HOW TO GET TO PEOPLE STREET

HOW TO GET TO PEOPLE STREET
New initiative will allow locals to alter the streetscape in Los Angeles.

RIOS CLEMENTI HALE'S SUNSET TRIANGLE PLAZA.

JIM SIMMONS / COURTESY LADOT

There is a lot happening—or about to happen—on the streets of LA these days. From parklets to Mayor Garcetti’s new “Great Streets” initiative, things are looking up for the city’s pedestrians and cyclists. Starting in early 2014, community members will have the opportunity to take the lead on small-scale street projects through a City of Los Angeles-LADOT (LA Department of Transportation) program known as People St. Once the People St program is underway, interested community members will be able to apply online for city permission to install a parklet, plaza, or bike corral on an underused stretch of roadway. Though the process will vary depending on the type of intervention, in general the person or group initiating the petition will cover the cost of materials, installation, and upkeep. The city or LADOT, in turn, will provide the site’s operators with the architectural elements needed to transform a patch of pavement into community space.

JIM SIMMONS / COURTESY LADOT

 

This kit of parts concept is part of what makes People St so unique. The program will draw on pilot projects throughout the city, including the York Boulevard Bike Corral in Highland Park, Sunset Triangle Plaza in Silver Lake, and the Spring Street Parklets downtown. The goal, according to architect Daveed Kapoor, who helped design the Spring Street Parklets, is to take the best design elements from the pilot projects and manufacture them as economically as possible. “It’s expensive to build these things. It’s kind of like building a car,” said Kapoor. “You want to do it for less, but it adds up.”

People St also stands out as a bottom-up alternative to traditional city planning.  “LA has a hunger for transforming public space,” said People St project manager Valerie Watson. “To meet that hunger we need a much more consistent, quickly-implemented multi-phase process—not a New York–style, top-down approach, but more of a grassroots process where communities identify sites for the reallocation of the public right of way.” The projects begun through People St will supplement and help build support for larger and slower efforts being supervised by the city.

People St projects will undergo regular evaluation to insure that they do what they’re meant to—create community space and enhance pedestrian safety—without becoming nuisances. Kapoor already thinks that the program is a step in the right direction toward better planning for LA. “In America we have a real civil rights problem of unequal access. In general, city planning principles discriminate against people who don’t have access to a car,” he said. “Hopefully we’re moving toward a new space for people on the right of way.”

Anna Bergren Miller

Revisioning the Los Angeles Aqueduct Infrastructure

"In short, the "Aqueduct Futures" exhibit provides a cogent and highly educational opportunity to learn about this important topic and history -- one that this author believes would positively serve anyone and everyone partaking of its waters to peruse and study" - Kim Stringfellow

As part of of KCET's celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Los Angeles Aqueduct, Kim Stringfellow highlighted 'Aqueduct Futures' a public exhibit that was on display from November 5th to December 5th, 2013 at Los Angeles City Hall. Showcasing the results of two years of investigation led by Barry Lehrman's  Assistant Professor in Cal Poly Pomona's Landscape Architecture program, the work included studios, fieldwork, community workshops, and the development of a land-use planning tool.

A Tale of Two Cities: America's Bipolar Climate Future

A computer simulation of flooded zones in New York in 2050, based on calculations by the New York Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability. According to calculations, the sea level in the city could rise by more than three-quarters of a meter (2.5 feet) by 2050, and by one-and-a-half meters 30 years later. (Caption & Image: Der Spiegel)

New York City and New Bern, North Carolina both face the same projected rise in sea levels, but while one is preparing for the worst, the other is doing nothing on principle. A glimpse into America's contradictory climate change planning

HUDSON SPONGE

Streetscape remake in West Side Manhattan neighborhood includes stormwater-retention measures.

COURTESY MATHEWS NIELSEN LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS

Chances are most New Yorkers don’t know where Hudson Square is located. But the launch of the first phase of a $27 million streetscaping initiative may turn relatively obscure neighborhood, bounded by the West Village, SoHo, and Tribeca, into one of the most attractive places in the city.

Plans call for the formerly industrial neighborhood to be completely redesigned with gantries festooned with public art, deployable dumpsters planted with trees, yellow gridded crosswalks, and special light fixtures designed by Thomas Phifer and Partners. Along with custom designed street furniture and new plantings, the neighborhood’s streets are slated to become some of the most sustainable in the city through the use of features such as permeable pavement and structural soil.

The plan to revamp the area is the brainchild of the Hudson Square Connection Business Improvement District (BID). The vast majority of BIDs throughout the city focus on sanitation and safety, but this one is unusual in that it is almost wholly oriented toward urban design and landscape.

“When we were formed the primary purpose was urban beautification because this area was already pretty clean and pretty safe,” said Ellen Bair, president of the Hudson Square Connection BID. “What it wasn’t was a neighborhood.”

Bair said that the plan’s adventuresome aesthetic and sustainability features reflect the sensibilities and the concerns of the young professionals who work in the creative industries—such as media, graphic design, and architecture—that form the majority of the more than 1,000 businesses located in Hudson Square. “This is a neighborhood where sustainability is in the DNA of the people who work here,” said Bair.

Phase one of the plan involves a $3.2 million contribution from the city and a $4.4 million contribution from the Hudson Square Connection BID. It will result in the planting of 360 trees throughout the neighborhood in specially designed tree trenches, larger than typical street tree pits, which will improve the neighborhood’s ability to retain stormwater. “Every year, we will soak up a minimum of eight swimming pools in terms of rainwater, and we will have healthier trees,” said Bair.

The next big move is the redesign of the gateway to the neighborhood, a large underutilized traffic island called Soho Square, at the corner of Sixth Avenue and Spring Street, with kidney shaped islands of green to increase permeable surfaces, custom seating, and lighter paving surfaces.

One big spur to the plan’s implementation was a residential rezoning that went through last March, which Bair hopes will increase the number of neighborhood residents. Dotted with parking lots and underutilized industrial buildings, the neighborhood is ripe for redevelopment. Some of the choicest real estate will be along Hudson Square’s western boundary, where the recently approved transferal of air rights from Hudson River Park may result in a wall of towers.

The Hudson Square Connection plan includes the largest district-wide use of state-of-the-art sustainable street features in the city. Nonetheless, it took four years to get approval from city officials. According to Signe Nielsen, principal at the landscape architecture firm Mathews Nielsen, who is leading a design team that includes Rogers Partners and ARUP, what really made the plan a slam-dunk was the flooding from Hurricane Sandy. “It became an easier sell after people saw the map of the extensive flooding,” she said.

Alex Ulam

For its urban problems, Annapolis weighs independent planning

Annapolis still has the feel of a small town, with its historic

buildings and narrow streets. But the city is increasingly facing some of the same urban problems as its metropolitan neighbors.

Like Baltimore and Washington, Annapolis is struggling with aging roads and utilities, crime and suburban sprawl. Its business district has been hurt by the sour economy, development has shifted from the downtown, and its work force is shrinking as companies move outside the city limits.

To combat these troubles and better compete with the rest of the county, city officials are thinking of establishing an independent planning agency.

Annapolis used to be a member of the Baltimore Regional Council of Governments, but the city was excluded when the state agency was disbanded at the end of June and turned into a private, non-profit planning corporation.

The city is a voting member of a newly formed transportation committee that is planning highway projects for the Baltimore metropolitan region. But, miffed by its exclusion from the new Baltimore Metropolitan Council, and convinced the city has its own problems, Annapolis officials are looking to set out on their own.

Federal highway legislation passed last year requires that all urban areas with populations of more than 200,000 develop regional transportation plans. In the Baltimore area, a transportation committee was set up that includes the city, the five surrounding counties, the state Department of Transportation and Annapolis.

Annapolis, which was designated as an urban area in 1980, may withdraw from that group and create its own committee, said City Administrator Michael Mallinoff.

"Maybe we are a separate region, with our own identity, from either Baltimore or Washington," he said.

Mayor Alfred A. Hopkins is setting up a task force to study creating an independent agency. But the city would need the approval of County Executive Robert R. Neall and Gov. William Donald Schaefer to do it.

John Arason, deputy director of the city's Office of Planning and Zoning, said he fears Annapolis often is overlooked because of its size in the disbursement of millions in federal highway grants. "I don't think in any big group we would be considered a real player," he said.

He also believes the city needs to improve cooperation with the county. Annapolis is often outbid by the county in attracting new businesses. Competition from a growing number of shopping centers and discount stores at the city's edge have hurt Annapolis. "This would give us a little more of an ability to control our own destiny," Mr. Arason said.

Charles Krautler, executive director of the Baltimore Metropolitan Council, questioned the benefits of leaving the regional organization.

"It would seem to me that would dramatically increase their costs, because they would not have access to our planning capabilities," he said.

Anne Arundel County Executive Robert R. Neall, who chairs the council, also may oppose the establishment of an independent planning agency. Mr. Arason said the current proposal would make Anne Arundel County a member of two organizations -- the state committee and the Annapolis group.

CIVIC STUDIES

CIVIC STUDIES

West Hollywood reveals finalists' proposals for major new park.

PROPOSAL BY LPA WITH RIOS CLEMENTI HALE.

COURTESY LPA

The City of West Hollywood is preparing to get a lot greener. While still mired in lengthy delays related to its Plummer Park, further east, on Monday city officials unveiled the finalist schemes for the second phase of its new West Hollywood Park, located next to Johnson Favaro’s new public library and public spaces, just west of San Vicente Boulevard.

Three shortlisted teams — Frederick Fisher and Partners with CMG, LPA with Rios Clementi Hale, and Langdon Wilson —unveiled conceptual master plan renderings. The ideas are still considered “conceptual,” because they could be scaled down due to practical concerns, explained city officials.

“These are just ideas. When the project begins all this stuff goes away and we start with a blank piece of paper,” reiterated Frederick Fisher during his presentation. But Jeffrey Huffer, the city’s Strategic Initiatives Manager, noted, “In all I would expect to see the style and type of buildings would remain very similar to what they’ve presented.”

PROPOSAL BY LPA WITH RIOS CLEMENTI HALE. COURTESY LPA

The $80 million project will remove several existing buildings from the site—including the Edward Fickett–designed Library, and the current auditorium, swimming pool, park office, and support buildings, to make room for an expanded core of grass and trees. The park will now contain over five acres of uninterrupted open space. New buildings will be highlighted by a new 70,000 square foot recreation and community center with a rooftop pool, park support facilities, and children’s playground areas.

All of the proposals focused on the new recreation center and rooftop pool, and tried to encourage interaction between the new building and its adjacent park. The finalists were culled from an original field of 24 design teams, which was later narrowed down to nine.

PROPOSAL BY LANGDON WILSON. COURTESY LANGDON WILSON

The Fisher team’s proposal includes a large grass-topped podium, and a stair, connecting the park to the rec center. “The building itself is an extension of the park,” said Fisher. Its fractured landscape, set with meandering pathways, would be divided into varied zones, including a reading garden, a sloped garden walk, garden “rooms,” and the “great lawn,” a large open grassy space.

LPA’s proposal also fused the recreation center with landscape, with vertical green screens, a park-like podium, and a larger grand stair leading down from the pool to the park. Its rooftop pool would be “resort style,” with cabanas and a view terrace, and inside a two-story volume would contain a large rock-climbing wall. Its “public park,” programmed for larger events and athletics, would be set along much harder angles, overlaid with a sinuous “neighborhood park,” set for passive activities.

“We feel the two parks in one gives West Hollywood the best of both worlds,” explained Rios Clementi Hale senior associate Samantha Harris.

Langdon Wilson presented a slightly more traditional proposal, dividing architecture and landscape, with a layered building clad with a glass curtain wall. “The facility needs to reflect the park, but it’s about the park at the end of the day,” explained Langdon Wilson project architect Rick Sholl. The team’s garden would create an “outdoor living room,” made up of greensward, recreation, and an “outdoor living room,” combining structured with open areas. A “Rainbow Garden Walk” and amphitheater would link the upper level of the park with San Vicente.

West Hollywood’s Huffer said that the winning scheme will be revealed at the city’s next council meeting, on January 21. Construction would likely be completed sometime in 2017, he noted. He added that he didn’t expect this problem to be beset with public outcry the way Plummer Park had.

“I think people seem very pleased with the first phase of improvements that were done,” he said,” referring to the new library, promenade, and basketball courts. “I think it’s only excited people more about what the project could look like.”

Olin’s plan for Plummer Park had come under fire from residents for, among other things, plans for new buildings, plans to demolish existing buildings and plans to remove mature trees. That project had been put in further jeopardy because of the dissolution of the state’s Redevelopment Agencies. The city has confirmed that Olin is no longer associated with that project. Unofficially the city is now having discussions with Brooks + Scarpa about the upcoming direction, said one city official.

Sam Lubell

UNVEILED> 1401 LAWRENCE

Back in 2006, Toronto-based developer Great Gulf purchased the lot at the corner of 14th and Lawrence streets in downtown Denver for $12.5 million with plans of constructing the city’s tallest residential building. Two years later, as real-estate prices plummeted, the company pulled the plug on the 51-story tower. Now, with Great Gulf’s office development partner First Gulf Corporation at the helm, the project has been reborn as a downsized 21-story, 290,000-square-foot office tower. With Dallas-based design-build firm Beck Group on board, First Gulf hopes to break ground in early 2014.

As the reopening of the highly anticipated Denver Union Station nears and young professionals flock to downtown, the demand for office space has skyrocketed, creating one of the hottest office markets the West. First Gulf plans to break into this market with a LEED Gold package containing 7,500 square feet of ground floor retail, six levels of indoor parking, and 13 floors of premium office space. Additionally, 1401 Lawrence is set to include a fitness center, outdoor terrace, bike storage, and other tenant amenities.

Nick Miller

COURTESY BECK GROUP

India's urban planning challenge

The McKinsey report on India's urban challenge is welcome for highlighting a relatively neglected part of the growth agenda but is probably off the mark on prescriptions .

In calling for proactive policy to shore up revenues , institutional structures and dedicated funds for cities , the study is spot-on . But then to recommend a massive, China-style increase in investment in cities, so as to reap 'productivity dividend of urban living,' seems misplaced .

What's suggested is that India's per capita annual spending in urban infrastructure rise from $17 today — the figure for China is $116 — to a steep $134. Such a strategy , with the ballpark requirement estimated at $1.2 trillion , would be needlessly costly, capital intensive and plain unwarranted.

What India needs is more sensible urban planning, policies to release land for urbanisation in a manner that does not cause social or political disruption, and city design that eschews urban sprawl and associated energy consumption on commutes.

We certainly need better allocation of resources for housing, reliable public transport and proper urban design, for instance to be able to walk across the road for work and recreation. But growth need not and should not be at high cost.

The McKinsey study projects demand for residential and commercial space pan-India at between 700 million and 900 million square meters a year, 350 to 400 km of metros and subways annually, and between 19,000 and 25,000 km of road lanes as well.

It adds that the targets are up to 20 times higher than actual investments in the past decade. The projections certainly seem a tall order in many respects. However, with forward-looking town planning, it should be possible to better manage urban demand and optimise infrastructure investment.

As India picks up economic speed, we need to be in a position to scale up and boost urban infrastructure. We clearly need to have a proper policy on new towns that go beyond SEZs and manufacturing zones. We also need supply side reforms to better coagulate funds in urban spaces. The way ahead is to have a thriving market for long-term funds.

Model bill for rights of non-motorized vehicles

NEW DELHI: An expert group formed by the Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (HUPA) Ministry has submitted a Model Bill for providing welfare provisions and protecting the rights of rickshaw-pullers and others using non-motorised vehicles for earning their livelihood.

HUPA Minister Girija Vyas had constituted the expert group, headed by retired chief justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court Mukul Mudgal, in January to study the issue and prepare the Model Bill.

"The bill seeks to protect the constitutional right to equality and livelihood of persons engaged in the non-motorized vehicles sector, to provide welfare provisions, including conditions of work and benefits due to them, and promote the use of environment-friendly employment opportunities," the ministry said in a statement.

The Bill also envisages promotion of the use of cost efficient non-motorized vehicles as an integral and necessary part of vehicular traffic and providing equitable road space as well as encouraging alternative urban designs for creating separate tracks for non-motorized vehicles on city roads.

It also has a provision for appointing appropriate authorities for implementation of these functions and other related matters.

The group comprised members representing government, urban planning, law, civil society and technical experts. It examined issues of livelihoods of pliers of non-motorised vehicles and looked into the possibility of drafting a model central bill for their promotion, regulation and welfare.

Vyas assured Justice (retired) Mudgal that her ministry will go through the recommendations in detail and take suitable measures to protect the interests of vulnerable occupational groups covered by the Model Bill.

Further discussions will be held on October 24 with the full expert group.

UNIVERSITY OF OREGON STUDENTS PROPOSE SUSTAINABLE WOOD HOUSING IN BROOKLYN

COURTESY GROW YOUR OWN CITY

With their winning design for the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture’s “Timber in the City” competition, three students from the University of Oregon have imagined wood’s viable potential in prefabricated low-cost housing. Wood construction has been a popular topic at AN recently and the topic of our recent feature, Timber Towers. Benjamin Bye, Alex Kenton, and Jason Rood entered the design competition last year with the mission to create a community of affordable housing and wood technology manufacturing in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Awarded first place, Grow Your Own City proposes the use of CLT (cross-laminated timber) for construction of nearly 183,000 square feet of mid-rise housing, a bike share and repair shop, and a wood distribution, manufacturing, and development plant.

RENDERING OF THE GREEN ALLEY WITHIN THE GROW YOUR OWN CITY COMMUNITY. (COURTESY GROW YOUR OWN CITY)

The site itself was chosen as a residential and industrial area “in flux;” it is a waterfront neighborhoodand competitors were required to balance these elements in a mutually beneficial way. Grow Your Own City designs a mixed-use community of wood production and housing construction, considering a variety of needs. Cost efficient and sustainable, the community is meant to manufacture its own wood, then use onsite development power and technology to build the final product: affordable modular housing units that can be prefabricated in the factory and fit together to form the mid-rise complex.

A “supersize plywood” technology that can be prefinished before construction, cross-laminated timber is stronger than regular wood construction and possesses a low carbon footprint. When forested correctly, wood can be a very sustainable and environmentally friendly building material. Most units include windows on two sides and vary in size from a 325 square feet studio to a 990 square feet three bedroom apartment.

Impressed with the students’ “mature sensitivity to zoning, politics, and concerns of gentrification” unique to this Red Hook site, the jury of architecture professors, green design architects, and a real estate venture praise the project for several specifics of design. A “green alley” allows for biking, timber education, and sustainable rainwater retention and reuse. And the CLT pods are attractive, livable, and realistic for a variety of occupants and their families.

“Overall, the project is strong because it maps out the terrain of the site while remaining consistent to the larger neighborhood in terms of plan, context and materiality,” the jury commented in a statement.

PAYETTE DESIGNS A CURVY RESEARCH BUILDING, PARKS FOR BOSTON’S NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY

NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY’S NEW INTERDISCIPLINARY SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING BUILDING. (COURTESY PAYETTE AND NORTHEASTERN)

Boston is well known for both its thriving biotech industry and for its high concentration of universities, and now the city’s two largest economic sectors are overlapping with several academic institutions shrewdly expanding their science departments. Northeastern University is one of several schools to hop on this bandwagon. The school just announced that it will build a 180,000-square-foot academic facility, called the Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Building (ISEB). Boston-based firmPayette won the commission to design the six-story building along with adjoining green spaces after participating in a six week design competition.

PHASE 1 OF NORTHEASTERN’S EXPANSION (COURTESY OF PAYETTE)

The site of the building sits on the opposite side of Northeastern’s main campus, severed by several rail lines. Payette has proposed constructing what they’ve dubbed “The Arc,” a curved pedestrian bridge, that provides access between the new building and Huntington Avenue, which will also serve as a direct connection between Fenway and Roxbury. A number of landscaped paths and open “tributaries” will link the two separate neighborhoods.

The ISEB will house four academic research departments: engineering, health sciences, basic sciences, and computer sciences. According to the firm, the “building massing has been organized in two main volumes; an east facing laboratory bar and a west facing office form wrapped around a central open atrium.”  The facility will be divided into offices, staff workstations, conference rooms, cafes, and laboratories dedicated to each academic research study.

The building features a glazed curtain wall that will ”be wrapped with an outer skin of fixed solar shading responding to the building orientation.”

This $225 million project is the first component of Northeastern’s larger plan to create 600,000 square feet of space for academic research and to accommodate the university’s plan to add 300 faculty positions.

MODEL OF INTERIOR OF INTERDISCIPLINARY SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING BUILDING (COURTESY OF PAYETTE)

PHASE TWO OF NORTHEASTERN’S EXPANSION (COURTESY OF PAYETTE)

Dubai chosen for World Expo 2020 with HOK-led master plan

 Aerial view of the HOK-led Dubai World Expo 2020 master plan. Image: HOK

  Dubai won the bid to host the World Expo 2020, being the first Middle Eastern city selected in the Expo's 150-year history. HOK, in partnership with Populous and Arup, led the design team that developed the master plan, themed "Connecting Minds, Creating the Future." Their proposal won against those from Brazil, Russia, and Turkey. The 1,082-acre (438-hectare) Expo site will be in Jebel Ali of Dubai, near the new Al Maktoum International Airport Jebel Ali Port.                                  

             

ET Spcl: Urban planning for better cities

The Indian real estate Industry is consolidating its position and strengthening its fundamentals as the economy get sets for traversing a high economic growth trajectory. It is estimated that by 2030 the GDP of the country will multiply five times. There will be 590 million people living in cities, nearly twice the population of USA today and 91 million urban households will be middle class, up from 22 million today. During the next two decades $1.2 trillion capital investment is necessary to meet the projected demand in India's cities.

This is because 700-900 million square metres of commercial and residential space needs to be built and 2.5 billion square metres of roads will have to be paved, 20 times the capacity added in the past decade. In this background the recent Mc.Kinsey global institute's report on India's Urban Awakening has also brought forth some major concerns for Indian real estate industry .

The recently held Real Estate Convention, organised by The Economic Times, was the perfect platform to deliberate upon major issues and discuss concerns related to the real estate sector. The convention brought forth all the stake holders ranging from developers, policy makers, to financiers and customers on one integrated platform. Among other things the speakers in the convention focussed on the challenges that are there in terms of land and transport infrastructure for the future growth of real estate in the country.

In her inaugural address Kumari Sailja, minister, Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation, pointed out, "India is experiencing rapid urbanization , commensurate with the immerging economy that India is today. About 30 % of our population lives in towns and cities and in next two decades almost half of our country's population would be living in cities and towns. So the challenge in front of us is huge.

To cope with it we need effective urban planning . And the major aspect of urban planning would be transport, infrastructure, industry and housing." In his keynote address Jaipal Reddy, Union Minister for Urban Development , highlighted the immediate steps needed to be taken. "Government of India is providing a boost to urban infrastructure in partnership with state governments through JNNURM.

But as compared to global levels our efforts are just 30% and global average is more than 50 %. In the next 20 years our urban population will doubled up. It is both a huge problem and an equally big opportunity . What urbanization we have seen till now is just the tip of the ice berg and the time to come is going to be the greatest economic opportunity that should be exploited in such a way as to meet the ends of justice, ends of growth and ends of environment," he said.

NEITHER SNOW NOR RAIN

NEITHER SNOW NOR RAIN

Chicago approves plan to revive landmark post office.

COURTESY ANTUNOVICH ASSOCIATES

Since 1996, the 2.7 million-square-foot, federally landmarked Old Main Post Office has remained vacant, looming over downtown Chicago’s Eisenhower Expressway as a hulking rebuke to development activity nearby. Over the years, several proposals have been put forth for the renewal of the venerable structure, only to fall.

On July 24, however, the Chicago City Council approved the site for redevelopment. British developer Bill Davies, owner of International Properties Developments (IPD), bought the distressed property in 2009 for $24 million. IPD hired Chicago-based architecture firm Antunovich Associates to transform the old postal facility into a mixed-use complex that will include a renovation of the historic structure as well as the addition of two new high rises to be completed in two phases. “The whole idea is that this can be phased,” said Joe Antunovich. “We’ve shown a way of biting this off bit by bit.”

Phase I, estimated to cost about $1.5 billion, includes the renovation of the historic structure as well as the construction of a new 1,000-foot-tall tower and podium building along the river. This phase comprises 800,000 square feet of retail space, 525,000 square feet of offices, 2,900 residential units, 320 hotel rooms, and a 4,550-space parking garage, 1,300 of which will be automated. Phase 2 will see the construction of a 2,000-foot-tall tower to the west of the post office building and will add 3,500 residential units, 920 hotel rooms, and 1.5 million square feet of office space.

Work could start this fall, with the historic building ready for occupancy 18 months later, though it could take as much as eight to 10 years to complete the entirety of Phase I. Completing Phase 2 could take 20 years.

The renovation of the historic structure maintains the old post office’s grand lobby, which will tie into the glass-clad podium of the 1,000-foot-tall tower. The podium’s undulating glass facade opens onto a two-block-long river walk replete with trees and public plazas designed by Chicago-based Wolff Landscape Architecture.

If the redevelopment does become reality, its success as a mixed-use hub may hinge on its connectivity. Antunovich has talked with CTA about expanding the Clinton Blue Line station to connect directly to the project. His firm also drew up plans for a covered public area within the building to convey Canal Street pedestrians over the Eisenhower Expressway. “It’s this major modal transfer point, with the highways through it and around it, the trains run through it and under it, and a river that runs through it,” said Antunovich. “It’s a real gateway structure. What a great entrance to our city.”

Designing and understanding the "Happy City"

"For years, urban designers and architects have claimed happiness as their goal," Montgomery says. "And yet none of the claims have been supported by empirical evidence. Which isn't to say they're not right. It's just to say that we don't know. That we haven't known."

In this spirit of empirical discovery, Montgomery takes readers around the world in search of the places where urban design has (and has not) improved quality-of-life. — The Atlantic Cities

Human behavior can be extremely difficult to quantify, and determining its exact context even harder. But some cities just seem happier than others, no matter how difficult that status is to qualify. In his book, Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design, Charles Montgomery tries to create an empirical basis for that causal link between happiness and urban design, through case studies of cities where those two concepts are clearly intertwined. Montgomery spoke with Eric Jaffe at The Atlantic Cities about his research for the book, and how we measure happiness.

Sensitive to the fact that what works in Bogotá might not fly in Oslo, Montgomery is not out to find hard-and-fast rules for happiness. He instead wants to tease out methods of urban design that civic governments may use to become more sensitive, responsive and accountable to their citizens' well-being.

MIDTOWN REZONING BITES THE DUST

MIDTOWN REZONING BITES THE DUST

Plan dies in New York City Council.

COURTESY DCP

With the support of incoming mayor Bill de Blasio, City Council has squashed the Bloomberg administration’s plan to allow for the development of taller buildings in East Midtown. The decision marks the end of Mayor Bloomberg’s 12-year term, leaving behind a legacy that will likely be remembered for reshaping the cityscape with large-scale development.

“We are obviously disappointed in this decision. This plan would have created tens of thousands of good paying jobs for New Yorkers in every borough and resulted in tens of millions of dollars in private sector funding for public infrastructure,” said Steven Spinola, president of The Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY).

The proposal, ambitious in both scope and scale, pushed for the rezoning of the 73-block swathe around Grand Central Terminal with the intention of spurring the construction of new office towers that would ultimately replace the existing outdated building stock. This move, Bloomberg argued, would be critical in sustaining and growing the area into a robust business hub and attracting the right corporate tenants to keep this slice of midtown competitive with other global cities. City Council, however, said that the plan didn’t garner enough votes, and would ultimately be shot down by members, prompting Bloomberg to withdraw the application for the proposal.

“We should rezone East Midtown, but only when we can do so properly. After extensive negotiations, we have been unable to reach agreement on a number of issues in the proposed plan,” said speaker Christine Quinn and council member Dan Garodnick in a joint statement.

The duo pinpointed the Council’s specific issues with the plan, including the process, price, and timing of the air rights, the funding required for infrastructure improvements, and the feasibility of the public realm improvements suggested.

In a statement, Bloomberg said that a financing agreement had been reached to allocate $100 million in funding to transit and public realm improvements, but it was contingent upon the development piece of the plan moving forward.

“We are withdrawing the application for the rezoning of East Midtown. This will unfortunately cost the area hundreds of millions of dollars in badly needed subway and street improvements and $1 billion in additional tax revenue—as well as tens of thousands of new jobs that would have been created,” said Bloomberg in a statement.

Throughout the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, critics and community members expressed concern that larger development would bring more people to midtown, putting a strain on the area’s infrastructure.

The plan will likely be revisited. Mayor-elect de Blasio has spoken in favor of City Council’s decision, but said that he plans to eventually pursue the rezoning of midtown. “I applaud the City Council for pressing the pause button in order to ensure these concerns are adequately addressed,” he said in a statement. “We must continue this process in earnest upon taking office, and I commit to presenting a revised rezoning plan for the area by the end of 2014.”

Smart Cities – Infrastructure; How intelligent urban surroundings help us to save money and energy

As part of our quest to find out what makes cities smart, we throw a spotlight on infrastructure: How can information technology and urban planning help to make us more flexible and mobile? At the same time, mobility is just one aspect of a wide spectrum of complex networks that govern life in an urban context. In view of limited resources and changing climate, another factor seems even more pressing: energy consumption and conservation.

Street-smart or smart streets? 
In their effort to save money and energy, a lot of smart city projects are designed around power and fuel consumption. Infrastructure-related services take up a lion’s share of a city’s budget and this is where novel IT approaches and smart energy design comes in: Right now, there are promising pilots in many cities to examine and evaluate the efficiency of new sustainable ideas.  Take Cologne’s residential Neusser Strasse, recently declared a “climate street.” While private residencies are upgraded to current energy conservation standards to preserve precious energy, buildings are also fitted with individual regenerative energy collectors. At the same time, local businesses received energy-saving related subsidies and the city also replaced its local maintenance fleet (e. g. for garbage collection) with electric vehicles.

Neusser Strasse is Cologne’s “climate street” and has been redesigned for maximum energy efficiency. © SmartCity Cologne 
 Meanwhile, Amsterdam takes the concept a decisive step further: Along similar “climate street” lines, the city’s Utrechtstraat – a bustling old-town shopping avenue – has been revamped to address issues of energy conservation. Once again, residents and shop owners alike received encouragements for energy saving measures and all public lighting was replaced with more efficient designs. Behind the scenes, infrastructure logistics were also treated to a “smart” update: During quiet hours, street lights dim automatically, while localized water supplies help to reduce refilling routes, garbage cans come equipped with sensors and compressors to cut the number of collections, and tram stops generate their own power via solar panels.

The “smartest city” accolade, however, belongs to Santander, a mid-sized town on Spain’s northern coast. The city has deployed more than 12,000 sensors throughout its center to measure and control the old town’s ambient lighting, the locations of city maintenance vehicles, public resources in need of repair, and garbage collection schedules. Through blanket coverage and smart allocation, the sensor grid effectively regulates just how much public service is needed and how to best serve Santander’s citizens.

Smart energy 
Knowing when and where power is required – and when it can be shut off – is certainly an attractive solution to energy consumption issues. This approach, however, relies on smart grids like the one currently being field tested by Spanish energy corporation Endesa and the city of Malaga. Here, the system communicates with your devices and might, for example, delay charging your electric car batteries until demand for power is low – or it could manage consumption peaks by briefly limiting power to high-demand customers like industry until the extra generators kick in.  Such smart grids also facilitate two-way communication and power transfer, enabling energy generation and collection within the smart cities themselves.  Here, small or individual energy sources can be connected to the grid and help to smooth out power spikes – or allow for more flexible demand scenarios. Along these lines, Amsterdam’s smart city has installed micro generators (solar or wind power) to shift power generation to a more local, neighborhood approach. In Malaga, Endesa has introduced wind generators to public space that resemble art sculptures.

Micro turbines like this one by Endesa in Malaga can be used to generate energy right where it is needed. © Endesa  

Nevertheless, saving energy is more than a mere administrative problem – it invariably starts at home. In this spirit, citizens of smart cities have embraced the scope of smart grids. Not only do sensors and information technologies allow people to save cash, but their own solar panels or wind generators could feed back into the grid and supply neighbors as well. Those who are renting should look to Vienna where the city constructed a solar park at the edge of town, but outsourced the financing to its citizens. Locals were invited to purchase their own personal panel at the “citizen solar power plant” to get involved and save money on their power bill.

A solar power plant owned by the citizens of Vienna. © Smart City Vienna 

As with transportation, the use of informational technology helps city planners as well as citizens to make their cities “smarter” – and saving money while helping the environment certainly sounds like a smart choice.

RED SQUARE ROUNDED

Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Hargreaves design a dramatic new park in Moscow.

COURTESY DS+R

Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Hargreaves are designing a new park and cultural center just off Red Square in Moscow. The team was selected from a pool of six international teams to create the park, which will include a new City of Moscow Museum and the site of a future concert hall.

Drawing on the national significance of the site, the design evokes the four predominant Russian landscapes: the steppe, tundra, forests, and wetlands. The evocation of these places is not meant to be overly familiar however. Rather, the designers deliberately blend and confound expectations to create a “surreal” park experience, according to principal Charles Renfro. The pavers from Red Square, for example, will be pulled into a densely planted birch forest, a blend of natural and artificial the designers are calling “wild urbanism.”

Given the harsh Moscow climate, the designers are also planning a number of sheltered areas that blur the line between indoors and out. These include a number of hybrid building/landscapes with glass roofs to take advantage of solar heat gain (when it is sunny) while providing views to surrounding landmarks like the Kremlin and St. Basil’s Cathedral. These pavilions don’t have doors, emphasizing their public nature. “We want the spaces to be comfortable year round with seasonally adjusted microclimates,” said Renfro. The park will also include restaurants and some retail.

In addition to the City of Moscow museum, the north end of the park includes a number of historic churches, all that remains from the ancient neighborhood that previously stood on the site. “There’s a lot of archaeology to be done on the site,” said Renfro. These historical remnants will be integrated into the museum or interpreted in the design of the park

Given recent tensions between the United States and Russia, as well as ongoing human rights controversies in the country, the commission did not come without some soul-searching on the part of this avant-gardist firm. “Ultimately we found the brief to be compelling and we believe Moscow’s mayor has a strong commitment to improving the city’s public realm,” said Renfro.

The architect for the concert hall has yet to be determined. The park itself is being fast-tracked for completion in two years