The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Cities | Sustainable Cities Collective Be Proactive. There’s much any city can do today. Even without sufficient budget or authorization from ‘senior levels’ of government, every city has a full menu of things that can be carried out immediately, generating positive momentum and goodwill. Business rewards the active entrepreneur, and the public desperately wants active cities. The rewards are great.   Plan – Plan Right. All cities carry out master plans for their key services, long-term infrastructure needs, and land use planning. Before starting these plans, the end needs to be clear. They are guidance documents, aspirational, and ways to rally supporters and give fair hearing to opponents. But a plan, no matter how good, can never be seen as a finished product. Before starting the plan an agreement is needed that the city is moving forward on this issue: the plan is the vehicle to bring along as many supporters as possible and identify potential potholes and trouble en route. Like a city, good plans are living documents.  Put First Things First. How many cities have we visited where they are building a new grand City Hall, yet much of the garbage still isn’t being collected or the water isn’t flowing? A city’s priorities should be basic services, professionalism and quality of staff, clear metrics, a reliable ongoing base budget, and nurturing a respectful two-way conversation with its residents. All great buildings need a solid foundation. 

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Cities | Sustainable Cities Collective

  1. Be Proactive. There’s much any city can do today. Even without sufficient budget or authorization from ‘senior levels’ of government, every city has a full menu of things that can be carried out immediately, generating positive momentum and goodwill. Business rewards the active entrepreneur, and the public desperately wants active cities. The rewards are great. 
     
  2. Plan – Plan Right. All cities carry out master plans for their key services, long-term infrastructure needs, and land use planning. Before starting these plans, the end needs to be clear. They are guidance documents, aspirational, and ways to rally supporters and give fair hearing to opponents. But a plan, no matter how good, can never be seen as a finished product. Before starting the plan an agreement is needed that the city is moving forward on this issue: the plan is the vehicle to bring along as many supporters as possible and identify potential potholes and trouble en route. Like a city, good plans are living documents. 
  3. Put First Things First. How many cities have we visited where they are building a new grand City Hall, yet much of the garbage still isn’t being collected or the water isn’t flowing? A city’s priorities should be basic services, professionalism and quality of staff, clear metrics, a reliable ongoing base budget, and nurturing a respectful two-way conversation with its residents. All great buildings need a solid foundation. 

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New research quantifies the economic benefits of urban trees:

“Every tree in urban Tennessee provides an estimated $2.25 worth of measurable economic benefits every year. Might not seem like a lot, but with 284 million urban trees in the state, the payoff’s pretty big.

Through energy savings, air and water filtering and carbon storage, the urban trees of Tennessee account for more than $638 million in benefits, according to a report [PDF] conducted by the Forest Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and released earlier this year.”

The Atlantic

via climateadaptation:

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massurban: “Can Zoning Save a Downtown? Kaid Benfield. Feb 28, 2012 A city cited not long ago as the nation’s most sprawling is now firmly on a path to become substantially greener. In particular, two weeks ago I described the Nashville region’s impressive commitment to reform its transportation investments to support increased transit access, walkable neighborhoods, and a strengthened sense of place. And there’s more. Writing on his blog Old Urbanist, Charlie Gardner describes recent improvements to the Music City’s downtown zoning: ‘In addition to its plans for the region, Nashville has revamped its zoning code, adopting in 2010 what is in substance, if not in name, a form-based code for its downtown. The changes are some of the most promising I’ve seen in any code revision for a major American city, including the repeal of most of use-based zoning limitations and the elimination of all parking minimums within the downtown area. It’s a long overdue change for a downtown with a particularly tragic 20th century planning history.’ The new zoning code has been designed explicitly to give legal expression to a downtown community plan adopted in 2007 to strengthen the character and walkability of neighborhoods. The city hopes these neglected areas will evolve into 24-hour districts that host residential as well as commercial uses. To accomplish this, the new code regulates the form of buildings so that, for example, building height guidelines allow increased density in logical patterns but building uses are allowed to vary to encourage mixed uses so long as they support an inviting streetscape: ‘In an urban environment, the street level design and function of a building is of the utmost importance. The interaction of the building with the street should enliven the street, making it comfortable, safe and interesting for pedestrians. The DTC is based on frontage design – storefront, stoop, porch, industrial, and civic – and includes standards on glazing, vehicular access, landscaping, and active uses on the ground level. Correctly designed, these attributes will contribute to safe and interesting streets to result in vibrant neighborhoods and a healthy Downtown.’” Via: The Atlantic

massurban:

“Can Zoning Save a Downtown?

Kaid Benfield. Feb 28, 2012

A city cited not long ago as the nation’s most sprawling is now firmly on a path to become substantially greener. In particular, two weeks ago I described the Nashville region’s impressive commitment to reform its transportation investments to support increased transit access, walkable neighborhoods, and a strengthened sense of place. And there’s more.

Writing on his blog Old Urbanist, Charlie Gardner describes recent improvements to the Music City’s downtown zoning:

‘In addition to its plans for the region, Nashville has revamped its zoning code, adopting in 2010 what is in substance, if not in name, a form-based code for its downtown. The changes are some of the most promising I’ve seen in any code revision for a major American city, including the repeal of most of use-based zoning limitations and the elimination of all parking minimums within the downtown area. It’s a long overdue change for a downtown with a particularly tragic 20th century planning history.’

The new zoning code has been designed explicitly to give legal expression to a downtown community plan adopted in 2007 to strengthen the character and walkability of neighborhoods. The city hopes these neglected areas will evolve into 24-hour districts that host residential as well as commercial uses.

To accomplish this, the new code regulates the form of buildings so that, for example, building height guidelines allow increased density in logical patterns but building uses are allowed to vary to encourage mixed uses so long as they support an inviting streetscape:

‘In an urban environment, the street level design and function of a building is of the utmost importance. The interaction of the building with the street should enliven the street, making it comfortable, safe and interesting for pedestrians. The DTC is based on frontage design – storefront, stoop, porch, industrial, and civic – and includes standards on glazing, vehicular access, landscaping, and active uses on the ground level. Correctly designed, these attributes will contribute to safe and interesting streets to result in vibrant neighborhoods and a healthy Downtown.’”

Via: The Atlantic

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Should Building Taller Be Much, Much Easier? In early December, the city council of Austin, Texas, adopted an exhaustive downtown plan that will guide every element of the neighborhood’s transformation over the next 25 years, from its historic preservation policies to investments in workforce housing to parking and transit infrastructure. Amid all of those potentially touchy topics, though, the loudest row grew out of one program sketched on just five pages of the full 183-page document. via architecturelab:

Should Building Taller Be Much, Much Easier?

In early December, the city council of Austin, Texas, adopted an exhaustive downtown plan that will guide every element of the neighborhood’s transformation over the next 25 years, from its historic preservation policies to investments in workforce housing to parking and transit infrastructure. Amid all of those potentially touchy topics, though, the loudest row grew out of one program sketched on just five pages of the full 183-page document.

via architecturelab:

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The Future of the Future: Putting the smarts into smart cities: KMWorld

The city is unlike any other institution on earth. There you’ll find on full display “the good, the bad and the ugly” of what makes us humans tick.

In our previous article on smart cities (in the October 2011 issue of KMWorld), we discussed the key elements that make those mega-enterprises one of our great hopes for the future, along with the dangers and risks. In essence, the difference between success and failure boils down to basic socio-economics: achieving both economic prosperity and societal wellbeing in a global knowledge economy.

One cannot exist without the other. When social cohesion is strong, cities tend to thrive, even after undergoing extreme stress (think of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, New York or the siege of Leningrad). Cities whose inhabitants are bound together with a common purpose and sense of community have proven to be extremely resilient.

On the other hand, the breakdown of social cohesion brings chaos, gang violence and property destruction, along with economic collapse. The law of the jungle-survival of the fittest-takes over. A simple example can be seen in cities like Cairo and Damascus, in which tourism plays a key role. The recent civil disorder in those cities has all but slammed the door on tourism, further hurting their economies at a time when financial resources are needed the most.

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Increased amount of rail freight requires cities to change

When switching to a sustainable , one key factor involves shifting more freight transport from road to rail. This change, however, can result in increased environmental problems in the local urban environment – primarily due to transshipment from train to lorry, that must almost always take place in order to transport the freight the last mile.

For historical reasons, intermodal freight terminals are generally located in close vicinity to the passenger train station. An increased level of rail freight leads to more local air pollution, noise and congestion at these central locations. If, on the other hand, freight is transported by road the entire distance, the negative effects inside cities may diminish, for instance because many lorries do not need to enter the urban core.

So the question is: how can this dilemma of global sustainability versus local sustainability be resolved? Sönke Behrends investigated the issue in his thesis at Chalmers University of Technology.

“Local politicians and authorities must take rail freight more into account when planning cities; in part to create a better city for residents, and in part to increase the competitiveness of rail, which is currently limited by freight terminals that are difficult to access and that have a low degree of efficiency during transshipment to lorry,” he says.

Increased amount of rail freight requires cities to change

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“In the great postwar building boom, developers froze on a pattern that used five acres to do the work of one. They had to, or they thought they had to. For one thing, it was a well-known fact that Americans had a deep psychic urge for a free-standing homestead on a large country plot, or as close a replica as possible. The assumption was self-proving, for it was built into the standards of the Federal Housing Administration and the major lending institutions. If a developer wanted mortgage money, he hewed to these standards or he did not get it.”

William H. Whyte, The Last Landscape (via titularhumour)

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“Regional Planning Is the New City Planning by Jackie Rangel  12.10.2011 The ripple effects of a new downtown skyscraper or suburban development are now felt far beyond any one neighborhood or even one city, extending to surrounding counties and metro areas. An ideological shift is underway as we understand the interconnectedness of the communities in which we live. Collectively, we’re rethinking our society’s developmental future. Cue regional planning. It’s not a new concept, but it’s quickly gaining in popularity as cities learn the importance of working together to build sustainable foundations for growth. For example, San Diego recently adopted the first Sustainable Communities Strategy (SCS) as part of its larger Regional Transportation Plan. While the plan accounts for a long-range vision for the logistic development of the area’s transport and travel infrastructure, the SCS component adds a necessary emphasis on the environmental impact of each decision.” Via: GOOD Magazine Photo: (cc) Flickr user La Citta Vita. via massurban:

“Regional Planning Is the New City Planning

by Jackie Rangel  12.10.2011

The ripple effects of a new downtown skyscraper or suburban development are now felt far beyond any one neighborhood or even one city, extending to surrounding counties and metro areas. An ideological shift is underway as we understand the interconnectedness of the communities in which we live. Collectively, we’re rethinking our society’s developmental future.

Cue regional planning. It’s not a new concept, but it’s quickly gaining in popularity as cities learn the importance of working together to build sustainable foundations for growth.

For example, San Diego recently adopted the first Sustainable Communities Strategy (SCS) as part of its larger Regional Transportation Plan. While the plan accounts for a long-range vision for the logistic development of the area’s transport and travel infrastructure, the SCS component adds a necessary emphasis on the environmental impact of each decision.”

Via: GOOD Magazine

Photo: (cc) Flickr user La Citta Vita.

via massurban:

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