A “Central Park” for Los Angeles?
A major urban park is an essential component of downtown Los Angeles’s long-overdue renaissance.A State of Exception in Washington, D.C.
Some 700 tiny parcels of unusable public land in Washington, D.C., currently are under the administration of the National Park Service. These small urban parcels could be returned to the District of Columbia, which could convert a number of these parcels into small neighborhood parks.An Antidote to Sprawl
A plan for a 688-acre (278.4 ha) area in DeKalb County, Georgia, presents a new approach to addressing suburban sprawl and urban development in general—the public realm framework.Betting on the Beatles’ Birthplace
Europe’s largest urban regeneration effort, taking place in Liverpool, England, involves an urban environment comprising ten refurbished buildings and 26 new buildings designed by 26 different architecture firms.Car Sharing
A red, top-down convertible was spotted northbound on the interstate from Center City Philadelphia on a fall day. Its distinguishing feature was a logo on the side that identified it as the property of a nonprofit corporation presently serving more than 55,000 Philadelphians who prefer to use vehicles only when needed.Decisive Planning
Local governments have discovered the power of mixed-use development is its flexibility, allowing planners to shape a district or entire city to fit specific needs just by adding a little more of this or subtracting a little of that.Five Projects Win ULI 2008 Awards for Excellence: Asia Pacific
Five developments have been selected as winners of the ULI Awards for Excellence: Asia Pacific competition. The awards were announced in July during the ULI Japan Summer Conference in Tokyo.Getting Density Right
Demographic shifts, high infrastructure and construction costs, population growth, the long-term outlook for energy, and anticipated climate change make more-compact development inevitable, despite lingering public opposition to higher density.Great Places, Great Parking?
Correcting just a few mistakes can make parking subordinate to development, supporting a great place.Green Connector
America’s East Coast Greenway, a 3,000-mile vision, moves toward completion.Green Roof Gas Cover
What should a developer do when an aging and contaminating gas station will not relocate from a prime corner development property? One option is to cover it with a 6,000-square-foot (560-sq-m) green roof canopy. Faced with an Exxon station that refused to leave the premises, EastBanc Inc. took that approach to make the station disappear from view, knowing full well that residents—paying $840 to $1,100 per square foot ($9,000 to $11,800 per sq m) for a unit at 22 West in Washington, D.C.’s West End neighborhood—were not going to want to look down on the station that had been contaminating the site since it caught fire in the 1980s.Greenbelts as Planning Tools
Greenbelts can be strengthened as a policy tool and used for strategic planning. Five Scottish cities show evidence of successes—and challenges— in the use of greenbelts.High-Density Public Spaces
As is evident in Hong Kong, the nature and design of public space are changing.Is Retail the Silver Lining?
Even in the face of climate change, ever-rising fuel prices, and a looming recession, there still is room for well-designed, single-tenanted retail to grow in compact, dense, healthy, urban U.S. markets.Len Forkas: A Risk Taker Driven to Succeed
Len Forkas is a risk taker who finds opportunity in adversity.Leveraging Infrastructure as Open Space
With proper planning and foresight, multiuse and open-space projects in the United States can become an integral part of infrastructure design and present opportunities to generate greater value.Louis Sullivan and the Birth of the Skyscraper
In Louis Sullivan’s hands, the skyscraper became an art form, transforming America’s urban skyline into an icon for the world.Market Forces Give Boost to Development near Transit in San Francisco
As the price of gasoline continues to soar, developers and city planners in the San Francisco Bay Area are finding new common ground in smart growth. The rising cost of driving to and from suburban homes is tipping the housing market to favor locations closer to the city.Mixing It Up
Successful mixed-use development can reduce transportation impacts on roadways, vehicle emissions, and energy use—provided the development scale, mix, and design are fashioned in a manner that satisfies travel needs internally and reduces off-site automobile travel.Parking Caches
Ten parking structures help redeem their building type’s bad reputation with inventive designs, sensitivity to context, humane interiors, and even green design.Parking Supply
While there is industry guidance in selecting design days and appropriate effective supply factors, there remains considerable controversy regarding the appropriate parking supply for many land uses.Place Making Around the World
Asking the right questions of a community will be one of the most difficult aspects of shifting to a place-making perspective in development projects around the world.Places of Purpose
Place making, the concept and process of how best to incorporate “humanity into space,” is growing not only in terms of its application, but as a broad international movement (page 58). The creation of vital public spaces with an understanding of emotions that visitors to these spaces might feel—such as the need to belong, stake a claim, and feel empowered—is being discussed and enacted in places from Canada to Paris, eastern Europe to Hong Kong.Process before Place Making
Creation of a mixture of uses in an integrated development often faces significant challenges.Public at Last
The Public, a controversial new art gallery and community facility conceived as a bold example of culture-led regeneration in West Bromwich, England, opened in July after several crises and a gestation period that lasted more than a decade. A design competition for the project was won by British architect Will Alsop in 1998, but he left the project in 2004 after his practice went into receivership. In early 2006, the not-for-profit organization leading the project, the Public Company, went bankrupt. Finally, a decade after the design competition, the building was completed at a cost of $108 million—$30 million over budget.Public/Private Partnerships Redevelop Town Centers
Town center redevelopment is born of the desire to restore the economic and social health of communities, and as such, directly addresses two key components of sustainability.Real-Time Construction of a Green Building in L.A.
A new reality show gives TV viewers a chance to watch and listen in on construction workers as they build a green condominium structure in downtown Los Angeles on the new National Geographic Channel series L.A. Hard Hats.St. Louis Expands Regional Network of Bike Trails and On-Street Lanes
With the cost of gasoline remaining near record highs, more than 150 miles (240 km) of recently completed trails and on-street bicycle lanes have given St. Louis, Missouri–area residents more economical transportation options for commuting, shopping, and relaxing.
Strategy Shifts Salvage Storied Skyscraper
Market changes inspire a developer to shift the development program and share parking to save San Francisco’s first skyscraper.Sustainable Sites in the Pacific Northwest
Although many residential developers include sustainable landscape features in their projects in order to achieve LEED certification, the benefits of green sites reach far beyond this objective.Ten Projects Win ULI’s 2008 Awards for Excellence: The Americas
Ten developments from North America have been selected as winners in the 2008 ULI Awards for Excellence: The Americas competition—part of the institute’s Awards for Excellence program recognizing the full development process of a project, not just its architecture or design. Criteria for the awards include leadership, contribution to the community, innovations, public/private partnership, environmental protection and enhancement, response to societal needs, and financial success.The American City 2050 Explored
ULI plans to explore what changes to expect in the city of 2050. This will be an ongoing program over several years. Discussions across the United States already have been held, and an inaugural exhibit will be presented in October at the ULI fall meeting in Miami that examines the basics of the trends and forces that will define the city of the future. Of the many issues that surround these discussions—sustainability, government structure, market forces, and others—the issue of changing demographics, increasing population, and resultant social equity questions will weigh upon the deliberations.The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable
It is not often that literature lamenting the pitfalls of the bell curve becomes a bestseller. Similarly, books covering topics such as statistics, mathematics, and, perhaps to a lesser degree, philosophy and economics do not regularly top must-read lists. But somehow, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, in The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable, manages to concoct a compelling book that, at once, covers all these topics, and does so in a sometimes humorous, sometimes derisive, and usually highly opinionated way.The Green Quotient: Q&A with Ron Sims
Since 1996, Ron Sims has served as county executive of King County, Washington, a jurisdiction with nearly 2 million people that includes Seattle, Bellevue, and Redmond. Under Sims’s leadership—and well ahead of other communities—King County has implemented major initiatives on sustainable development, mass transit, and climate change. He first raised the issue of climate change 20 years ago. Most King County cities are thriving, and the county’s bonds have earned the highest possible ratings from the three national credit rating agencies.The New Plug-In Infrastructure
General Motors’ recent announcement that it has joined with more than 30 utility companies across the United States to work on issues related to electric vehicles received a great deal of media play. But the coverage only scratched the surface regarding the complexity of bringing plug-in vehicles to market in large quantities.The University & Urban Revival: Out of the Ivory Tower and Into the Streets
For the first time, an authoritative account has been published for a general audience describing how a major urban university goes about the tough job of making badly deteriorated off-campus neighborhoods and commercial districts whole again. Author Judith Rodin could not be better informed: it was on her watch as president of the University of Pennsylvania from 1994 to 2004 that this extensive turnaround occurred.Urban Green Links
Urban linear parks are popular amenities that can enhance real estate values. Often, marginal properties—industrial buildings, old railroads, or waterfronts—are converted into recreational urban linear parks that can attract investors impressed with the volume of users.Urban Land Cover August 2008
Urban Land Table of Contents August 2008
Utah Real Estate Development Continues with Emphasis on Sustainability
Envisioned by urban planner Peter Calthorpe as an evolving organism with room to grow and change, the 4,200-acre (1,700-ha) master-planned community Daybreak is proof that the Utah real estate industry is alive and well.Victoria’s Dockside Green Earns Highest LEED Environmental Sustainability Rating for New Construction
The first phase of Dockside Green, a mixed-use residential and commercial real estate development in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, has received from the Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) the world’s highest rating for environmental sustainability for a new construction project. The project’s first phase, which includes 95 residences in two condominium buildings and townhouses, plus commercial space, achieved 63 of a possible 70 points in achieving a Platinum rating under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program. The project is also the first master-planned development to target Platinum certification under the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) LEED for Neighborhood Development pilot program.Watershed Events
While current fiscal imbalances present significant risk with regard to the U.S. dollar, future trade, and the world economy, the world is witnessing a massive wealth transfer from the West to Asia and the energy-producing countries.Winners Named in the 2008 ULI Awards for Excellence: Europe Competition
Five developments have been selected as winners of the 2008 ULI Awards for Excellence: Europe competition. The winners, chosen from among 24 entries from 11 countries, were announced at the ULI Europe Trends Conference in Stockholm, Sweden.World Heritage Sites—and Development
Can the world’s finest historic urban environments coexist with contemporary architecture and modern developments? The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and its World Heritage Committee are pondering that question as they report serious concerns about intrusion of the modern into historic areas in several European cities. Though no urban site has yet been removed from the World Heritage list, next year Dresden, Germany, is likely to become the first to meet that unhappy fate.