{"id":3147,"date":"2013-12-11T10:45:51","date_gmt":"2013-12-11T17:45:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.interculturalurbanism.com\/?p=3147"},"modified":"2014-06-20T13:17:59","modified_gmt":"2014-06-20T19:17:59","slug":"demolition-denver-what-matters-in-urban-renewal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.interculturalurbanism.com\/?p=3147","title":{"rendered":"Demolition Denver: What Matters in Urban Renewal?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The demolition in question is the campus of the former University of Colorado Health Sciences Center at 9th Avenue and Colorado Boulevard in Denver. We\u2019ve been chronicling this development<\/a>, and the struggle between developers and citizens over what it should look like, since June of 2011. The <\/i>story goes back farther than that, however. Plans for redevelopment have been in the works since 2003. \u00a0The site has been completely abandoned since 2007.\u00a0 The campus has seen three would-be developers come and go. There have been break-ins and vandalism.\u00a0 Graffiti artists have made their mark.\u00a0 Last July 22 the campus was officially designated as a blighted urban renewal area by the Denver City Council. \u00a0The section now being demolished is a 6.74 acre piece destined for luxury residences<\/a>, a deal that was closed in June 2013.\u00a0 The fate of the rest of the site\u201422 acres intended for mixed use commercial and office development\u2014is still undetermined.\u00a0 Developers are currently submitting plans. The Colorado Boulevard Healthcare District (CBHD) board\u2014a volunteer citizen\u2019s group responsible for sharing information with the public\u2014hasn\u2019t met for several months as things sort themselves out.<\/p>\n

\"1<\/a>

University of Colorado Health Sciences Center Campus, Looking Toward Architecture of the Central Quad (D. Saitta)<\/p><\/div>\n

As quoted in the Denver Business Journal<\/i><\/a>, Denver City Council president Mary Beth Susman asserts that the local neighborhood and the city share a common vision of \u201cmixed use development that has density and walkability.\u201d\u00a0 The Council-approved development plan calls for promotion of a \u201cdiverse, sustainable neighborhood economy.\u201d\u00a0 Denver Urban Renewal Authority executive director Tracy Huggins says that \u201ceveryone is very much aligned about overall objectives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Citizens in adjacent neighborhoods have a website<\/a> that articulates what they want a bit more specifically. Elements include a mix of unique local restaurants oriented around a year-round indoor farmer\u2019s market.\u00a0\u00a0 A local brewery.\u00a0 Retail that provides higher end fashion and furnishings. A luxury\/boutique hotel. Businesses dedicated to marketing, design, technology, and financial services.\u00a0 Art studios and venues.\u00a0 In short, the desire is for an upscale urban village offering a distinctive\u2014and by all indications pretty exclusive\u2014live-work-play experience. \u00a0Aspirational models include Denver\u2019s tony Cherry Creek neighborhood<\/a> (\u201cwhere Denver comes to shop, sip, and be seen\u201d), which is located just a stone\u2019s throw away. \u00a0Other suggested models draw on elements found in Milwaukee\u2019s Third Ward<\/a>, Seattle\u2019s Pike Place Market<\/a>, San Francisco\u2019s Ferry Building<\/a>, and Vancouver\u2019s Granville Island Public Market<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"2<\/a>

“Crime, Art, Fetish” (D. Saitta)<\/p><\/div>\n

The plan for urban renewal at 9th and Colorado is an irresistible topic because\u2014as we establish in our series of posts\u2014issues of race, class, culture, historic preservation, corporate ethics, citizen activism, city council politics, and urbanism (specifically New Urbanism) collide in some particularly interesting ways. \u00a0As implicated above, the scales have clearly tipped to favor the desires of a particular demographic with the time, technical means, and political influence to shape the conversation.\u00a0 One vanquished developer frustratingly described that demographic as One Percenters<\/a>. \u00a0That\u2019s not entirely accurate, but it\u2019s an effective partial<\/i> framing of the issue.\u00a0 Certainly, public CBHD meetings\u2014routinely scheduled during working hours\u2014haven\u2019t attracted much class or ethnic diversity<\/a>. \u00a0<\/b>Other forms of <\/b>outreach to potentially affected groups have been non-existent.\u00a0 Public dialogue hasn\u2019t considered sustainability in its sociocultural sense<\/a>.\u00a0 It\u2019s clear from census data that there are people and families in the local neighborhoods who might appreciate some affordable options when it comes to housing, eating, and shopping. Thus, Councilwoman Susman might know what the city<\/i> wants, but I\u2019m not so sure she knows what the citizenry<\/i> wants\u2014in all of its messy, complicating diversity.<\/p>\n

\"3<\/a>

Building Demolition (D. Saitta)<\/p><\/div>\n

My personal view is that one Cherry Creek shopping district is more than enough for this part of Denver. \u00a0Denver has enough microbreweries to secure its place on that particular Top Ten list<\/a> for years to come. I\u2019m sure the aspirational development models identified for other cities have their virtues. But it would be good to know how effectively they connect to place and how effectively they appeal to class and ethnic diversity.<\/p>\n

In multiple posts on this blog (e.g., here<\/a>) we\u2019ve advocated for an approach to Health Sciences campus redevelopment that (1) reflects\u2014in both substance and architectural style\u2014the site\u2019s history as a medical research facility, and (2) welcomes the burgeoning ethnic diversity of urban cores. The first of these considerations prescribes\u2014drawing on \u201chealthy city\u201d and \u201cheart of the city\u201d metaphors\u2014an identity-establishing signature building, the adaptive reuse of a few more historically significant existing structures, full enclosure of the proposed central Quadrangle to create a more intimate and pedestrian-friendly public space, and better and safer pedestrian and bicycle connections to the playing fields of adjacent parks (children<\/a>, like class and ethnic \u201cothers\u201d, have been conspicuously missing from the public discussion). \u00a0The second consideration prescribes\u2014drawing on intercultural city ideals<\/a>\u2014a critical mass of value shopping alternatives, at least a little \u201chard\u201d public\/plaza space (including parking lots<\/a>) where \u201cinformal economies\u201d can be encouraged and supported, and housing to accommodate not only multi-generational families but also the varied living arrangements that characterize a broader swath of cultural and economic diversity.<\/p>\n

When the next developer for the Health Sciences Center campus is selected, it would be good to renew the conversation about development by asking\u2013of a much wider community of stakeholders\u2014the question that one campus graffitist poses below: \u00a0What matters?<\/em><\/p>\n

\"4<\/a>

What Matters? (D. Saitta)<\/p><\/div>\n

This essay was reposted to Sustainable Cities Collective<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The demolition in question is the campus of the former University of Colorado Health Sciences Center at 9th Avenue and Colorado Boulevard in Denver. We\u2019ve been chronicling this development, and the struggle between developers and citizens over what it should […]<\/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":[3,6,20,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9th-and-colorado","category-denver-urbanism","category-placemaking","category-sustainability"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1H2bI-OL","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.interculturalurbanism.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3147","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=3147"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/www.interculturalurbanism.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3147\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3259,"href":"http:\/\/www.interculturalurbanism.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3147\/revisions\/3259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.interculturalurbanism.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.interculturalurbanism.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.interculturalurbanism.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}