A beacon of truth in an age of confusion

Icon for the Era? A Ted Talk by urban planner Alexandros Washburn  

by Gregory Saville

This week, a cultural icon came to mind after watching the incredible biopic about Bob Dylan “A Complete Unknown”. 

The performance of lead actor Timotheé Chalamet was remarkable. He captured a hauntingly similar vibe to the icon himself—Nobel Laureate Bob Dylan. As a teen, I loved Dylan’s many memorable lyrics; “The ancient street’s too dead for dreaming.” The film brought my mind back to the chaotic and hopeful social revolution of the 1960s.  

That’s the thing about icons. Their ideas resonate through time partly because they speak a language of change for something better, and partly because they are a beacon of truth. They show how the status quo no longer works. They see into the future. They set the tone!

 

New York's High Line Park. The work of an icon - photo by Bryan Ledgard,
CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

“A public space is the place where citizens can meet as equals, and the place where society builds trust”– Alexandros Washburn

PLANNING ICONS? 

It’s not often you get urban planning and design icons today with that kind of relevance – icons who educate us by translating complex problems of the day into common parlance. Where are they today, those icons, when we need them most? Jane Jacobs was a powerful urban icon from the 60s, but I struggle when I look for others today.  

Some claim Richard Florida is such a person. Florida, a professor at the University of Toronto and an urban studies theorist, is famous for coining the term creative class as a trigger for urban success. Unfortunately, many of his ideas have not aged well. They have not turned out as predicted and many creative class areas become gentrification. 

That’s not to say others don’t exist with rock star potential. A few might include:

• Andres Duaney and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk (American architects of Congress in New Urbanism fame) 
• Gil Penalosa (Canadian/Columbian public parks champion of people-centered design and sustainable transportation) 
• Peter Calthorpe (American author of The Next American Metropolis and creator of the pedestrian pocket) 
• Jan Gehl (Danish architect who popularized humanistic planning).

 I respect these urban thought leaders. I also don’t think they rise to the icon status of a Dylan or Jacobs. 

ALEXANDROS WASHBURN

 “It doesn’t work until it works for the pedestrian”– Alexandros Washburn 

What about Alexandros Washburn? He is a prescient thinker and his firm DRAW Global LLC consults around the world. He is an award-winning architect and former chief urban designer of New York City with innovative and ecologically sound projects across that city, like the famous High Line Park . 

 

Washburn's book, The Nature of Urban Design, empowers urbanites
and introduces a new framework for urban planning 

Washburn is a well-known advocate of resilient city design. He lives in the Red Hook neighborhood of New York City. His TED Talk unveils the kind of resilient successes that might apply to all cities.

 

New York's High Line Park is among the
top tourist destinations in the city

Listen to Washburn answer planning questions on WIRED. He definitely has some Dylanesque mojo. Why does Singapore work so well? How do we fix the sprawling nightmare that is Los Angeles? Like most icons, he answers the big questions simply, but without dumbing down the answer. 

My favorite Washburn story is the story about New York’s famous High Line Park. It was first opened in 2009 in west Manhattan, redesigned from an abandoned, elevated railway viaduct over the Meatpacking District. It was conceived by some citizens who, seizing on a similar tree-lined elevated walkway in Paris, imagined a 1.4 mile-long (2.3 kilometer) ecological, living system in the heart of New York City. 

High Line is a linear urban park, an elevated greenspace, and an art-rich, sculpture-lined promenade with children’s play areas. It was built atop what was formerly one of the worst traffic accident streets in the city once known as Death Alley.

Along with Dutch architect Piet Oudolf who curated the landscaping plan, it was Alexandros Washburn who helped design one of the most innovative urban parks in the world. 

Washburn describes his work on High Line in his planning book The Nature of Urban Design. “You improve the quality of life by improving the quality public space” They are words that sound very much like a beacon of truth.

When industrial decline creates opportunities to transform

 

The former industrial waterfront in Baltimore, now transformed into a multi-use neighbourhood with residential, commercial, parks, open spaces, and restaurants 

by Mateja Mihinjac

A few years ago, we posted some blogs about neighbourhoods in transition and how crime concentrates in these neighbourhoods. 

Tarah wrote about Zone 2 areas in her hometown of Hamilton, a manufacturing city near Toronto. Zone 2 areas of cities, Tarah recounted, are vulnerable to crime due to, among other reasons, poor social control and a social cohesion often termed a sense of community. Using SafeGrowth strategies to build local capacity and empower neighbourhoods was a powerful way forward. 

Following those blogs, Greg wrote about Zone 2 areas in Denver and how building “third places” – like the art co-op called the Denver Art Society – and how co-ops are key to transforming Zone 2 neighbourhoods.

 

Baltimore waterfront is now revitalized with offices and an environmental water reclamation project in the harbour

ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY TO TRANSFORM ZONE 2 AREAS

During my travels over the past decade, I have observed a trend where once industrial and factory districts of cities have repurposed former factory buildings into residential condos and shops. In some places, hip new areas with parks and completely new neighbourhoods have emerged on former industrial land.

Several have also transformed into art and cultural districts.

The automobile industry is one of those industries that has seen a major shift in a very short time. This has dramatically affected the cities that were once synonymous with the auto industry.

 

Detroit police have instituted a downtown CCTV system in the industrial city of Detroit, which is on the rebound from an economic collapse 

DETROIT 

A few years back I visited Detroit where one of the neighbourhood groups underwent SafeGrowth training. I remember parts of the city felt like ghost towns because they were void of services, shops and people. Vacant housing was rampant. This was, as I learned, due to the downfall of the auto industry that had only a few decades ago led to the economic and residential boom of The Motor City. 

A few decades on, the decline of the auto industry and environmental concerns left the city in ruins fraught with crime and murder. Population plummeted. 

Over the past few years, things seem to have started improving again with reinvestment, corporate redevelopment, involvement of several non-profits, and repurposing of old factory buildings, as well as targeted policing strategies leading to a safer city.

 

TURIN

The Italian “Motor City” Turin, the home of Fiat, has similarly observed the rise and fall and has been undergoing urban renewal since the mid-nineties.

The Winter Olympics in 2006 was a major catalyst for change that brought in investment for realising the revitalisation plan. The city revitalised areas and repurposed factory buildings that now boost restaurants, shopping, and event spaces, museums celebrating the city’s history, and even rooftop urban gardens. 

Unlike in Detroit, investment in public transport and cycling infrastructure helped the city towards realising its environmental agenda, although reportedly there is still much room for improvement especially with the older generation that is still engrained in their car-dependency mindset (as in Detroit).

As with other cities in the process of transformation, Turin’s crime is reported to be increasing while a national trend suggests a downward trend. The perception of the respondents from Turin suggests that almost 70% perceive crime to have increased over the past 5 years.

This may suggest that as Turin continues its transformation, special attention may need to be given to specific contributors to crime and the perception of crime in Turin to avoid the crime trajectory of Detroit. 

 

A redeveloped trail in the el Centro neighbourhood in Philadelphia

Philadelphia SafeGrowth practitioners Harry Tapia and Stasia Monterio and their remarkable community development corporation - HACE - have completed an urban corridor transformation in a former drug market and homeless encampment

RESILIENCE DURING TRANSFORMATION

These examples are neither isolated nor unique. As most of the world undergoes what has been termed the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and while countries address the social, political, and environmental challenges in urban areas, the transformation that disrupts the status quo is welcome and necessary. We have blogged about this transformation in several urban areas around the world such as The 15 Minute City and the Smart City

These are transformative times and they aim toward more environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable and integrated cities. 

If you are looking for a direct path into transformation strategies, particularly if you are a practitioner, then familiarize yourself with the 4 strategies of Third-Generation CPTED. There are dozens of examples of Third-Generation CPTED thinking when it comes to urban safety. 

The best professional and personal pathway in this regard is to be one step ahead of anticipated challenges. That is the best way to find creative and effective safety strategies as we help the transformation of cities toward a safer and more resilient future.