Engaging Open Spaces with Public Transit Within the East Washington Street Corridor

Posted on | February 28, 2010 | No Comments

This semester in the MUD program, our class has delved deeper into understanding the potential for open space creation and multi-modal transportation opportunities within the East Washington Street corridor.  This has recently allowed myself to rethink the role of open space within an urban context, as technology and environment continue to change.  This begs the question, what should an open space, of both an active and passive nature, offer those living in the East Washington Street corridor?  I believe one of the most important elements that will result in the success of parks and open spaces in this area will be the planning of a light rail transportation system in conjunction with these open spaces.  Another critical element is the integration of technologies that allow open space users to connect to the outside world and community, such as Wi-Fi access, transportation way finding stations, educational elements, and responsive lighting systems.

Willard Park has been identified as a major asset to the residents living in this area, yet through several observational methods, it has been found to be largely underutilized.  Empty playgrounds, pavilions, and basketball courts tell a story of abandonment and neglect.  Why has this happened to a place that holds so much potential for activity and recreation?  I believe this condition is largely attributed to the lack of pedestrian connections across East Washington Street.  Also, the lack of activity and commerce that is a widespread plight along much of the decaying industrial corridor does not solicit community interaction nor provide a safe and comfortable environment for leisure.  As urban designers, we hold the responsibility of envisioning ways to breathe new life into spaces and places such as Willard Park, and I believe the introduction of a modern street car/light rail system that bisects the length of the corridor will be the catalyst to do so.

With the implementation of a system such as this, people will be living, working, and travelling in and around Willard Park, and there is the opportunity to introduce new plazas and open spaces at strategic locations that are oriented around transit stops within the corridor.  The very nature of transit-oriented development will breathe new life and technology into this area, and with a transit system within the corridor, East Washington Street becomes the convergence of activity as opposed to a barrier to getting from one place to another.  This will undoubtedly have a profound positive impact on open spaces along the corridor, as density increases and the automobile is no longer the preferred mode of transportation for both people living there and commuting to downtown.  In this scenario, parks and open spaces serve as a compliment to more dense and vital urban context.

The effort to introduce and reinvigorate parks and open spaces within the East Washington Street corridor as well as downtown could be a done in conjunction with the Indy Connect regional transportation initiative, through which E. Washington Street has already been identified as a major thoroughfare for alternative forms of transit and economic development.  Efforts such as these have already proven successful in cities such as Portland, Seattle, San Diego, and Charlotte.  These cities provide a model for implementing transit at a regional scale, but also show how declining urban areas can be transformed by the activity and density associated with transit.  If these are the technologies that will lead to a more vibrant and efficient urban environments, the parks and open spaces that associate with it will be an integral part of that success, being activated by multiple modes of transit, commerce, connectivity, and recreation.

http://www.indyconnect.org/videos.htm

Complete Systems Theory: Smart Grid Technology

Posted on | February 22, 2010 | No Comments

A major emerging factor within urban design is that in order to promote optimal community, we must take a look at our infrastructure and utilize new technologies to make our systems more efficient. With the recent Copenhagen Climate Change Summit in mind, this theory can be taken further and examined on a global scale as a way to reduce our carbon emissions to 25% below 1990 levels. One infrastructure element that has been grossly neglected over the years and is in need of optimization is our power grid. In a historical context, era of large-scale electric power distribution arguably began on August 26, 1895, when water flowing over Niagara Falls was diverted through a pair of high-speed turbines that were coupled to two 5,000-horsepower generators. Power was and still is transported primarily above ground with an alternating current system. Similarly in 1895 and today power degradation is a major inefficiency within power transmission. In fact, the current power grid looses 6-8% of power during transmission. Luckily through recent technological breakthroughs dubbed “Smart Grid Technology” some of these inefficiencies can be mitigated resulting in energy savings and a reduction in net carbon output nationally. What is a Smart Grid? A smart grid digitally transmits power from suppliers to consumers utilizing two-way technology to control electronic devices in order to save energy, reduce cost, and increase reliability and transparency. The smart grid also will “speak” to power plants, relaying demand so outputs can be optimized. Furthermore, the smart grid  reduces the risk of blackouts and will facilitate the development of wind and solar power. With the above facts in mind, smart grid technology could decrease annual electric energy use and utility carbon emissions at least 12-18 percent by 2030, according to a new report from the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. That’s a long way towards the Copenhagen targets for carbon emissions. The real benefit to the system is in its efficiency (saving money/reducing lost power) and it’s potential to reduce carbon emissions, a goal which is good for everyone on this planet. Smart Grid technology is also directly good for industry in the Indianapolis area. A few weeks ago EnerDel, announced that it is investing $237 million in a new manufacturing plant to meet anticipated demand for advanced battery systems used in both automotive and stationary smart grid applications creating an estimated 1400 local jobs. Not only does smart grid technology make good environmental sense but, with the energy savings and jobs created it makes great economic sense. This is one example of how we can optimize our infrastructure in order to promote optimal community through efficient systems.

http://energyenvironment.pnl.gov/news/pdf/PNNL-19112_Revision_1_Final.pdf The Smart Grid: An Estimation of the Energy and CO2 Benefits

EnerDel Plans to Invest $237 Million in New Indiana Lithium-Ion Battery Plant, Creating 1,400 New Clean Tech Jobs EnerDel Plant Announcement

http://www.nature.org/initiatives/climatechange/calculator/ Carbon Footprint Calculator

Measuring.

Posted on | February 3, 2010 | No Comments

Good Morning World. This is my blog.

Have you ever walked an urban street? Have you ever walked a suburban street? What about the in between? I am going to assume that most of us have done atleast two thirds of these. Have you ever been so enthralled with the street and its components that it made you want to write a book, scratch that, several books about it?

Me neither.

It was a typical 4 hour studio block when my professor announced that a Mr. Allen Jacobs was coming to our university to speak about ‘great streets’ and what makes them work. No it wasn’t required, but being the curious person that I am, I decided to attend the lecture expecting to get a couple pretty pictures and some typical responses of how trees frame streets for driving experiences. Not exactly what I think design is.

Regardless I attended.

About 15 minutes in, he started talking about analysis of every street he ever walked. Boy ‘o boy, that made my head hurt just thinking about it. But then I started thinking about how he has learned so much from simple analysis techniques that can literally be used while walking. In fact, the analysis technique was walking. He spoke about how he would measure streets by pace when crossing streets, and how he would sit down and sketch to get the proportions right. He spoke mainly about how streets are really what makes up the city. With a  bachelors in Urban Planning I was skeptical as where this was going, but his argument rings true. I had never thought about the city in that way. He showed figure grounds of many different cities across the world he had drawn at the same one mile square and the differences were just incredible. The comparisons when held up side by side were quite effective. There were inevitably pretty pictures that accompanied the slideshow, I mean how else can you keep the attention 50+ add ridden students. The information that I left with was invaluable. Or I guess you could value you it at the price of his book.

Regardless, I was hooked.

As we begin an even more detailed oriented semester in regards to open space and transportation I am going to really dive into E. Washington and study what is applicable to the site. The pies in the sky need to be cut into smaller more manageable slices.  This is just what I am going to do. Start at the pedestrian level and gauge what is most applicable and could possibly happen in the next 20 years. Its hard to predict, however through the right street, anything can happen. And besides, if the street really does encompass 45% of the cities land area, why not make it great?

Anyways.

The first order of business. Count my paces.

Wish me luck.

Futurama

Posted on | February 2, 2010 | No Comments

Greetings fellow bloggers, my name is Chase Pratt.  I am a graduate student at Ball State University pursuing a Masters in Urban Design.  I would like to begin by conveying how exciting it is to be a part of the first class to come through the Urban Design program at Ball State.  The field of urban design has come a long way in a short period of time, by reiterating the necessity for a comprehensive and multidisciplinary approach when visioning the future of our cities and how we live within them.  The same can surely be said of this program in its fledgling history, as demonstrated by its devotion to providing the Indianapolis community with feasible design alternatives.  This initiative is an incredible compliment to the progressive aspects of academia students receive here, grounding universal ideas in reality.

In the spirit of bright futures, it is essential that we as urban designers realize that the phenomenon we know as urbanity is one of only mere beginnings.  Only 3 percent of the global population lived in urban areas in 1800, and in a matter of two hundred years has increased to over half of the people on earth living in cities.  In essence, the cities we know today are a reflection of the human condition and our ability to apply unprecedented innovation and technology into our physical environment and daily lives.  So as someone who is about to enter a professional field whose sole purpose is to shape the future of our cities, I can only wonder what the next 200 years has in store.

I believe it is this immense fascination with both visualizing and realizing this future that is my greatest inspiration as an urban designer.  We too often get distracted by the financial and technological constraints of today, when we should be focusing on how to adapt and develop technology that will shape the city as opposed to designing the city and assuming technology will be compatible by default.  Sometimes it is essential to withdraw yourself from the parameters of today and consider what a city of the future could look like, that is designed in conjunction with future advances in communication and technology, transportation methods, and lifestyles.  For myself, and surely many others, this vision has been shaped by Hollywood interpretations of the future.  Although meant to ‘wow’ an audience, they give us an uninhibited glimpse into what our future could look like.

Also a key to unlocking the future-city is looking to those philanthropic entities whose intention is to generate ideas for the sake of our future.  Many of them incorporate new design typologies for automobiles, transit systems, architecture, and infrastructure into their visions.  One of my personal favorites is Terreform1 (www.terreform.org), an organization devoted to futurism in a way that addresses the city as both an agglomeration of environmental and human systems, an approach that will become increasingly valuable as we continue stretching the earth to its limits.  It is this type of forward thinking and vision for the future that I strive to incorporate into my approach to urban design.  It is vital that we realize that knowing the direction we are heading gives the present a new found relevancy, allowing us as designers to respond to a context that is rooted in various threads of time.

Transit Oriented Developments in Downtown Indianapolis

Posted on | February 1, 2010 | No Comments

To begin my first post, I’d like to introduce myself.  My name is Megan Fish.  I’m pursuing a graduate degree in urban design through Ball State’s College of Architecture and Planning’s Indianapolis Center.  My undergraduate degree is in Urban Planning from Ball State as well.  I am actually living in downtown while going to school, so it’s a great experience to actually be able to live in the urban environment.  I am fascinated with downtown revitalization and transit oriented developments.  The primary focus of this post will be on transit in downtown Indianapolis.

TRANSIT ORIENTED DEVELOPMENTS IN INDIANAPOLIS

Last fall, I was able to be in a studio that studied the possibility of a mass transit line running along the Nickel Plate that would connect downtown Indianapolis to Noblesville.  I think that this is a huge factor in making a city “livable” in an urban environment and one that is definitely missing from downtown.  The transit stop I explored was the first stop out of downtown Indianapolis at Washington and College.  It was highly “branded” on the notion that this transit stop was located on the “NATIONAL ROAD” and the concept was to concentrate mixed-use developments that create an “address street.”  This concept has been taken further to some degree during this graduate school program.

The major project our studio is working on this semester is looking at revitalization techniques of the East Washington Corridor.  This site is just east of the transit project I have worked on previously, so it is interesting to see how my previous work can be integrated into this project for graduate school.  My concept for East Washington still utilizes transit in the form of a street car system that would connect the corridor to the downtown.  It could perhaps also connect to the Nickel Plate line if some form of mass transit is introduced to Indianapolis in the future.

ULI URBAN DESIGN COMPETITION

On a side note, I’d also like to introduce another project I have been working on for the past two weeks.  Myself along with four other people entered into a national design competition sponsored through ULI (Urban Land Institute).  Over the course of the two weeks of the competition our team has done a number of analysis work, design and master planning work, and then even down to the detail of urban design schemes.  On top of all that, our final design had to be feasible; therefore, numbers also had to be calculated for the site.  The site is located in San Diego’s East Village, and challenge of all competitors was to transform this district into a place that has “an identity.”  There will be more to come on this in the future that will deal with the process and design our group went through and then who the finalists are for the competition.  With two groups from Ball State competing, it would be great for the program to be some form of a finalist. One thing is for sure, these past two weeks have been filled with stress, little sleep, but also a lot of fun and learning all in one.

Link to ULI Competition Website: http://www.nd20.org/wp-admin/post-new.php

Public Interest?

Posted on | January 31, 2010 | No Comments

It seems like TV, at least more times than not, portrays small rural communities as being full of close-knit people that love going out on Saturdays to help repaint the fence around town hall or plant flowers along Main Street. 

This image is not always accurate, but why not?  For one, smaller communities don’t have as much money as larger cities to do projects.  So when projects such as a façade renovation or sidewalk improvements need to be done, it is more difficult for them to actually get these improvements.

At work, I’m helping with a downtown revitalization project for a small community in southern Indiana.  The community is in pretty bad shape – abandoned buildings that are falling apart, overgrown areas, and so on.  In one of the very first meetings, residents kept making comments such as “we can never get our downtown back”, “we tried that 30 years ago; it didn’t work then and won’t work now”, and “it will cost too much to fix up downtown”. 

Yes, funding is an issue, but the community’s attitude towards their own town is a separate issue – one that could be improved.  In Charlestown, IN (a little north of Louisville) the mayor has created a “Vision Team” to get community members interested in their town.  It is a volunteer group that consists of community leaders that work as an advisory board to help the mayor with the city’s vision.  The city has also created a Charlestown Beautification Committee.  They are all volunteers that clean up and create projects around the city.  They raise money by hosting events and doing fund raisers, and then use that money for their projects. 

So with a few volunteers and leaders to jump-start improvement projects, more communities can become a step closer to the “perfect” television small town.

Walkability on East Washington

Posted on | January 31, 2010 | 1 Comment

As a student of the Masters of Urban Design program, we are currently working on a project to revitalize East Washington Street in Indianapolis. East Washington is home to the historic Cumberland Road (National Road US 40), with many historic factories and commercial buildings. Over the years the area has transformed and become disjointed by an auto-oriented environment. One of my goals in the revitalization project is to give priority and appeal back to the pedestrian environment.  

 Many businesses along East Washington are accompanied by dive-thru windows, and large parking lots separating the store front from the street edge. This separation and priority given to the automobile creates an unappealing and unsafe pedestrian environment.  These are suburban characteristics that have made their way into downtown Indianapolis.

 One of the key characteristics of any successful city is walkability. The street is where people are able to meet other people through chance encounters. Streets that allow pedestrians to feel comfortable pushing a stroller, walking their dog, or simply visiting the corner coffee shop.  A community could be reconnected through the opportunities that a vibrant pedestrian street environment would offer.

 In order to recreate East Washington Street into an active destination area in Indianapolis, my first objective therefore must address walkability.  This is a design battle against not only zoning restrictions but primarily the American auto-oriented lifestyle.  It is this aspect of urban design, in which we are given the opportunity to influence such change, which has continuously interested me in this profession.

Improving What We Have.

Posted on | January 31, 2010 | No Comments

As an Urban Designer in training our current project has an emphasis on mass transit for Indianapolis.    In one of our meeting with the public I got to thinking, what can we do now to the current transit system to improve Indianapolis?  Many of the residence expressed concerns about their neighborhoods which were the small improvements to their communities, such as sidewalks and roads.  While I think looking toward the future and the potential hidden is vital it is also important, as a first stage solution, to improve what these communities already have, which in turn is an excellent boost for these communities moral.  Indianapolis has a current bus system that spreads throughout the city.  While this system is not large the routes are statically placed to serve the greatest number of people.  The current bus system has anywhere from 15- 30 minute headways, which for a transit system to be truly successful the headways need to be much faster, 5 minutes is ideal.  With the 15- 30 minute headways negotiating around the city becomes almost impossible in any kind of time constrained schedule, i.e. commuting to work.  Also, the routes are hard to negotiate without a map, which makes none routine riders none existent on the routes and in turn hurts ridership.  If the city would invest in improving the existing routes by delegating a small portion of the money that would be set aside for the development of an advanced commuter system I believe more residence would step up and support the promise of what mass transit can do for Indianapolis.  Indianapolis does have a lot of promise and hope for the future regarding a varied supply of mass transit systems, but I believe it is vital for that future to first improve what the city currently has.

Confronting Social Stigmas

Posted on | January 26, 2010 | No Comments

When designing with a community, there is oftentimes social and cultural stigmas previously associated with certain places, such as a ‘ghetto’ or ‘eclectic, art village.’ Social stigmas tend to insinuate a negative connotation and can pose critical obstacles to successful future development. For this particular entry, I am defining social stigmas as perceived or realistic traits that tend to deviate from the social norm as determined by a community of people. As designers, I want to inquire how we begin to understand and cooperatively design with, or around, these social stigmas, in turn to create places that will have an overall positive experience towards its users opposed to a negative one.

The words that people use to describe a certain community are oftentimes an indication about the social and cultural environment of an area. However, I think that it is extremely important to realize that an outsider might have a completely different reaction or opinion of a place compared to the experience that a resident might have. This labeling of words to describe people and places are often based on stereotypes, an association with stigmas.

For example, in my opinion, social stigmas are what led to the decline of many American cities. Once suburbanization occurred, urban environments were thought of as dirty, grimy, and unsanitary. This was its stigma. But now we are beginning to willingly give up our car, sell our property, and revert back to the urban environment even though the urban environment once carried such a negative connotation. How and why is the cities image changing?

As designers, I believe that we need take the role of the ‘fourth person,’ understanding these stigmas from a distance, taking into account only reliable information when analyzing and designing a community. I think that it is easy to let oneself get caught into formulating an immediate opinion about a place based on a quick windshield observation or demographic analysis. However, we must take our time to deliberately understand the evolution of a certain community and its stigmas. Then we may truly understand the type of process has resulted in the creation of a social stigma. As urban designers we are helping a community envision their future through an improved quality of life. To help a community truly accomplish this, we must fully understand the complex history of the place and stigma. By doing so, we remain true to our titles as urban designers. If not, we allow ourselves to become the cliché, and judge a place only by its cover.

So in conclusion I am asking you to think about how as designers and citizens do we begin to curb existing stigmas to create desirable places for all types of people: residents and visitors…

_devastation _opportunity_2010

Posted on | January 23, 2010 | 1 Comment

Haiti is in dire state right now. The earthquake that completely devastated Haiti is a somber topic that makes news reports almost unbearable to watch. People are fleeing and fighting in order to get clean water, food, sanitary conditions and shelter. An estimated 200,000 people have perished in the rubble of a country that was already struggling to survive in the simplest of measures.

 Despite the horrific devastation caused during this earthquake, the incredible stories of compassion behind the wreckage are heartwarming and inspiring. After emergency efforts and transitional developments have been provided, the majority of us become weary of infomercials and scams asking us for money and so we become disillusioned and jaded. But it is the time after the basic needs have been met that it is most imperative to take action.

Devastation allows opportunity to start afresh.

While I am a huge advocate for adaptive reuse and historic preservation efforts, there is something that is exciting about the possibilities for smart change and growth. When nature does the demolition for you, there comes great opportunity and responsibility to rebuild in a way that is wholly sustainable and smart. It is such a wonder that people living in the United States, which should have been provided many opportunities to succeed are fighting to survive as well.  Please do not misinterpret my words to say that the loss of 200,000 souls is as upsetting as the decaying areas of our American cities. What I mean to say is the Haitians are facing devastation caused by Mother Nature (which in some regards these tragedies are caused by us, global warming and such but let’s save those topics for another day) while the devastation people in the remains of our cities are facing are caused by our decisions we make or don’t make about our cities.

The people remaining in our skid rows across America fight to survive. We are in our own aftermath of disaster but those of us with the power to change view ourselves as disconnected from these areas so we aren’t directly affected by the struggles they face. Our blighted areas have large vacant lots, structurally unsafe buildings, properties filled with debris, people starving, and people hurting one another for food and money. If our decisions are to blame, shouldn’t we be the first to correct our mistakes and make those radical changes?? Let’s take these areas where we have the largest open canvases and make the change to be sustainable, walkable cities. Many times the neighborhoods surrounding these areas are high density areas located close to schools or lots that once contained everyday amenities like the local pharmacies, grocery stores and the places where communities come together. Let’s stop spending money on new infrastructure that is destroying our agricultural resources and start putting it into the areas that already have the infrastructure and canvas to make our cities environmentally healthy and successful.

Popular science studied the greenest cities in America and came up with a list of 50 cities. Most of these cities are pioneers in renewable sources, commuting strategies, hydrogen-powered transit, hydroelectric dams, wind farms, solar energy, or a number of other areas. The study based the cities on four criteria; electricity, transportation, green living and recycling/perspective.  We have the opportunities to do something great in these decaying areas, let’s take action now in 2010 before our devastation spreads and we no longer have the means to change anything.

Haiti and many other countries are hurting right now for drastic support. Please do what you can whether it’s a donation, a trip to help rebuild or a prayer.

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