Really fun post Andrew. The one part I’m nervous about: Cities setting standards for active use and direct access. Why not do incentives for everything rather than mandates?
My skepticism comes from how I’ve seen cities try to regulate ground floor uses. Forced commercial requirements that become vacant dead space; arbitrary design requirements intended to “activate” ground floors but end up creating more dead space
If cities invest in attractive public spaces, I suspect private developers will have a much stronger incentive to build engaging ground floors. (And cities can also offer money for use of preapproved designs or other subsidy, whatever they like.) If cities try to regulate their way into attractive ground floors, I worry we’ll end up in a place not so different from the one today, a place where overzealous planners and council members use bizarre, inflexible standards that make an inflexible environment
Maybe I’m just a fundamentalist, but my sense is that the old main streets didn’t arise because planners regulated interfaces, they arose because building them that way made obvious economic sense. Sure, cars + auto-oriented city planning transformed the economics, but cities can potentially still revive the old economic logic by providing the foundation you lay out in the rest of the piece
There are three reasons why such areas don't exist in the US:
1) High crime in the urban neighborhoods tends to deter commercial activity there. If no one wants to place their business there, then the neighborhood dies.
2) Revenue generating mechanisms such as automated ticketing via camera once you enter the city limits. Results in giving the city a wide berth.
3) Issues with rapid access and parking overlap the safety issues. No one wants to spend a half hour going through 15 traffic lights to get to the place you want to go and not be able to find a parking spot.
I've seen urban renewal projects that want to create neighborhoods like this - St. Louis was a notable example. People still don't want to go there for some or all of the reasons cited. They have to rope in large firms to let space in the area or it'd be deserted. Ultimately, it is good governance that is lacking.
Really fun post Andrew. The one part I’m nervous about: Cities setting standards for active use and direct access. Why not do incentives for everything rather than mandates?
My skepticism comes from how I’ve seen cities try to regulate ground floor uses. Forced commercial requirements that become vacant dead space; arbitrary design requirements intended to “activate” ground floors but end up creating more dead space
If cities invest in attractive public spaces, I suspect private developers will have a much stronger incentive to build engaging ground floors. (And cities can also offer money for use of preapproved designs or other subsidy, whatever they like.) If cities try to regulate their way into attractive ground floors, I worry we’ll end up in a place not so different from the one today, a place where overzealous planners and council members use bizarre, inflexible standards that make an inflexible environment
Maybe I’m just a fundamentalist, but my sense is that the old main streets didn’t arise because planners regulated interfaces, they arose because building them that way made obvious economic sense. Sure, cars + auto-oriented city planning transformed the economics, but cities can potentially still revive the old economic logic by providing the foundation you lay out in the rest of the piece
Thanks Jeremy, I responded to your note here: https://substack.com/profile/5932122-andrew-burleson/note/c-148407043?r=3j596
all good points and I get them all, but we must talk about the economic aspect:
https://exploringhumans.substack.com/p/do-you-hear-the-scream
There are three reasons why such areas don't exist in the US:
1) High crime in the urban neighborhoods tends to deter commercial activity there. If no one wants to place their business there, then the neighborhood dies.
2) Revenue generating mechanisms such as automated ticketing via camera once you enter the city limits. Results in giving the city a wide berth.
3) Issues with rapid access and parking overlap the safety issues. No one wants to spend a half hour going through 15 traffic lights to get to the place you want to go and not be able to find a parking spot.
I've seen urban renewal projects that want to create neighborhoods like this - St. Louis was a notable example. People still don't want to go there for some or all of the reasons cited. They have to rope in large firms to let space in the area or it'd be deserted. Ultimately, it is good governance that is lacking.
Informative post!