending your tropical fish."

To be sure, Toll Brothers entering the urban condo market says something about the changing lifestyles of America's largest adult age group and the changing shape of our cities. And, in addition to empty nesters, the downtown migration is also being fueled by Generation X, the generation between baby boomers and Generation Y, many of whom are delaying marriage and children in pursuit of careers. As a result, the urban revival of many cities is one that does not, for the most part, include households with children. Is this a sustainable course? Can our urban cores, over the long term, remain viable if families with children remain living on the fringes? Many industry analysts point to public school problems as the main factor keeping families out of downtowns. Are there other factors as well? What do you see happening in your area?

Vornado's Big Plans for the Big Apple

Vornado Realty Trust (VNO:NYSE) has big plans for Penn Station and the surrounding area as the REIT continues to add to it's cluster of holdings in that general vicinity.  The latest is the purchase Manhattan Mall for $689 million from HausInvest Global, a German fund, who has owned it since 2004.  This property consists of both retail and office, housing Bank of America, Interpublic Group and Foot Locker to name a few. 

The company hopes to turn the Penn Station area into a destination for shoppers and dinners, rather than a place for just commuters and travelers.  However, Vornado's key word in its Penn Station revival plans is patience and that a redevelopment of this magnitude is a long-term process.  This has been seen, considering Vornado has taken over a decade to acquire the 6 million square feet of office, retail and hotel space it currently owns in that area.  In addition, their plans have not been accepted by all. 

New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has blocked Vornado's redevelopment plan of expanding the train station west into the Farley Post Office on Eight Avenue.  The Speaker states that it didn't do enough to improve conditions for subway riders and Long Island Railroad commuters.  Vornado has come back with an expanded plan proposing that Madison Square Garden also be moved into the post office building allowing Vornado to build office towers at the Garden site.

How do you feel about these revival plans?  Should this historic site be redeveloped and key attractions in NY be moved?  Comments?