Ideas for Cities: Street Activity Stimulation
- Posted by: GOOD
- on November 9, 2009 at 6:10 pm
Street Activity Stimulation
Cities could mandate street-level space that was open to the public. Every building would dedicate their ground floors to retail or activities that invite citizens in, which would avoid activity vacuums along city streets. This would foster greater opportunity for small businesses through greater availability of retail stores, dining rooms, studios and working space, and community and learning centers. The goal is highly walkable districts with rampant “boredom snuffers” and magnets for happy accidents.
This is part 10 of a continuing brainstorm on the future of cities, inaugurated at the Velocity conference in September 2009. We’ll post a new idea each day until we run out, at which point we’re counting on you to come up with something smart. Do you have a good idea for improving your city? Add it in the comments below, or tweet it to @GOOD with hashtag #cityideas—we’ll publish the best ones. Tomorrow’s idea: Wide-walks.
DISCUSSION: 5 Comments
Ideas for City – Planned Shrinkage
Cities suffering from deindustrialization and urban decay should consider planned abandonment. Abandoned buildings and blight negatively impact the economic health of our cities. Businesses are unlikely to offer services in these areas, resulting in high unemployment rates. Additionally, banks are unlikely to invest, which only aids the downward economic spiral. By condensing the population into a smaller geographic area, cities can decrease the “per unit” cost of providing services such as fire, law enforcement, sanitation, and education while at the same time increasing population density, which will
attract increased investment.
Planned abandonment! I love the idea in terms of its potential to create areas of efficiencies for government as well as areas of vitality for residents and business owners. Rather then a dispersed and partially decaying urban landscape, we can envision concentrated zones of activity where the fruits of urban living are realized.But whom will these new zones serve? Will they be able to successfully and equitably integrate residents from across socio-economic and racial lines? If this is ‘Urban Renewal’ for the 21st century rust-belt city, governments have to learn from the mistakes of the past, by creating mixed-income places in which all members of the re-imagined community have a stake in the planning and visioning process. I just fear that one man’s neighborhood may be “strategically abandoned” without given the opportunity or means to integrate into the new community, thus further exaggerating urban inequity. Not a critique of Planned Abandonment, but rather the social climate in which such a tool exist.
Street activity Stimulation will add to one other cruicial element. As the author of “Undercover Economist”puts it: “Eyes on street”. With more and more high rises, cities lack this, leading to more potential for crime and other risky behaviour. With this idea, hopefully you would avoid that.
Actually the biggest problem is zoning! Many “abandoned buildings are wonderful places for Artists and other creatives who need space and cannot afford huge rents!! An industrial site has electricity and other infrastructure adding high speed cable internet is easy. With that the working spaces can be allotted with cheap rent revitalizing the area. Many Cities want to use the artist to rebuild the vacated areas and bring in new residents and business. This has proved successful in many areas of the country.
And would cities mandate that individuals accept these open invitations? And at what point would we draw the line in terms of what the city mandates for our chosen communities (be they within businesses, nonprofits, or homes)?It seems that the energy spent drafting such mandates and monitoring compliance could be spent organizing small-scale street fairs and other events.