2011 continued to show that these are exciting times for cities and urbanism. The Earth’s population was estimated to reach 7 billion by the United Nations on October 31, 2011. New York City endured the back and forth vitriol in the so-called “bike wars”. The pioneering city magazine, Next American City, is shedding its hardcopy and focusing on online content, where it will join the newly launched (and aleady heavyweight), Atlantic Cities.
Looking back, here are a few of the year’s other big stories that will affect our cities:
High-speed rail suffered two major setbacks in 2011. Critics of China’s high-speed rail network were proven right in July when a train rear-ended another train resulting in a crash that killed 40 and injured 172. The general consensus, even from the Chinese government, has been that their high-speed rail network has been expanded too fast at the expense of safety.
While progress on a national high-speed rail system has been too fast in China, the United States continues to face the opposite problem. Despite the potential benefits of modernizing our transportation infrastructure, President Obama’s 2009 plan for a United States high-speed rail network were derailed this year when Congress eliminated the high-speed rail budget. While a national high-speed rail system has certainly been pushed further to the future, progress continues on both the California and Northeast Corridor routes.
The integration of technology in cities continued to gain ground and major financial investment in 2011. The Pegasus Global Holdings announced and is moving forward with building a 20-square mile test city in New Mexico. The unpopulated city will be testing ground for technology such as wireless networks, cybersecurity, intelligent traffic systems, and smart energy grids.
Other ground-up smart city projects moving forward include PlanIT in Portugal (backed Microsoft) and Songdo International Business District, South Korea (backed by Cisco), which are building hundreds of thousands of sensors into every object and creating urban operating systems (UOS). There is big money to be made in smart city technology, so watch for global technology firms to continue to invest in impressive projects. The real progress will be made though when cities like Dubuque, Iowa successfully integrate the new technology (in their case, backed by IBM) with their existing infrastructure.
2011 was certainly a year of protests – everything from the Arab Spring revolutions to global demonstrations against austerity measures. On October 15, 2011, protests were held in more than 950 cities around the world.
In the United States, the Occupy Wall Street movement has highlighted the importance of public spaces in freedom of speech and democracy. The site of the original Occupy Wall Street location, Zuccotti Park, has also drawn new attention to the inherent problems with privately-owned public spaces. Ordinances prohibiting the use of bullhorns without permits were creatively circumvented by crowd “human microphone” systems. Other rules, like encampment on public spaces after hours, were broken and then eventually enforced in many areas when elected officials lost patience. Expect public space rules to be clarified and tightened in response to the protests.
Jerry Gretzinger's map displayed at ArtPrize 2009 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Photo by Rodney Martin
I’ve always believed that city-building is as much of an art as anything else, but Jerry Gretzinger takes it to a whole new level with his map. His map is really a world onto itself with cities, suburbs, farmland, forests, deserts, and oceans – and beyond that, what he calls the “void”.
Jerry’s map “began as just a doodle” in 1963. Almost fifty years and 2,000 panels later, he has worked or reworked one of his map’s panels every day. Like real-world landscapes and cities, his map has evolved over time as he has redrawn portions of it. To guide his map’s evolution, he has created an elaborate world-building system that features a card deck with instructions, the map’s “future predictor”. Each morning he chooses a card at random that determines whether he’ll add new features to a panel or completely void it out.
A close-up of the map showing one of the many urban centers. Photo by Rodney Martin
Jerry Gretzinger: Mapping the Void (Documentary)
The map is truly a life’s work. There’s an eleven-minute documentary on Jerry’s map by Gregory Whitmore that’s definitely worth a watch if you want to learn more about the map and his artistic process.
You can also follow the future of the map at Jerry’s Blog.
The Urban Land Institute is concluding its Why I Love ULI short video contest tonight, and there are some really great entries so far. The entry that gets the most Facebook likes will win an all-expense-paid trip to Los Angeles for the upcoming ULI Fall Meeting. Sweet deal!
Here are the top three entries I’m loving so far:
Why Rachel Headings Loves ULI
Rachel takes the “love” of ULI to a whole new level in this hilarious video. Someone needs to book this ULI logo for the Fall Conference, I want a picture with it!
Why Stephanie Darden Loves ULI
If ULI was to run an ad campaign, this would be the video. Stephanie’s video is professional, whimsical, and even features a cameo by Orlando Mayor, Buddy Dyer. I’m definitely pointing prospective ULI members to this video in the future.
Why Rob Voigt Loves ULI
Rob made a really creative paper craft video that gets into the meat of why ULI is awesome:
Unprecedented resources
Leadership, and
Inspiration
Update
The winner and honorable mentions have been announced on the ULI Fall website, congratulations to all the creative entries!
Google+ is still an evolving social media platform, but there are already great conversations occurring and information being shared on it. So far I’ve found it more engaging than Facebook and more conversational than Twitter. In any case, since Google will continue to incorporate G+ into their search ranking (Google Search already shows the +1 button from G+ on search results), it doesn’t hurt to become familiar with it. If you’re not on yet and want to give it a try just sign up here.
Here are some of the urbanists and planner-types that I’ve circled (added to my network, in Google+ language) so far:
I found a great free service to organize and share Google+ users called the Google Plus Counter. I have added a “Urbanists on Google+” list, which has 70+ members so far! You can add yourself and suggest other urbanists, planners, architects and all-around city lovers to it.
The Ghost Ranch Lodge had its grand reopening several months ago, as I previously posted in The Redevelopment of the Ghost Ranch Lodge. Construction had just been completed a few weeks before the event, and the units were already 100% occupied with a waiting list for future residents. It has also served as a catalyst for redevelopment along Miracle Mile, and now the historic motor court Monterey Motel down the street is being redeveloped into an artist studio. The Ghost Ranch Lodge is truly an adaptive reuse project that shows a historic rehabilitation can be good for a community as well as financially feasible!
The developer of the Ghost Ranch Lodge, Atlantic Development + Investments, generously sent some pictures so I wanted to share a few of them here. If you are in Tucson and have a chance to drive by, it’s off the Miracle Mile exit east of I-10. The neon sign is awesome at night.
The iconic neon Ghost Ranch Lodge sign on Miracle Mile that has greeted visitors to Tucson for more than sixty years.
Inside the Ghost Ranch Lodge's restored clubhouse.
One of the living rooms, beautifully decorated and furnished by the resident, at the Ghost Ranch Lodge.
The Ghost Ranch Lodge's fully restored historic cactus garden. Photo credit: Ladd Keith
The Ghost Ranch Lodge on Miracle Mile.
Photos, except where noted, were provided courtesy of Atlantic Development + Investments.
I’m very excited about attending the 2011 Urban Land Institute Spring Council Forum next week in Phoenix. I’ve been involved in ULI since 2005, as a founding member of the Southern Arizona Young Leaders Group and its current Co-Chair. The ULI is a great interdisciplinary professional organization dedicated to the open exchange of ideas for the best land use policy and practice. If you aren’t a member, I highly recommend it. It’s members are a diverse group from all areas of real estate and land development, including developers, real estate brokers, architects, planners, policy leaders and more. I’ve gotten so much out of it and have heard the same from many other active ULI members.
Spring Council Forum
The Spring Council Forum is one of ULI’s premiere annual events and is being held in Phoenix this year. It is expected that around 3,000 ULI members from across the nation and world will attend. It’s the first time in 20 years or so that Phoenix is hosting the Spring Council Forum, and there’s quite a bit for Phoenix to show off with its new light rail system and development downtown.
In addition to the regular conference schedule, there are also full-day Council Meetings where industry leaders come together to discuss the latest trends and developments within their Council topic area. There are 23 U.S. Council topic areas, ranging on topics from Transit Oriented Development to Workforce Housing. I have been invited to attend one of the Small Scale Development Councils as a guest, and am looking forward to meet the Council members and do a lot of learning.
Adapting Cities for the Future
There is also a special event on the closing day of the Spring Council Forum that will look at how cities are addressing the numerous challenges they face coming out of the Great Recession. Some of the topics are:
economic development and job creation
demographic changes
how public/private partnerships can address cities’ funding gaps
infrastructure issues
decline of the suburban ring
The speaker line-up is terrific and the format is very interactive and will draw on all the participants’ expertise to discuss solutions to these challenges. Numerous scholarships have been made available so that public sector and elected officials can participate in the event as well.
Follow me on Twitter at @LaddKeith and I will share some of my insights and what I’ve learned throughout the conference.
The City of Tucson’s current Land Use Code (LUC), which regulates land use and development, is infamous for being one of the most draconian in use. Adopted in 1995, it was flawed to begin with and time and continual addition of reactionary standards hasn’t helped. Figuring out what is allowed and required for development, and then cross-checking those requirements, takes more time than anything else. There entire code is riddled regulations that overlap, conflict, or parallel each other with different nuances.
Why does this matter? The current code wastes staff time and creates uncertainty for anyone developing or building in the City of Tucson. How can projects be successful when their starting point are always flawed?
To address these concerns, City staff has been working with their consultant, Clarion Associates, to simplify our byzantine document. I’ve been reviewing drafts of the new Unified Development Code on the Planning Commission, and it looks very promising.
Some of the highlights of the new Unified Development Code:
Entire code is being reformatted to more modern and simplified format
Regulations are being simplified and clarified
More graphs, tables, and illustrations are being included to make it more user friendly
The need for cross-checking is being minimized
Confusing terms that mean the same thing have been consolidated, think “secondary use” and “accessory use”
Terms that had different definitions, but were used as if they didn’t, are being redefined. An example is “zones” will now mean citywide regulations and “districts” will only apply to specific geographic areas
All submittal requirements and fees are being moved to a new Administration Manual
Engineering standards, historic design standards and other non-zoning development standards will all be consolidated in the Technical Manual
All definitions have been consolidated and moved to the end of the UDC
The actual development standards within the new UDC will stay the same, although there will be some revisions and clarifications. This is the most critical part of the process, if you have a stake in it look at the draft now. The draft chapters are all online with staff comments. It’s a mammoth task and the more eyes on it the better. The staff is doing a great job so far and has been very open to comments.
The Planning Commission and the Land Use Code Committee are continuing to review the draft UDC while the City staff work on revisions with Clarion. The Planning Commission hearings on the final draft will be held the end of 2011, and Mayor and Council hearings sometime in spring of 2012. Due to Prop 207, the 2006 “Private Property Rights Protection Act” ballot initiative, implementation of the new code is a bit tricky. Once the UDC has been adopted by Mayor and Council, both the new code and old code will exist side-by-side for the next few years, allowing property owners to use either to reduce the chance of a Prop 207 complaint. The old LUC will be discontinued after several years.
I was recently invited to say a few words at the celebration of the rehabilitation and adaption of the historic Ghost Ranch Lodge into affordable senior housing. The grand reopening coincides with the popular Miracle Mile Open House & Tour, an event created from the City of Tucson’s Oracle Area Revitalization Plan.
I had the honor of organizing an Urban Land Institute case study and tour of the Ghost Ranch Lodge in the fall of 2010. The importance of the Ghost Ranch Lodge to the Tucson community really can’t be understated. Its history reads like a who’s who:
Originally owned by Arthur Pack, co-founder of the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
The first buildings designed by renowned Tucson architect Josias Joesler
Iconic neon cow skull sign designed by artist, Georgia O’Keefe
Historic cactus garden with its centerpiece Boojum tree, famed to be the largest in Arizona
Postcard of the Ghost Ranch Lodge. Credit: Unknown
The Ghost Ranch Lodge was built in 1941, with Josias Joesler designing the original first eight buildings. A year later Arthur and Phoebe Pack bought them and turned it into the first tourist accomadations along Miracle Mile. The orginal buildings were designed to be pedestrian-friendly so that the cars parked in the back and the front porches faced a shared courtyard. They were also designed before air conditioning, so they are also a great example of passive cooling with big porches that only let filtered light through the windows.
At the time, Miracle Mile was a thriving northern entrance to Tucson and motorcourts with neon signs lit the way into Tucson’s Downtown. Traffic and business was diverted with the arrival of Interstate 10 though, and the area became one of Tucson’s seedier neighborhoods from the 1970′s and on. There’s a great Historic Context Study of the area for more information on its history.
The Ghost Ranch Lodge finally closed in 2005, and the property reached a new low when it caught fire after that. The property was in serious danger of being demolished for another use or being destroyed due to neglect. After changing hands of several owners, Atlantic Development + Investments bought the property in foreclosure in 2007. Their plan was to redevelop the property as affordable senior housing, maintaining the historic integrity of the property.
Redevelopment of the Ghost Ranch Lodge with the iconic sign in the background. Credit: Ladd Keith
Phase I of the redevelopment was completed in September 2010 and included 60 units. Thirty of those units are the restored Joesler buildings, with the remaining units being newly constructed. Phase II, just completed, includes an additional 52 units along with the preservation and rehabilitation of the Historic Cactus Garden and its famous Boojum tree. The entire project cost $25 million with assistance from low-income housing and historic tax credits and funds.
Phase I of the Ghost Ranch Lodge. Credit: Ladd Keith
Atlantic Development + Investments not only redeveloped the Ghost Ranch Lodge but also created a major catalyst in the ongoing revitalization of Miracle Mile. On the Urban Land Institute tour, the residents I spoke with repeatedly said that that they chose to live at the Ghost Ranch Lodge because they have fond memories of the staying at the Lodge in the past and loved how it had been carefully reinvented. At the time of the tour, the property was already fully leased with a waiting list for Phase II, something that wouldn’t have happened if it was just another generic senior housing development. The project has substantially raised the bar for low-income housing for the elderly and is an example of historic preservation that the industry can learn much from.
Planning our communities has been more than challenging in the new normal. While layoffs have slowed, neither the public or private sectors are rehiring employees yet. Home building remains at record lows and most regions haven’t seen much new development since the Great Recession started. Municipalities across the country continue to struggle with lost revenue and painful budget cuts. Communities must plan for an uncertain future with less resources than ever.
Faced with these challenges, planners, public policy makers, community leaders, and citizens have had to work creatively to adapt our communities in these changing times. Since many of the old rules and ways of doing things have been thrown out the window, exciting new changes and trends have emerged in how we plan. New technology has the potential to help government deliver services more effectively, like See-Click-Fix, which lets citizens report potholes, graffiti, and other neighborhood issues. The urban agriculture movement has proven to have staying power, and municipalities are rethinking zoning codes and regulations to allow for local food production through community gardens and even backyard urban chickens. Cities across the country are also in the midst of a transit renaissance, with many new light rail and streetcar routes opening or being expanded. High-speed rail networks are in the works too, supported by groups like America 2050, which seek to better connect our megaregions.
Our communities will experience more change in the near future than they have in a long time, and I am optimistic that we can help them adapt and be better because of it. Now isn’t the time to shy away from planning and the difficult work to make our communities better places to live. We must to continue to rethink how we plan and what we want our towns, cities, regions to be. What is your community doing to adapt and thrive?
In anticipation of the upcoming Urban Land Institute’s 2011 Spring Council Forum, May 18-20, 2011 in Phoenix, the Urban Land magazine interviewed five Young Leaders in Arizona for their March/April 2011 edition. I was very honored to be included in the five! Below is an excerpt from my interview.
Photo by Barbara Carroll
Pushing Boundaries By Jeremy Sharpe
Though considered one of the markets hardest hit by the real estate downturn, Arizona is also expected to offer the greatest opportunity in the coming years for those willing to adapt and learn.
These five young professionals, found in all sectors of the industry, are eager to meet the challenges and opportunities at hand. Whether you are a seasoned veteran or a young person just graduating from your MRED program, there is something to be learned from these individuals who are pushing boundaries and ultimately shaping the future of the real estate industry in Arizona.
Ladd Keith Age 30 Tucson Planner | Owner, Urbano Group
How did the changing economy effect planning consulting in Arizona?
Arizona was at the center of the housing boom and for those of us who started our careers in the boom, this was our first time in a down cycle. Like many other land development and planning consultants I was laid off after the crash. I knew no one was in a position to hire, so the following week I filed the papers and opened my own firm to continue consulting. Planning now is much slower and more competitive and has required looking for opportunities in unexpected places.
Where have you looked for unexpected opportunities?
In the boom I worked mainly on master planned communities. Projects are much smaller today, and I’ve had success in diversifying, doing projects like siting solar fields and crafting public policy. I was also invited to teach at the University of Arizona’s School of Landscape Architecture & Planning, which was something I had never considered before. I really enjoy it and it’s led to me being an adjunct faculty member. I’m currently developing a new course on Sustainable Urbanism.
What would you recommend to other young professionals to make the most of the recession?
The recession has been a good time to evaluate what we are doing in our lives and what we are most passionate about. I think the most important thing is to stay positive and focus on what you can control. Things are still difficult but there are opportunities for those who are current on trends and have made relationships a priority.
The other four Young Leaders interviewed were Peter Spier, President of Spier & Company; Rick McLain, Architect / Partner of Repp Design + Construction; Caroline A. Pricher, Associate at Greenberg Traurig LLP; and Carson Mehl, Vice President of Dove Mountain. Check out the full interview in the March/April 2011 edition of Urban Land magazine.
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