Last year a handful of urban projects were started for this site, but never quite completed. Included are summaries of a few of these projects, with an open invitation to anyone that might be interested in picking up on any of the themes...

[click here to finish reading this post] ]]> The New Year provides an excellent opportunity to reflect on previous accomplishments, set goals for the next year, and close out unfinished business.

Last year a handful of urban projects were started for this site, but never quite completed. Below are summaries of a few of these projects, with an open invitation to anyone that might be interested in picking up on any of the themes:

The Minneapolis Parking project and the Ivy Tower and Residences Construction Project (posts are here, here, here, here and here):

Ongoing photo projects intended to exhibit urban growth and development in the downtown Minneapolis area.

Photographers wanted: Updates and additions to these projects are certainly welcome and encouraged.

Minneapolis Skyways:

I began to piece together observations about the "culture" of downtown Minneapolis and its skyway system (for some background on the Minneapolis, I might suggest about.com, Wikipedia, the report "Evolution of the Second City", and the Rake Magazine).

The skyway system is interesting for several reasons, such as: the employment of architecture to specifically adapt to - and generally insulate ourselves from - weather and climate, the relationship between public and privatized "public-like" spaces, the skyways' similarities with shopping centers, and their impact on street-level activity in the downtown area.

I was also interested in trying to create a "best of" and "worst of" places in the skyway system.

Click here for more skyway photos, including the public flickr group page on skybridges and skyways.

New Construction Projects Located in Shopping Center Parking Lots:

When we left Minneapolis the city was experiencing an interesting spurt of activity in which a handful of multifamily projects (apartment buildings) were being constructed in shopping center/mall parking lots. The buildings were constructed in excess parking lot space and became additions to the shopping centers (apartment buildings dropped into the parking lots, rather than fully replacing the shopping center/parking).

I thought this was really interesting - how the new apartment buildings were both maximizing the use of space in the over-sized parking lots while also connecting residents with shopping/employment opportunities.

The Corridor Flats and Hiawatha Commons were two projects under construction last year on shopping center parking lots (within 1/2 mile of each on opposite sides of Hiawatha Avenue on Lake Street) nearby the Lake Street light rail stop (excellent examples of transit-oriented growth).
(Corridor Flat, left; Hiawatha Commons, right)

And with that, onto 2008…

[click here for a preview of this phototour]]]> I spent this past Saturday afternoon in the northern section of Sunset Park, Brooklyn. I have always enjoyed exploring Sunset Park - particularly the more industrial portions of the neighborhood near the Gowanus expressway and waterfront.

Included in this post are 20 photographs from my walk. Be sure to click click here for more photographs in Sunset Park including all photos tagged with "Sunset Park" and "Brooklyn" on Flickr.

The improvements look significant - primarily with regard to the interior accommodations/experience and the markedly improved transportation linkages at this single point. The question is how can Milwaukee best integrate the station, and its passengers, with the city's surrounding areas... [click here to read the full post] Image courtesy of Compujeramey]]> Earlier this week the former Amtrak Station in Milwaukee was officially opened, after renovation, as the Milwaukee Intermodal Station.

The $16M project has renewed the station's interior/exterior spaces, added restaurant/office space, and combined Amtrak rail and several inter/intra-city bus lines (Milwaukee County Transit System, Greyhound, Lamers, Indian Trails, and Wisconsin Coach Lines… but not the Badger Bus) at the station.

This site posted a photo tour of the old Amtrak train station last year (before renovation) and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has noted a marked improvement over the previous facility (the article title gives much away: "From the Bones of a Mid-Century Dud, a Gleaming Gem Arises"). Local TV station TMJ4's video report shows footage of the station's interior and Flickr user Computjeramey has uploaded a set of construction/finished photos.

Image courtesy of Compujeramey

The improvements look significant - primarily with regard to the interior accommodations/experience and the markedly improved transportation linkages at this single point (between rail/bus service).

Amtrak provides regular service between Milwaukee, Mitchell Airport, and Chicago's Union Station - previously most bus service (particularly from trips originating outside of Milwaukee) would drop passengers off several blocks away from Milwaukee's train station - requiring another trip (cab, bus, walking) to make the Amtrak connections. The intermodal station should make this experience vastly more convenient (and each of the service types more competitive with driving).

The exterior seems to be regular for contemporary projects (large glass windows); I had a certain affinity for the older design's arched exterior.

I've always been struck by the location of the Milwaukee Train Station, and its relation to the rest of the city. I can imagine a time in which the station served as a connection between several neighborhoods (located adjacent/between the Downtown, Historic Third Ward, Industrial Valley area, and Marquette University area) was a vibrant connection between these two neighborhoods.

I've always loved the downtown train station - the type of place that drops you off right in the middle of all the action. Unfortunately, the Milwaukee station never entirely felt like a downtown station to me because it is cutoff from its older connections by multiple highway/interstate connections (including the Marquette Interchange). I guess it's not on the wrong side of the tracks, it's just on the wrong side of the roadways that line the downtown area. Therefore I was pleased to see that taxi queuing area was included with the renovation, which will hopefully create easier connections to the downtown area.

Apparently around 500,000 passengers currently use the Milwaukee station - a number to likely increase with the new bus service. The question is how can Milwaukee best integrate the station, and its passengers, with the city's surrounding areas (downtown, lakefront, etc.)?

According to a recent study by the Center for an Urban Future a number of New York City neighborhoods (e.g. Jackson Heights, Flushing, Washington Heights, Richmond Hill, Brighton Beach, Midwood, and Astoria) with strong ethnic/immigrant retail districts are increasingly attracting outside, and even suburban, shoppers to the City. [Read the full post here]]]>

We've noticed an interesting ecology to weekend shopping in our new neighborhood - Jackson Heights (info: about.com, nymag, wikipedia, neighborhood blog).

We are fortunate to have many excellent food options nearby - including two grocery stores, several restaurants, and related supply / spice stores. However, we also enjoy patronizing some grocery stores in other neighborhoods that stock items less easily obtained in out neighborhood. And in kind, when return we see other families filling their cars up with goods purchased in Jackson Heights.

It all results in a fascinating sort of dance each weekend where half the cars (intended to unload goods purchased elsewhere) jockey for the parking spots being vacated by families filling their cars up purchased from local stores. And in both instances I would suggest the actual use of a car suggests buyers are coming from (and going to) places outside the immediate vicinity (there is not really much of an incentive to drive to the local grocery store in most New York City neighborhoods because delivery is often free and parking is difficult).

According the City of New York's website, Jackson Heights is, "one of New York's most flavorful, colorful and diverse neighborhoods-a true global village where hundreds of languages are spoken and where elegantly-dressed Indian women wearing saris walk side by side with Koreans, Colombians and Argentines."

In practical terms, Jackson Heights is a residential neighborhood with extremely busy/intense commercial districts (running along several main corridors) that feature a clusters of "ethic" establishments (running the range of products, from food, clothing, supply stores, communications, etc.).

What we thought we were seeing - the migration of shoppers flocking to Jackson Heights each weekend from outside areas to shop at many of the specialty stores - seems to be confirmed by a recent study from the Center for an Urban Future and written up about on the NY Times City Room page.

Namely, not only is Jackson Heights (and a number of other of New York City neighborhoods with strong ethnic/immigrant retail districts, such as Flushing, Washington Heights, Richmond Hill, Brighton Beach, Midwood, and Astoria) increasingly attracting outside visitors - they are even attracting suburban shoppers to come into the City.

• Article: Are Ethnic Shopping Strips Luring Suburban Customers? (NY Times City Room)
• Report: Recapturing Suburban Shoppers (Center for an Urban Future)

These types of retail districts offer excellent opportunities for neighborhood-based commerce, increased spending/wealth, and local employment opportunities. In some cases the success has been almost too great - taxing the local resources, infrastructure, and in some cases, resident patience.

For instance, our neighborhood is entirely built up and there is nowhere to put the cars, people, and shops. The sidewalks can be highly congested and noisy and I really feel empathetic for folks that have to carry their groceries for several blocks (perhaps the local businesses have not setup their own "deliver to car" services?) On the other hand, it's the cars, people, noise, shops, and activity that instill the neighborhood with its splendid energy and vigor.

The Center for an Urban Future study raises the issue of how local government can help support and balance the commerce and resources of these types of "ethnic retail strips" so they remain appealing to outside shoppers. It's an excellent question to ponder. What role should a local government/city play to support these types of places.

The study suggests including improving the accessibility of public transit to these types of neighborhoods (e.g. not only reinforcing existing mass transit but also adding new routes that directly connect suburbs with neighborhoods — sort of the Jetblue or Southwest model of moving people to destinations) and parking resources (perhaps by purchasing land to create municipal parking spaces). As traffic congestion increases/parking availability decreases, local neighborhoods start to look less and less appealing as places to travel to.

I would go a step further and challenge cities to reconsider their zoning of these types of places. While one might be encouraged to downzone these districts (reduce the intensity of the area), I might suggest upzoning (allowing even greater densities) to support even further clustering of businesses. The congestion of people and cars indicates a good thing (that the area is appealing) that should be managed - not discouraged.

The article ends by recommending better coordination of marketing efforts, including the direct marketing of ethnic neighborhoods as destinations themselves, and notes that, "with additional promotion, these business districts could bring in many more shoppers from throughout the area who are looking for products they can’t find at Whole Foods or Wal-Mart and a shopping experience that simply isn’t available today on the Upper West Side or in Scarsdale." Well said…

Any other ideas on how to best support these types of commercial districts?

The Kick map reminds me of many other subway maps (such as the London, Washington DC, Montreal, and 1972 NYC Subway maps) which simplify the train's voyage through the city with bold, colorful pathways that focus on stations rather than how the train relates to the city's actual form. The maps make for excellent design and use, but... [click here to read the full post...]]]> This week's issue of Time Out New York features several articles that provide strategies to navigate New York City. One of the articles describes an alternate map of the New York subway system - the Kick Map.

• A Subway Map of the Future? (TONY)

New York's subway network is extensive, which makes it a challenge to represent on a single map. Most lines were developed independent of an overall plan by separate public and private interests (as opposed to implementing a single regional transit plan) with most major routes served by multiple trains (primarily for matched express and local service, in which some express services alternate direction or drop off depending on the time of the day) that do not always "fit" as well with other lines as we all may like.

Overall, it's sort of a patched together system… a darn good system, but not always intuitive.

The Kick Map adds some interesting elements to mapping the NYC subway network. The designer of the Kick Map claims it "celebrates the city" by showing multiple lines on routes (rather than identifying a single path for multiple lines), better representing the city's topography (i.e. better neighborhood definition), improves the transfer/connection information between lines, and it simplifies station information.

Click here for a discussion that weighs the relative merits and shortfalls of the official MTA and Kick Map.

I cannot recall ever being truly dissatisfied with the official MTA subway map. In fact, I really sort of enjoy reading the MTA map - it contains an incredible amount of information that challenges the reader to "figure it out". You can glance at the MTA map, but it offers the opportunity for reading and study. There is a simplicity of the single-line depiction of routes but complexity within the text that resembles the actual experience of riding the trains. And I find the map still yields new transit information that surprises me.

That being said, I want to be cautious not to simply embrace the familiar. I enjoy the stronger neighborhood definition of the Kick Map but get lost in the actual train data (the multiple lines on a single route). The Kick map reminds me of several other subway maps (such as the London, Washington DC, Montreal, Boston, and 1972 NYC Subway maps) which simplify the train's voyage through the city through bold, colorful pathways that focus on stations rather than how the train relates to the city's actual form. These types of maps make for excellent design, but may neglect a purpose I employ maps for - to better navigate, understand and depict the actual environment.

Map courtesy of nycsubway.org

These types of "simple maps" provide strong information for getting from point A to B on the train but lose much of some functionality in terms of actual city navigation. The distances between stations often look standardized, which may, at times be misleading and inaccurate (e.g. I remember walking the far distance between Mont Royal and Frontenac stations in Montreal even though they look relatively close on the Metro map). I think the MTA map does a better job of providing data which allows one to estimate the distances between stations, and their relation to other mapped features.

I guess the "best" subway map depends on what you are using it for. If you're using the map to get from one station to another (like any normal person typically does) the "simple map" is exactly what you need. However, is the "simple map" an accurate representation of the environment, and if not, is that a problem?

Another post for another time - pros and cons of the MTA subway map.

For those that might balk at the costs of owning a Sky Garage... the Park-A-Matic. [click here to watch the video] Link via Schadenfreudian Therapy]]>

For those that might balk at the costs of owning a Sky Garage… the Park-A-Matic.

Link via Schadenfreudian Therapy