{"id":2443,"date":"2013-01-27T10:53:15","date_gmt":"2013-01-27T17:53:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.interculturalurbanism.com\/?p=2443"},"modified":"2013-06-28T10:09:30","modified_gmt":"2013-06-28T16:09:30","slug":"placemaking-resolutions-for-2013-lifestyle-or-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.interculturalurbanism.com\/?p=2443","title":{"rendered":"Placemaking Resolutions for 2013: Lifestyle or Life?"},"content":{"rendered":"

My title is inspired by an excellent New Year\u2019s Eve 2012 piece posted on New Geography by Richey Piiparinen<\/a> (also posted here<\/a>) <\/b>that questions the \u201clivability\u201d focus of much urban development over the last few years. More about that below. First, here are the highlights of some other turn-of-the-calendar reflections and recommendations from leading urbanists:<\/p>\n

Brent Toderian<\/a> at Planetizen c<\/i>alls for more \u201cholistic\u201d thinking about placemaking, and urges rejection of the false choices presented by those who counterpoise, for example, smart growth and historic preservation, or beautiful and affordable design. \u00a0Most importantly, he urges that placemakers pay more attention in the coming year to population diversity and the issue of homelessness<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Cristiana Strava<\/a> at Polis<\/i> emphasizes sustainability as the key to better city living, including investment in public transport and community gardens.<\/p>\n

The Black Urbanist<\/a> urges that we spend some time thinking about how to best maintain places that are already<\/i> great, like old homes, markets, and recreation centers.<\/p>\n

Fred Kent<\/a> at the Project for Public Spaces urges that we make 2013 the \u201cYear of the Zealous Nut<\/a>\u201d: a new breed of engaged citizen who is passionate about their community.\u00a0 He recommends an agenda that (1) re-centers transportation so that it helps to builds communities, (2) strengthens local economies through dynamic public markets, (3) builds neighborhoods with centers that are true multi-use destinations, and (4) advocates for a new architecture of place<\/i>.<\/p>\n

The Placemakers at Placeshakers and Newsmakers<\/i><\/a> suggest that in 2013 communities will be best served by Tactical Urbanism<\/a>. They urge an incremental approach to \u00a0development and the development of better methods and tools for measuring livability.<\/p>\n

Mike Lydon<\/a>, another blogger at Planetizen<\/em>, is also keen on Tactical Urbanism (he’s one of the movement’s leaders), identifying it as the best trend of 2012 and something to push for in 2013. He channels Memphis Mayor A.C. Wharton\u2019s philosophy of placemaking:<\/p>\n

\u201cToo often, cities only look to big-budget projects to revitalize a neighborhood. There are simply not enough of those projects to go around. We want to encourage small, low-risk, community-driven improvements all across our city that can add up to larger, long-term change.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Finally, the various folks who write at Atlantic Cities<\/i><\/a> take a slightly different tack by identifying urban trends that they hope will die<\/i> in 2013. I\u2019m mostly struck by Sommer Mathis\u2019s suggestion that the term \u201cpop-up\u201d be abandoned as a descriptor of tactical urbanist interventions. She suggests that the term produces too many lame experiments and, more importantly, communicates a certain triviality of purpose that can conspire against efforts to turn \u201cshort term action into long term change.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Living<\/a>

Living Walls, Atlanta (Sten Lex)<\/p><\/div>\n

Looking at this variety of recommendations it\u2019s clear that tactical urbanism is one of the urbanisms that enjoys great popularity at the moment.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why of all the end-of-year stuff I read I like Richey Piiparinen\u2019s piece the best. <\/i>\u00a0First, anyone who references David Harvey<\/a> immediately gets my attention, in this case Harvey\u2019s observation (contained here<\/a>) that– in the ongoing competition to gain status as desirable (i.e., livable) cultural and consumer centers– cities must<\/p>\n

“\u2026keep ahead of the game <\/i>[by] engendering leap-frogging innovations in life styles, cultural forms, products and service mixes\u2026if they are to survive.”<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Tactical Urbanism\u2019s pop-up parks, cafes, galleries, gardens, and street art are an important set of strategic attention-getters.\u00a0 I\u2019m actually sympathetic to the idea that such tactics can be as important as investments in housing and transportation in improving livability or what others call \u201cvibrancy.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0Carol Coletta<\/a>, director of ArtPlace<\/a>, eloquently frames the idea in the following way:<\/p>\n

\u201cI think you can do temporality with regularity. Some temporary events are so powerful that they stay in the memory for a long time, and spark the imagination.”<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And where imagination is sparked, permanent changes that enhance livability and vibrancy can follow.\u00a0 But Piiparinen usefully asks \u201cLivability” for whom?\u00a0 And at what cost? \u00a0Too often the focus is not on a cross-section of the urban demographic but rather on a select group of folks; namely, the \u201ccreative class<\/a>\u201d of high-valued consumers with disposable income. \u00a0Consequently, current urban interventions\u2014tactical or otherwise\u2014too often reproduce the divide between amenity-rich and amenity-poor neighborhoods. \u00a0And at the end of the day they might not do much to give a city (or the neighborhoods within it) an edge in creative class competition. Harvey notes:<\/p>\n

“Many of the innovations and investments designed to make particular cities more attractive as cultural and consumer centres have quickly been imitated elsewhere, thus rendering any competitive advantage within a system of cities ephemeral\u2026 Success is often short-lived or rendered moot by parallel or alternative\u00a0<\/i>innovations arising elsewhere.”<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Rio<\/a>

“Parais\u00f3polis”, S\u00e3o Paulo<\/p><\/div>\n

The constant search for new \u201csensory and savory experiences\u201d amounts, for Piiparinen, to a \u201cWilly Wonka<\/a> Urbanism\u201d that’s serves the pleasure of a relative few and signals what Harvey calls \u201cthe triumph of image over substance.\u201d Playing off of Harvey, Piiparinen suggests that<\/p>\n

“\u2026there are problems with such city building: it\u2019s too often defined by the ephemera, or that \u201ctransitory matter not intended to be retained or preserved\u201d\u2026 The ephemera aren\u2019t building blocks to economic growth, but instead represent America\u2019s tendency to fix hard structural deficits with the airy promises of the pleasure principle\u2026I would argue that now more than ever we need less fantasy in city building than we do reality\u2026”<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Stop<\/a>

Stop the Violence, Chicago (Metropolis Coffee)<\/p><\/div>\n

Piiparinen\u2019s reality is about \u201caffordable housing, mobility, education, and jobs.\u201d\u00a0 His analysis converges with that of others whose ideas we\u2019ve highlighted on this blog. Neeraj Mehta<\/a> similarly questions who<\/i> creative placemaking is for, an account that we previously discussed\u00a0here<\/a>.\u00a0 <\/b>This question certainly informs just about all of the posts \u00a0in my continuing commentary on an important and controversial infill development in Denver<\/a>. Piiparinen\u2019s recommendation for urbanism in 2013 is certainly compatible with those of other resolution-makers, especially Toderian on demographic diversity.\u00a0 His parting shot hits the nail on the head:<\/p>\n

“\u2026perhaps it\u2019s time for city leaders and citizens alike to take stock in how cities are being made, and for whom the making is focused. In fact maybe it\u2019s time to drop the \u201clivability\u201d gimmicks that define Willy Wonka urbanism\u2013or to squeeze \u201cthe style\u201d out of \u201clifestyle\u201d so as to expose the highest priority, the highest necessity: which is life.”<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My title is inspired by an excellent New Year\u2019s Eve 2012 piece posted on New Geography by Richey Piiparinen (also posted here) that questions the \u201clivability\u201d focus of much urban development over the last few years. More about that below. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[8,18,16,20,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-intercultural-city","category-new-urbanism","category-placemaking","category-urban-studies"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1H2bI-Dp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.interculturalurbanism.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.interculturalurbanism.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.interculturalurbanism.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.interculturalurbanism.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.interculturalurbanism.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2443"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"http:\/\/www.interculturalurbanism.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2443\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2853,"href":"http:\/\/www.interculturalurbanism.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2443\/revisions\/2853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.interculturalurbanism.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.interculturalurbanism.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.interculturalurbanism.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}