Why do European business travelers have a 30-minute jump on us? Well, one reason is the amount we’re willing to invest. The U.S. Senate is proposing to spend just $11.4 billion to keep the entire nationwide Amtrak network running for the next six years. And even that level of funding is a political hot potato. When Trent Lott, the right-wing Mississippi Republican, is on the same side of a funding debate as Frank Lautenberg, the left-wing New Jersey Democrat, you know for sure that Amtrak is a party-bending, policy-warping, money-eating conundrum.
Archive for December, 2007
The good news is, a recently released Brookings Institution report claims that the number of walkable locales is growing in many metropolitan areas across the country. It’s great to see that people are rediscovering the kind of urbanism that allows high quality pedestrian environments to thrive.
However, the Brookings report itself has some major flaws. I know I’m going to sound like a major hater here, but somehow out of 30 metropolitan regions nationwide, the Miami-Ft Lauderdale-West Palm Beach metro ranked 8th place – above metros like New York and Philadelphia! For anyone who knows anything about cities and metropolitan regions, this should immediately raise a red flag.
So how is such a ranking possible, you ask? It comes down to Brookings’ flawed methodology for calculating walkable areas in each metro. Instead of calculating the percentage of area that is walkable in each metropolitan region, the Institution instead chose to go by arbitrary districts or neighborhoods, which vary considerably in size and functionality. For example, both Center City, Philadelphia and Coconut Grove, Miami were chosen as walkable locales within their respective metros. However, despite Center City being much, much larger than Coconut Grove, the two areas count the same.
In New York, which had the highest number of walkable locales at 21, it’s even more arbitrary. Districts that roughly correlate with popular Manhattan neighborhoods were chosen, leaving most of the rest of the city out of the report. This, in effect, is saying that Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx, home to dozens and dozens of the most walkable neighborhoods in North America, are less worthy than Dadeland or Sugarland Town Center in suburban Houston (that’s redundant, by the way). I’m sorry, but that is at best arbitrary and at worst completely inaccurate.
This is disappointing coming from Brookings, one of the most respected (and one of my favorite) think tanks that regularly deals with urban policy and smart growth principles. A much more accurate depiction of an area’s walkability would be to calculate the percentage of both the city and the metropolitan area that is walkable. This allows for a fair, one-to-one comparison between all cities and metropolitan regions regardless of size or population. If this had been used instead as apart of the report’s methodology, I’m sure that only a very small fraction of the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale-West Palm Beach metro would be considered walkable.
Alas, it is very encouraging to see walkability becoming more mainstream again. It’s amazing what happens when A) people become disenchanted with the soullessness of sprawl and B) quality urbanism is built instead. Believe it or not, this is what Miami 21 is all about – making the City of Miami more walkable and pedestrian-oriented. This is why it is critical that we support it, because even though it is not a perfect code, it is far, far better than anything in place right now. Furthermore, it gives us the only fighting chance at actually making Miami into a high quality, pedestrian-oriented city.
Can you name the city and the neighborhood?
Photos: Flickr.com
One of the best examples of how to create a vibrant, pedestrian accessible, and dense neighborhood is in Boston along the Back Bay. The dense row houses, some of which have been converted into mixed use structures (along Newbury street, Commonwealth Avenue, and Boylston) create a dense yet comfortable living environment. Public park space is amply provided along the Charles River Esplanade, Commonwealth Avenue, and the city’s central park (the Boston Common and Public Gardens) which anchors the eastern portion of this quaint neighborhood. Boston’s Back bay embodies many of the principles envisioned in Miami 21, including stepped structural height increases, reduced setbacks, on street parking, and canopy/park space requirements. Miami’s design district would be ideal for similar development and the Miami streetcar, like the green line which runs adjacent to the Back Bay, would only further bolster the livability of this neighborhood. 
Don’t miss the people hired to “fit” as many as possible onto each car…
Marina Blue, the “swanky,” 60 story residential skyscraper rising along Biscayne Boulevard Museum Park
Take a look at these pictures, found on Skyscrapercity and see if you can spot any of the major issues:
Incomplete building? Designed well from 3 angles, the Marina Blue design team apparently fell asleep when working on the western facade. A blank, exposed backside will greet visitors viewing the Miami skyline from the west, a stark contrast from the stunning blue and green glass facade facing the Museums and bay. Another Arquitectonica and Hyperion development building, Blue, up in the design district suffers from the same 3 sided design syndrome… 
Who needs public transit when we have enough space for every car? Logically, the best thing to place facing a metromover station is the entrance of the 12 story parking garage with enough space to handle at least the 2 cars each of the 516 units owners will have. Forget creating usable retail space fronting the metromover, the patron’s of this building will likely be arriving at the valet station anyway, it’s not like they have any other reasonable option anyway…
Of course, if we aren’t going to plan for the use of public transit then why would we expect pedestrians to access the building either? Beyond the absurd canopy placement, the 3 foot elevated platform will completely decimate any hopes of creating a vibrant and pedestrian friendly boulevard. The second picture shows just exactly how much width was provided for sidewalk cafes and activity, none of which will be possible thanks to the blank wall and guardrails which are placed accordingly to keep Marina Blue residents and visitors in.
A Couple of reminders of what we should have been attempting to do with the redevelopment along the Biscayne boulevard corridor:
Note: This picture is still prominently displayed on the DDA website…
I can’t help but think that for every step we take forward (dense urban living in an easily accessible location) we take two steps backwards (building enough parking to house a dealership and failing to adequately integrate the building with the surroundings…)
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