Topics+of+Interest

= Dubai’s urban planning “shoddy” =

Posted on [|January 19, 2010] by [|JJ]     “Dubai just opened the ultimate trophy building — the world’s tallest skyscraper, which soars a neck-craning 2,717 feet into the air — but just try getting there from the airport.  Your polite, epaulette-wearing cabdriver screeches down a 12-lane highway and — with the tower in plain sight — he goes miles past it, leading you to wonder whether he’s lost his way or is ripping you off. Only when he finally reaches an interchange and then doubles back to the tower do you realize what’s going on: Dubai wins no medals for urban planning.”

The Chicago Tribune’s Blair Kamin hits the nail on the head again with insights on city planning in Dubai, taking examples such as the famous palm-shaped island that branches out from the mainland to prove his point. From the air, the islands are pure spectacle; once on the ground, “the fronds are packed with high-priced villas while the stemlike road leading to them is lined with monolithic rows of hulking apartment buildings (left). These look as though they were designed by architectural refugees from East Germany who added a few Islamic touches.”

And while urbanity is sorely lacking as Kamin scours the city, he is quick to dish out some alternative viewpoints however, praising the efforts of Dubai’s Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s willingness to invest in public transportation infrastructure that in some ways shines the light on the future for the rest of the desert city.

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=Plan of the Month December 2010: Low-carbon urban design for China =

China’s urban population is projected to grow by 300 million in the next 15 years. The form of this urban growth will shape much of the country’s environmental demands and impacts. Transportation now represents 60 percent of the country’s petroleum consumption, and is a fast-growing sector. As the country’s urban patterns reinforce auto use through more freeways, large arterials, and superblocks, walking, biking, and transit are declining. The China Sustainable Energy Program and The Energy Foundation have taken notice of this ominous trend and enlisted the California-based firm Calthorpe Associates to create a set of urban design standards that would produce low-carbon communities.

**A new challenge for China** China's urban growth will shape much of the country’s environmental demands and impacts. Transportation is a fast-growing sector. Auto use has increased sixfold since 1986 in Beijing while bike use has been cut almost in half — from nearly 60 percent of all trips to just 30 percent in 2005. The congestion, air quality, and greenhouse gas impacts of such a shift are huge. In addition, injuries to drivers, pedestrians, and bikers are on the rise. Studies in Jinan show that there is a fivefold increase in household vehicle miles traveled (VMT) when a mixed-use street grid neighborhood is compared to a newer single-use superblock configuration.

The new urban design standards for low-carbon communities reinforce transit, walking, and biking without compromising auto flow. Superblocks are replaced with human-scale city grids that disperse traffic as they create comfortable and safe pedestrian crossings. Bikeways are protected and clearly segregated from traffic. Transit stations are reinforced with mixed uses and density. And the street is designed as much for the pedestrian’s convenience and safety as for auto capacity. The synthesis of these “Principles for Low Carbon Communities” results in more livable environments that demand less energy, produce fewer greenhouse gases, and cause less harm.

The design principles outlined in the plan are as follows: 1) Provide walkable streets and human scale blocks to enhance pedestrian flow 2) Configure buildings and uses to support pedestrian safety and convenience 3) Create bike friendly networks to reduce auto dependence 4) Create transit-oriented streets and neighborhoods to enhance ridership 5) Create mixed-use blocks, neighborhoods and districts to increase local destinations 6) Integrate open space and public services at walkable distances 7) Create energy efficient buildings and community systems to reduce carbon emissions

**Low-carbon design principles in action** In conjunction with this project, Calthorpe Associates also produced a low-carbon plan for Chenggong, a new town in the Kunming Region. The plan demonstrates how the design standards can be applied to new development in China. The new town will be developed as a complementary economic center to Downtown Kunming and incorporates the proposed Yunnan University, which will serve as a major new center for education, research and related fields, establishing Chenggong as a knowledge base for the entire region.

The site for Chenggong New Town is strategically prime for development, enjoying good access, scenic surroundings, and favorable weather. There are several cultural sites of local and regional importance, along with Dianchi Lake and Longtan Shan, major natural landmarks. Dounan Flower Market in north Chenggong is Asia’s largest flower market. In the near future, the new town will become a major employment hub for the region, with large-scale development of jobs in the Services and Logistics sectors. Yunnan University will establish Chenggong as a knowledge base for the entire region.

A robust transit network consisting of BRT (bus rapid transit) and an underground Metro will help integrate the planned new town with existing and planned areas. An indicator of the future importance of Chenggong New Town is the planned High Speed Rail Hub at Kunyu Rail Station, that will have three high-speed rail lines and an estimated 200,000 passengers using the station each day. There are also indicators to suggest that Chenggong New Town will be the future administrative center for the greater Kunming region.

The new town will have a mix of Urban, Town, and Village Centers that will vary in density and the proportion of residential, commercial and other uses. The nature of a center will be largely determined by its location and ease of access, both by car and by transit. The centers will help to establish an order of higher and lower density areas within the new town. Typically, the centers will have a higher proportion of jobs with surrounding lower-density areas having a more residential character. Distributing key civic and other public functions among the centers will add further to their importance and help in establishing unique identities. Mixing residential and commercial uses within each center ensures that these areas are active both during the day and most of the night, and thus safer than monofunctional zones.

To recreate the intimate scale of streets and spaces found in traditional cities such as Kunming, the superblock has been deconstructed into smaller blocks with a finer grid of narrower streets. As discussed in the Design Principles chapter as well as the Circulation Analysis chapter, the alternate ‘grid’ system proposed (opposed to the standard superblock system) provides tangible benefits for the pedestrian, and improves efficiency for both transit systems and the private automobile.

**Facts** • Chenggong New Town Planning Area is 160 square kilometers. • Distance from Downtown Kunming is 15 kilometers (20 minutes) • 8 Sub-Districts (7 Development Zones and a Lakeside Wetland Zone) • Planned Population for Chenggong New Town is 1,500,000. • Nearby towns include Xinjie (10 kilometers), Jiulong (18 kilometers), Kunyang (21 kilometers) • Yunnan University in the heart of Chenggong New Town will be a major center for learning with a student population of 150,000.



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=Passion for community related to economic growth =

A three-year Gallup study of 26 US cities found that peoples’ love and passion for their community may be a leading indicator for local economic growth. Surprisingly, social offerings, openness, and beauty are far more important than peoples’ perceptions of the economy, jobs, or basic services in creating a lasting emotional bond between people and their community, according to the $2.4 million Soul of the Community study, commissioned by the Knight Foundation.

The 26 cities in the survey with the highest levels of resident love and passion for their community, or "community attachment," also had the highest rates of GDP growth over time. The cities were defined by their metropolitan statistical area and were chosen because they are home to Knight-family-owned newspapers.

“This study is important because its findings about emotional attachment to place point to a new perspective that we encourage leaders to consider; it is especially valuable as we aim to strengthen our communities during this tough economic time,” said Paula Ellis, Knight Foundation’s vice president for strategic initiatives.

Three community qualities – social offerings, openness, and beauty – have consistently emerged as the leading drivers for community attachment over the study’s three years of research. They beat out other possible drivers such as perceptions of local economy, leadership, and safety across all of the 26 cities included in the survey.

"Social offerings," including a vibrant night life and a sense that the community is a good place to meet other people, emerged as far more important than "social capital" in determining community attachment, the study found. Social capital includes the number of close friends and family members that live in a community, and the local organizations that someone belongs to. In other words, community attachment does not spring from the number of friends that you have, but rather the opportunities for making connections, Katherine Loflin, lead consultant for the project told //New Urban News.// "A place can provide the social infrastructure under which those connections can grow and multiply," she said.

Beauty includes both the natural and the man-made environment — such as parks, playgrounds, and trails. Although the survey didn't specifically ask about architecture, research has shown that asking about parks and playgrounds is a good proxy for the entire built environment, says Loftin. The quality of "openness" means the degree to which the community is welcoming to diverse ages, races, ethnicities, cultural groups, and family types.

“Our theory is that when a community’s residents are highly attached, they will spend more time there, spend more money, they’re more productive and tend to be more entrepreneurial,” said Jon Clifton, deputy directory of the Gallup World Poll. “The study bears out that theory and now provides all community leaders the knowledge they need to make a sustainable impact on their community.”

The study found a clear correlation between community attachment and economic growth, and the researchers hypothesize that the relationship is causal, Loftin says. One reason is that this research amplifies the findings of prior longitudinal studies that Gallup has conducted in businesses. When employees are more attached to their jobs, they are more productive and businesses are more profitable, Loftin says. The Soul of the Community study is similar but on a larger scale, she notes. The findings make sense, Loftin adds, because when residents are more attached to their community, they are more likely to make long-term investments, spend more time in the community, and buy a house.



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