27 July 2012
Martin Kelly compares the approach to the
creation of sustainable communities in the UK and
USA
Recently I visited Washington DC, USA, as part of my role as
Deputy Vice Chairman of the Victoria Business Improvement District
here in London. The trip was to cement the flourishing partnership
between the Victoria and Washington BIDs enabling us to share best
practice and ideas, as we seek to enhance the life and economies of
our respective cities through the implementation of a more
sustainable approach to planning and development. With much of the
world’s focus settling on the work in NYC and San Francisco and
major projects such as Treasure Island (pictured above) and
Hunters Point, I was unsure what to expect. However, during my
visit, I was to discover that the nation's capital is home to a
number of exemplar projects, which not only set the standard for
sustainable development within cities around the world, but gave me
plenty of food for thought, as to what we could learn from their
approach.
As the heart of America's federal government,
most people perceive Washington DC as merely being the home of the
nation's political elite. However, the city has a diverse
population and supports residents of all income levels. Like many
US cities, Washington has suffered from the growth of
suburbanisation which led to the creation of a downtown core that
became desolate once the working day was over. It also had its fair
share of neighbourhoods that were in desperate need of regeneration
- some of these had a rich heritage, but over the years had slowly
become ‘no go’ areas.
Over the past decade, Washington has been
working to address the challenges it faces and what was a very
barren downtown core has slowly been transformed. The most renowned
of its downtown schemes is the Columbia Heights regeneration. Here,
a once neglected part of the city has been one of the first areas
to benefit from the district’s comprehensive plan which has
at its core a vision to create successful neighbourhoods that
strengthen neighbourhood identity, create housing choices, guide
growth, improve environmental and physical health, and target
investment.
It was also the beneficiary of a Neighborhood
Investment Fund Plan that allocates investment funds over a five
year period based on priorities identified by the community. These
cover areas such as affordable housing, commercial revitalisation,
small business assistance, and training and education. Alongside
this, the Columbia Heights Public Realm project has provided
residents and visitors with a variety of benefits including
improved sidewalks, landscaping, a new plaza, and signature
fountain.
Anacostia Riverside is another landmark scheme
in the DC area and has been designed to showcase best practice in
waterfront revitalisation. Covering two million sq ft this
neglected stretch of Brownfield land and project housing alongside
the Chesapeake Bay is now home to the Washington Nationals baseball
team and a thriving mixed use community. The project was brought to
fruition with both federal and city assistance, starting in 2006
when the US Congress approved the Federal District of Columbia
Government Real Property Act, a unique interagency land exchange
that enabled the district to redevelop 500 acres of waterfront
land. This played a huge part of the project's success, along with
support from President Obama - who appointed a special assistant to
the Chesapeake Bay and Anacostia River and issued an executive
order to restore and protect the Chesapeake Bay elevating the
waterfront to becoming a federal priority. In addition, the scheme
was able to attract substantial private and public sector funding
with over $7.1billion coming from the private sector and $1.8
billion coming from the public purse. Transportation strategies to
connect the area to the wider Beltway region, a waterfront park and
the creation of destination spaces such as the Arena Stage also
helped to transform the area.
But what can we learn from Washington DC and the wider US
approach here in the UK?
The role of government in driving schemes
forward is certainly key. In US cities such as Washington - where
they have made good inroads towards a more sustainable approach -
the support and commitment from city leaders has been crucial.
Mayor Bloomberg in New York City, Mayor Villaraigosa in Los Angeles
and former Mayor Newsom in San Francisco, are prime examples of
leaders who have driven the debate and worked to introduce a more
sustainable way of development and planning, through major new
schemes; building codes; and greener forms of public transit and
Transit Oriented Development (TODs).
...Ideas such as DC"s neighbourhood investment funds could also be a great way to help communities in the UK focus spending on the areas that they believe will benefit residents and visitors the most...
In the current economic climate, project
funding is going to remain a huge issue for some time to come.
However, in the US, methods such as Tax Incremental Financing (TIF)
and the ability for cities to raise their own bonds have been used
successfully to finance a number of schemes. TIF has been
highlighted by the UK government as a potential way of funding as
part of the National Infrastructure Plan and I believe we should
look to best practice examples in the USA for guidance, as to how
we can roll this out to greatest effect.
Ideas such as DC's neighbourhood investment
funds could also be a great way to help communities in the UK focus
spending on the areas that they believe will benefit residents and
visitors the most. Meanwhile, PACE programmes - like that run by
Berkeley in California- have enabled US cities to increase the
adoption of green technologies and could also be used effectively
here.
The Americans are also leading the debate
around the transformation of suburbia, as they seek to create mixed
use communities in areas where retail or commercial activity is no
longer creating value. These new schemes aim to create a focal
point for the surrounding subdivisions, increase ‘walkability’,
greening and reduce car usage.
Ellen Dunham Jones gave a great talk to TED in
Atlanta during January 2010 on this topic, citing a number of
examples where strip malls or parking lots had been transformed to
create mixed use communities, which had a positive impact on the
surrounding population. University Town Center in Hyattsville
Maryland, just outside DC is a prime example of this. Here, what
once was a parking lot next to some offices was turned into a mixed
use community surrounding the new metro station, complete with
residential housing, a new main street, public art installation and
offices. In Belmar, Colorado, a large one storey mall has been
turned into a new downtown mixed use community with retail, leisure
and residential facilities while eight new bus lines and new public
realm design have also increased the ‘walkability’ of the scheme,
helping to get residents out of their cars.
Small retrofits can also have a huge impact.
The new public library in Denton, Texas was created by retrofitting
a former Food Lion grocery store and removing 75 parking lot spaces
to accommodate a xeriscaped pedestrian friendly green space with
walkways. While the conversion of three small strip mall buildings
including a post office and laundromat have resulted in the
destination space Le Grande Orange in Phoenix, Arizona which
contains a gourmet grocery and restaurant. With so many failed
retail areas in the UK, there must be many opportunities for us to
adopt this approach within our own suburban and urban areas,
helping to create spaces which have a positive impact on our
communities and generate social, environmental and economic
benefits.
Our growing partnership with the Washington
BID, which continues to go from strength to strength, will almost
certainly assist us to understand how we can take the best practice
from the US and adopt it here in the UK. Planned staff exchanges
between the two BIDs and the formal launch of our partnership in
the autumn will provide us with many new opportunities to learn
from each other, so that communities on both sides of the Atlantic
can benefit.
Martin Kelly
(martin.kelly@capita.co.uk)
is a Director at Capita Symonds
For further information
visit
http://www.victoria-partnership.co.uk/About-Us-5143.html
http://www.downtowndc.org/