Pope Pius X once said that the true friends of the people are neither the revolutionaries nor the innovators, but the traditionalists. This quotation sprang to mind the other day when I saw a little video on urbanism produced by Alain de Botton. In it, de Botton explores six principles for making a good, beautiful city. As usual, he is a bastion of sensibility, pointing out that we may not say that beauty is objective but few people vacation in Frankfurt or Birmingham. We instinctively are drawn to and swept up in certain "beautiful" cities that exemplify the points de Botton brings up.
The video, posted on ArchDaily - a prominent online architecture outlet - aroused a bit of criticism from the commentariat, who alleged that de Botton has nothing new to say. I would agree. De Botton is not advocating some sort of novel urban theory - the 20th Century is littered with failed urban utopias. Instead, he is pointing out that the successful characteristics of Paris or Barcelona can and should be exported and even demanded by the population. We know we like these places so why do we let those in power say that all is subjective and any development is inherently as beneficial as any other development? The world is becoming rapidly more urban, the question is whether we will demand the tried-and-true planning methods that have sustained and delighted humanity for thousands of years or else be seduced by the dollar and all of the revolutionaries and innovators it motivates.
Showing posts with label New Urbanism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Urbanism. Show all posts
Thursday, March 5, 2015
Monday, October 10, 2011
Thoughts on ArtPrize, Three Years On
All that said, however, ArtPrize has its detractors. Many claim that because of its democratic voting process and open-to-all mentality, good art is not necessarily rewarded. There was considerable outcry from the so-called art snobs when the top ten were announced this year. They were, in my opinion, not the best entries. Others claim that ArtPrize is nothing but a huge publicity stunt for Grand Rapids.
However, my opinion is that the democratization of art is a good thing - especially in our current economic times when the arts are the first to see the axe in federal, state and local budgets. Since ArtPrize is essentially free for artists (aside from material costs), there is no downside to creating good art, even if it does not win in the end. Even if a certain piece of art is only seen by a fraction of the ArtPrize crowds, it can still have an impact on a viewer's thinking. I have had this experience many times.
Of course, it's the large, showy, cool pieces of art in prime locations that will always win the competition. I hate to burst that bubble for all of you, but simple math seems to support me here. If you have a good location, you increase views of your art, leading to an increase in votes for your art. Perhaps this where a possible improvement can come in - having venues be more discerning in what pieces of art they allow to be displayed on their premises.
In any event, the competition was never meant to be an end-all decision on the merits of any particular art - Rick DeVos said as much when he ignited the competition three years ago. It's purpose was to create a huge public forum for discussing art. In that respect, any ArtPrize event will be a success. It has generated a huge public response every year from a variety of media outlets, and, given the ever-changing nature of art, this will likely continue.
Yet another lens through which to view ArtPrize is its effect on Grand Rapids' image as a city. Young people are attracted to cities with vibrant urban life. In order to stop the Michigan brain drain, cities like Grand Rapids need to get serious about their urban strategies. Young people, having by and large lived most of their lives in soulless suburbs, want someplace to live that has vibrance and excitement. Now, of course, economic development of a city cannot happen overnight, and cannot happen simply on the back of a two-week event each year. However, events like ArtPrize can get people interested in downtown. People have to love a place before they will want to change it for the better. ArtPrize is a way to help people fall in love with all that Grand Rapids has to offer.
Monday, January 3, 2011
A Stab at SketchUp New Urbanism
Hello Readers, and a Happy New Year to all! I have taken a much-needed break recently to spend some quality time with family and friends and to enjoy the spirit of the holiday season. Blogging, and texting, facebooking and tweeting, to a point, were put on the back-burner. Which brings me to a new year for the blog. About a year and a half ago, when one of my friends suggested I start blogging, I scoffed and avoided the idea. Now, to date I have posted 177 times on this site, and very much enjoy doing it. Blogging provides me with another means of creativity, and a measure of intellectual discipline, and I hope the things I share spark some sort of interest in you as well.
That being said, I thought for the first post of the new year I'd switch gears a little bit, having been swamped in December with liturgical and Catholic topics a-plenty in the Advent and Christmas seasons. For January, I thought I'd try to keep the religious topics at bay for a bit, and let my two or three "big topics" ferment in the old brain for a little while longer. My focus, then, will be on design, with special emphasis on urban design and architecture in general.
My first little new year's venture into this, my future field, occurred just last week. An artistic explosion (art attack, if you will) gripped me, and in a fury of creativity, I produced a little scheme for a suburban node in an older Grand Rapids neighborhood in the New Urbanist mode.
New Urbanism is something that many of my readers are probably unfamiliar with, so I shall explain a bit. The basic philosophy of New Urbanism is the same as that of Old Urbanism, i.e. how cities grew before the over-active and consumerism-dominated twentieth century. The major premise of New Urbanism is that the way to have healthy and better-functioning cities is to facilitate personal contact and a sense of community fostered by walkable streets, a decreased dependence on all things automobile, and human-scaled developments. This is how cities developed for all but sixty years of human history, but those sixty years wreaked havoc on urban centers and ballooned development into unsustainable suburbia.
New Urbanism seeks to rekindle the 'sense of place' that is brought about by a city in which people feel comfortable, and thus a connection to. The ways that this sense of place is achieved are many, but there are a few focuses such as mixed-use buildings, human-scaled streets, and connectivity that are commonalities among most New Urban developments. My little schema is an attempt to bring some of these good qualities of a healthy neighborhood into a small corner (literally) of Grand Rapids.
The site is at the corner of Garfield and Dayton streets in the Lower West Side. Garfield runs north-south and is one block east of John Ball Park, a green asset to the community. Dayton runs east-west between the park and the rest of the neighborhood. Sacred Heart of Jesus Church fronts Garfield, and a parking lot is across Garfield from the Church. The neighborhood is mostly lower middle class, and was once populated by Polish immigrants (who built the church). Nowadays, it is still not a rich place. Businesses in the area are pretty few, mostly confined to Fulton Street (a main Grand Rapids arterial road) a few blocks to the north. The neighborhood, in short, has no sense of place and is in no way distinguished from any other neighborhood in the Lower West Side.
I am not trying to present a case that this scheme is at all economically possible, but I do suggest that it would improve the character and sense of community in the neighborhood. The rough layout is of five multistory units arranged along the north side of Dayton street, across from the church parking lot. They range from two to four stories, with the shorter unit being on the end of the development that ends further along Dayton street, so as to meet the scale of the surrounding two-story houses. The corner of Dayton and Garfield is occupied by a three-story unit with its entrance on the corner, so that Garfield street is not neglected attention.
Uses are split vertically, with business uses designated for the street level and living areas above. The second unit in from Garfield street is a four-story townhouse that I designed selfishly as a residence for myself. Each unit fronts the sidewalk and street directly, without the interference of parking lots that separate the passer-by from the business. Additionally, the sidewalk space provides space for outdoor seating. Service entries are on Watson street (i.e. 'the back').
The style of each of the units is based on a Grand Rapids historic precedent. The use of local, traditional styles help reinforce the sense of belonging in the neighborhood, so that the development does not seem like a foreign object inserted into the site, but as something that is supposed to be there.
Mixed-use and the re-marriage of living and working is a sustainable alternative to living in the suburbs and commuting via a smog-emitting two-ton hunk of steel. For instance: I could live in the townhouse, work next door in a firm, grab coffee on the way to work at the corner shop, walk to the park on my lunch break, and grab a few groceries from the market next door on my way home. Sundays I could walk across the street for mass, and bike downtown in the afternoon. All of this without using an ounce of gasoline.
That being said, I thought for the first post of the new year I'd switch gears a little bit, having been swamped in December with liturgical and Catholic topics a-plenty in the Advent and Christmas seasons. For January, I thought I'd try to keep the religious topics at bay for a bit, and let my two or three "big topics" ferment in the old brain for a little while longer. My focus, then, will be on design, with special emphasis on urban design and architecture in general.
My first little new year's venture into this, my future field, occurred just last week. An artistic explosion (art attack, if you will) gripped me, and in a fury of creativity, I produced a little scheme for a suburban node in an older Grand Rapids neighborhood in the New Urbanist mode.
New Urbanism is something that many of my readers are probably unfamiliar with, so I shall explain a bit. The basic philosophy of New Urbanism is the same as that of Old Urbanism, i.e. how cities grew before the over-active and consumerism-dominated twentieth century. The major premise of New Urbanism is that the way to have healthy and better-functioning cities is to facilitate personal contact and a sense of community fostered by walkable streets, a decreased dependence on all things automobile, and human-scaled developments. This is how cities developed for all but sixty years of human history, but those sixty years wreaked havoc on urban centers and ballooned development into unsustainable suburbia.
New Urbanism seeks to rekindle the 'sense of place' that is brought about by a city in which people feel comfortable, and thus a connection to. The ways that this sense of place is achieved are many, but there are a few focuses such as mixed-use buildings, human-scaled streets, and connectivity that are commonalities among most New Urban developments. My little schema is an attempt to bring some of these good qualities of a healthy neighborhood into a small corner (literally) of Grand Rapids.
The site is at the corner of Garfield and Dayton streets in the Lower West Side. Garfield runs north-south and is one block east of John Ball Park, a green asset to the community. Dayton runs east-west between the park and the rest of the neighborhood. Sacred Heart of Jesus Church fronts Garfield, and a parking lot is across Garfield from the Church. The neighborhood is mostly lower middle class, and was once populated by Polish immigrants (who built the church). Nowadays, it is still not a rich place. Businesses in the area are pretty few, mostly confined to Fulton Street (a main Grand Rapids arterial road) a few blocks to the north. The neighborhood, in short, has no sense of place and is in no way distinguished from any other neighborhood in the Lower West Side.
I am not trying to present a case that this scheme is at all economically possible, but I do suggest that it would improve the character and sense of community in the neighborhood. The rough layout is of five multistory units arranged along the north side of Dayton street, across from the church parking lot. They range from two to four stories, with the shorter unit being on the end of the development that ends further along Dayton street, so as to meet the scale of the surrounding two-story houses. The corner of Dayton and Garfield is occupied by a three-story unit with its entrance on the corner, so that Garfield street is not neglected attention.
Uses are split vertically, with business uses designated for the street level and living areas above. The second unit in from Garfield street is a four-story townhouse that I designed selfishly as a residence for myself. Each unit fronts the sidewalk and street directly, without the interference of parking lots that separate the passer-by from the business. Additionally, the sidewalk space provides space for outdoor seating. Service entries are on Watson street (i.e. 'the back').
The style of each of the units is based on a Grand Rapids historic precedent. The use of local, traditional styles help reinforce the sense of belonging in the neighborhood, so that the development does not seem like a foreign object inserted into the site, but as something that is supposed to be there.
Mixed-use and the re-marriage of living and working is a sustainable alternative to living in the suburbs and commuting via a smog-emitting two-ton hunk of steel. For instance: I could live in the townhouse, work next door in a firm, grab coffee on the way to work at the corner shop, walk to the park on my lunch break, and grab a few groceries from the market next door on my way home. Sundays I could walk across the street for mass, and bike downtown in the afternoon. All of this without using an ounce of gasoline.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)