Transforming cities into places for people

Here are some notes from this Melbourne Conversation with Jan Gehl (2 May 2011)

In response to a question about Melbournians dread of density, Jan Gehl said that we need 'sensitive and sensible' rather than 'insensitive' approaches to density - always having an eye on the detail of the human scale and what the eye can see.

High buildings should be located and planned with the greatest care and regard for the impact on the street experience. He was critical of architects, landscape architects, traffic planners and planners who have failed - in the main - to create places for people. Instead, these professionals have got the scale all wrong and lost the sensitivity to the street level.

He sees providing for walking and cycling as a critical step in bringing life and vigour back to streets - 'be sweet to cycling, be sweet to walking'. Dividing multi lane streets into space for trees, bike lanes, medians transforms streets from primarily about transportation to places for people.

He sees excellent public spaces as essential for democracy for people to come face to face with the range of people who make up our society. This takes the fear out of people's interaction. A frequently used word throughout his talk was 'care' - 'care' for the public realm, 'care' for the small things. A good public realm and a good public transportation system are 'like brother and sister'. He exuded confidence that cities can and have been transformed by adopting the approaches he suggests. 

Perhaps my favourite words from the talk were 'exuberance through the bicycle'.

Innovating the Cities: Design, Planning and Architectural Solutions in the Urban Environment

David Owen: Greening the Metropolis

Owen's central proposition is that densifying the city is the most effective intervention in reducing environmental impact and carbon footprint.

There was no argument about this proposition from the Panel, rather the discussion centred on solutions and obstacles to achieving it.

Tim Flannery, curator of the Deakin lectures, appeared least persuaded about the arguments, speaking almost in parables. He reminded us of the acute vulnerability of cities from any threat to water or food supply. He concluded that 'the interest of the individual has to be confluent with the interest of the city/civilization.'


Here are some quotes I liked or key points I wanted to remember:

David Owen:

'when you move to the country, you move into your car'

'move people and their daily destinations closer together'

'density is the main tool to reduce environmental impact and carbon footprint'

'the car dragged a whole infrastructure behind it'

'there is no such thing as a sustainable house, a sustainable building or a sustainable car. Sustainability is the context, the relationship between things: it is not a gadget or a technology.'

'its not about signing up to solutions that you can buy'

Panel

'our houses are oversized and underoccupied' [Melinda Dodson]

'smaller houses, closer together and drive less' [Melinda Dodson]

'How to get people to want to live differently' [Sue Holliday]

density is easier when there is 'a high quality public realm that people feel comfortable in' [Rob Adams]

'enough not more' [Rob Adams]

Bruce Taper:

'Greenhouse gas emissions reduction has to be the most basic kpi of all metropolitan strategies'

we've got to do 'simple things agressively'

'we've got to put some hope into it.'

5 stars is 'a loose and sloppy metric'

we've got to examine 'the lives we really live rather than how we imagine we live' in answer to a question along the lines of 'where will the children play in the denser city' [David Owen]

Shipping container put to smart use

Stoneleigh winery's stylish bar within a shipping container outside City Square.

What does VAMPIRE mean?

Jago Dodson used the VAMPIRE* and VIPER maps to show household vulnerability to mortgage stress and peak oil.

His presentations demonstrated vulnerability at the urban fringes of most Australian cities with a conjunction of mortgage stress, high proportion of household budget on transportation costs, absence of public transport, multiple car ownership of large, fuel inefficient cars.

Shocking the suburbs: oil vulnerability in Australian cities Dodson, J and Sipe, N
griffith.edu.au/centre/urp

Ventura California has much to teach about retrofitting residential neighbourhoods

take away thoughts
Rick Cole spoke about the work Ventura City Council continues to do in retro fitting existing residential neighbourhoods using form based code which guides how buildings behave in the public realm. Form based code is based on timeless principles derived from cities over time.
Ventura's city planning is about 'how we will grow, not will we grow' This approach has come to be known as smart growth and follows the imperatives of infill first! and balanced transportation

They keep on 'reclaiming the awfulness'. People in those neighbourhoods like them and see no reason to change. He showed, with a series of slides, the same streetscape over an 80 year period and how it had evolved. Much had changed. Most obvious was the increasing presence of the motor car in these neighbourhoods. As he said, cars are not parked in garages any more - they are full of the stuff we buy at Walmart. The change led him to ask: 'what is the American dream?'. It is not static and will continue to evolve.
He is passionate for mixed use, rather than zoning which separates functions. He wants to talk about planning in language that people can understand, rather than the arcane and impenetrable language of planning.

On the subject of engagement and creating the vision for Ventura, he has found that people prefer relatively brief processes that have a beginning, a middle and an end. He encouraged speaking to regular people, rather than stakeholder groups with entrenched interests where you the best you are likely to achieve is a 'bastardised compromise.' Stakeholders have 'a dog in the fight'. 'In a driving rainstorm in the middle of the night, they'll be there.' 'Entrenched interests don't represent the future.' Instead, you should speak with 'sensible people who are not fanatics.'

He showed many examples of highly walkable neighbourhoods with a mix of densities, attractive shared open space and neighbourhood scale retail.

Rick Cole

City Manager, Ventura

Living Better: Consuming Less

Chris Ryan [CR] spoke about the future inspired work that has been overseen by VEIL for an inner city redevelopment site.

It will be informed by 'slow' (as in slow food), it will be productive and it will have a re-shaped urban form.

Above all Chris spoke of the importance of imagining a positive and inspired vision of the future and opening up to the rich ideas of emerging designers.

• 'creating a movement for expanding optimism'
• 'motivating change'
• 'we cannot afford to create one building that is not sustainable (that would need to be retro fitted later). Docklands already needs retro fitting

Victorian Environment Innovation Lab

Chris Ryan

Rob Adams

Climate Change Adapation Symposium
3 and 4 June 2009

Rob Adams

Rob spoke about the need to densify the city. He spoke again about the desirability of increasing density along tram lines.

• 75% of emissions come from cities - this is why we have to work with cities
• the liveability that people talk about is becoming sustainability
• 'design a good street and you design a good city'
• all the most liveable cities are dense - Barcelona for example. Buildings of 7 to 8 storeys. Create 75% active frontages. Hang on to your heritage buildings
• we have all the space we need along major transport corridors to build all the housing we need without extending the urban growth boundary.
• 'productive suburbs' that can remain largely unchanged
• we have got to tackle the cost of building over 3 storeys as it is inhibiting consolidation

There is a discussion about density along tram lines at

http://www.walkingmelbourne.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=5809&start=0&sid=1237bdae3cc7a1208c232c81294748b8