1 / 48

Comprehensive Plan Speaker Series Shoreline, Washington, January 25, 2012

Evolving Shoreline: Six Urbanism Themes for 2012 Considerations in Continuing to Envision the Livable City. Charles R. Wolfe 1420 Fifth Avenue, Suite 2200 Seattle, WA 98101 206-274-5145 cwolfe@crwolfelaw.com. Comprehensive Plan Speaker Series Shoreline, Washington, January 25, 2012.

ilar
Download Presentation

Comprehensive Plan Speaker Series Shoreline, Washington, January 25, 2012

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Evolving Shoreline:Six Urbanism Themes for 2012Considerations in Continuing to Envision the Livable City Charles R. Wolfe1420 Fifth Avenue, Suite 2200Seattle, WA 98101206-274-5145cwolfe@crwolfelaw.com Comprehensive Plan Speaker SeriesShoreline, Washington, January 25, 2012

  2. The Inspiration Photo by Burton Holmes Flinders Street Station, Melbourne , 1917

  3. Practice Backdrop, Big Picture

  4. Policy/Market Goals and a Question Compact, less auto-reliant, multimodal (transit, safely walkable, bikeable), live-work proximity, creative, honor environmental systems, vibrant street life, mixed use, affordable, carbon-neutral… How many of you grew up on a cul-de-sac?

  5. Background What's something that most people just don't understand about your area of expertise? “That lawyers are more than hired-gun advocates. In both client and community work, they can be creative strategists in eliminating barriers to sustainable development practices.” ”9 ½ Questions”, 10/3/11: http://www.theatlantic.com/life/archive/2011/10/a-conversation-with-charles-r-wolfe-environmental-lawyer/246015/

  6. Lessons Learned History and Law: Power of Precedent Planning: Power of Market Intervention, and Power of Place Evolution of Professions and Education

  7. Public v. Private Much discussion about the sustainable city requires an evolved perception of public v. private property as we attempt to reallocate where people live, work and travel. The street is key. ”Discovery of the Street”, 9/20/11: http://www.theatlantic.com/life/archive/2011/09/city-life-revisiting-jb-jacksons-the-discovery-of-the-street/245284/

  8. Urbanism • Is the best urbanism the urbanism we already have? • Consider “alley movie night” ”Urbanism Without Effort”, 9/14/11: http://www.theatlantic.com/life/archive/2011/09/is-urbanism-without-effort-the-best-urbanism-of-all/244965/

  9. The Virtue of Perspective • Things are changing • Maybe not fast enough • Remember BattlestarGalactica: “This has happened before, and it will happen again.” ”Lessons from Matera, the Sustainable City of Stone”, 9/7/11: http://www.theatlantic.com/life/archive/2011/09/lessons-from-italys-matera-the-sustainable-city-of-stone/244622/ “Reclaiming the Urban Memory”, 6/28/11: http://www.grist.org/cities/2011-06-28-the-continued-relevance-of-reclaiming-the-urban-memory

  10. Place-Making in Practice

  11. Be Tolerant • Are cul-de-sac and SUV values your business? • There will always be cars Even in Frejus, 6/7/09: http://blog.seattlepi.com/chuckwolfe/2009/06/07/what-can-new-urbanism-learn-from-battlestar-galactica-french-edition/

  12. Be Humble • Beware of expert syndrome • In a time of scarce resources community and NGO’s have an increasing role • Some may do your job better “Steve Jobs as Land Use Advocate”, 10/6/11: http://www.theatlantic.com/life/archive/2011/10/steve-jobs-as-land-use-advocate/246255/

  13. Do Not Forget • Remember the fundamentals, forest from the trees • First principles • Tanzania learning: shelter and the wheel “How Temporary Spaces Can Define City Life”, 10/3/11: http://www.theatlantic.com/life/archive/2011/10/how-temporary-and-simple-event-spaces-can-help-define-city-life/246010/ “Keeping Cities Simple: Shelter and the Wheel”, 4/6/11: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/charles-r-wolfe/shelter-and-the-wheel-bac_b_844698.html

  14. Be Civil Amid Conflicting Interests • Can advocacy seek consensus? • Role of planner, role of lawyer • Alternatives to law • Consider the fact patterns of the future and how best to handle • Limits on single family housing • Mixed uses • New public spaces • Restrictions on automobile

  15. Shoreline is Well Underway

  16. The Evolving Baseline Noted, livable “first tier suburb” Citizens value place, services, schools, parks Aurora “complete street” Town Center and City Hall Integrated transit Spirit of reinvention

  17. The All-Important Context Comprehensive Plan: More visioning and perspective on the “city” Not here to prescribe, because....

  18. Who Decides? You Do.

  19. Preface to the Urbanist Themes • “Defining a Meaningful Space”, 1/16/12: • http://www.theatlanticcities.com/neighborhoods/2012/01/defining-meaningful-space/960/ “Experts may help assemble data, specialists may organize it, professionals may offer theories to explain it. But none of these can substitute for each person’s own leap into the dark, jumping in to draw his or her own conclusions.” - Grady Clay, 1973

  20. The Big Picture II

  21. The Premise • Summary of articles as they reappeared in Planetizen in 2011, after original appearance in: • myurbanist • The Atlantic • The Atlantic Cities • The Huffington Post • Grist • Sustainable Cities Collective • Crosscut • Indicative of key themes http://www.theatlanticcities.com/neighborhoods/2012/01/six-urbanist-themes-2012/842/

  22. More Roles for Social Media Evolving communication technology has forever changed how we analyze and discuss the city Social media demands straightforward and sometimes trite efficiency Yet it provides for mainstream discussion of topics which were once the arcane domain of the legal, design and public policy professions “Even more so” is a safe bet for 2012 “Communicating Urbanism’--Make No Little Plans, Updated’”, 3/6/11: http://www.myurbanist.com/archives/5832

  23. The Romantic

  24. Renewed Attention to the Romantic City If we walk between the towns of the Cinque Terre in Italy, then why not capture this “essence of urbanism” at home?  Can an architect and a lawyer from politically diverse countries (and who have never met) together envision a collaborative professional approach which captures universal ways to read the evolution of urban places?

  25. Renewed Attention to the Romantic City Compelling, illustrated ideas will always have a place in the urbanist agenda, including next year “Rethinking the Essence of Urbanism”, 3/3/11: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/charles-r-wolfe/rethinking-the-essence-of_b_830898.html?ir=World “Reading the Evolution of Places”, 4/24/11: http://sustainablecitiescollective.com/chuck-wolfe/24197/reading-evolution-places

  26. The Counterintuitive

  27. Counterintuitive Solutions:Infrastructure, Economic Development Even “the humble pothole” is eligible for rethinking and reshuffling in the city of 2012.  (c.f. guerrilla urbanism) Never-ending possibilities for innovation abound, e.g. a zip line between hill towns, taking romantic setting to a new perception of possibilities of place. With governmental shortfalls still in the picture, creativity, analysis of privatization and related discussions will continue “In Praise of the Humble Pothole”, 12/14/11: http://grist.org/urbanism/2011-12-13-in-praise-of-the-humble-pothole/ “Reinventing Cities With Zip Lines”, 12/12/11:http://www.theatlanticcities.com/arts-and-lifestyle/2011/12/reinventing-cities-zip-lines/703/

  28. The New

  29. New Types of Regulation and Urban Places Seattle: Roundtable recommend land use regulatory reform focused on market flexibility and job creation, both needed foci for 2012.  (Seattle City Council to consider the associated ordinances shortly) With Borders’ bookstores nationwide, should cities assure “no net loss” for “third places”? Consider the potential of the “pop-up”  ice cream laundromat--a “fusion business”--increasingly a symbol of the evolving shareable-space city

  30. New Types of Regulation and Urban Places • Consider the Urban Land Institute’s cutting edge “What’s Next?” report • Cities will reshape and evolve over the next decade, • Converging, multiple socioeconomic forces ”Writing Code for More Sustainable Neighborhoods”, 7/18/11: http://crosscut.com/2011/07/18/seattle-city-hall/21103/Writing-code-for-more-sustainable-neighborhoods/ “Assuring Sustainable Third Places in the City”, 7/24/11:http://sustainablecitiescollective.com/chuck-wolfe/27526/assuring-sustainable-third-places-city “Fusion Businesses and the Cities of Tomorrow”, 7/17/11: http://sustainablecitiescollective.com/chuck-wolfe/27252/fusion-businesses-and-cities-tomorrow “Resetting Urban Land Use: What’s Next?, 11/18/11: http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-and-economy/2011/11/resetting-urban-land-use/524/

  31. Without Effort

  32. Ongoing Importance of Urbanism Without Effort • There will be no shortage of continuing discussion of placemaking in 2012 • Yet “alley movie night” showed that sometimes, we already have what we seek, and urbanism without effort is the best urbanism of all ”Urbanism Without Effort”, 9/14/11: http://www.theatlantic.com/life/archive/2011/09/is-urbanism-without-effort-the-best-urbanism-of-all/244965/

  33. Additional Ways to Conceive of Urban Opportunity A dialogue that may never end 2011 was a year of protest in public places, which reinvigorated what will be a continued interest in urban gathering places, such as classic squares and city centers Other ways to conceive of the city also show potential

  34. The Night

  35. Additional Ways to Conceive of Urban Opportunity • As examples: • Historic role of street corners around the world • Is city vitality best measured—by five qualities—at night • And a lingering, important consideration • Not everyone lives in cities, nor is urban life a foregone conclusion • Consider Lumana, a Seattle-based micro-lending and economic development organization focused on Ghana’s countryside • Should we be more focused on rural than urban areas in the developing world?

  36. Additional Ways to Conceive of Urban Opportunity “Corners as the Baseline for Urbanism’, 6/12/11: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/charles-r-wolfe/corners-as-baseline-for-u_b_875489.html “Exploring Success of the Nighttime City”, 9/26/11: http://www.myurbanist.com/archives/7301 “Should the Creative Class Be More Rural in the Developing World?’, 10/27/11: http://www.myurbanist.com/archives/7683

  37. Be Careful What You Wish For

  38. You Think You’ve Got Problems?

  39. Resources

  40. For an Urban Point of View www.urbanpointofview.com

  41. Express, Explore, Bridge and Reinterpret www.myurbanist.com http://www.theatlantic.com/charles-r-wolfe http://www.theatlanticcities.com/charles-r-wolfe http://www.grist.org/people/Charles+R.+Wolfe http://www.huffingtonpost.com/charles-r-wolfe http://crosscut.com/account/ChuckWolfe/ http://blog.seattlepi.com/chuckwolfe/

More Related