Lesson 18 for Grad Course on CSS (from UTCM Report #08-14-03 "Making Mobility Improvements a Community Asset: Transportation Improvements Using Context-Sensitive Solutions")

1. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Class 18 Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
Placemaking with CSS
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2. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Placemaking with CSS Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
“We will never bring disgrace on this, our city, by any
act of dishonesty or cowardice. We will fight for the
ideals and sacred things of the city, both alone and with
our companions. We will revere and obey the city’s
laws. We will try unceasingly to quicken the sense of
civic duty in others. In every way we will strive to pass
the city on to our children greater and better than it
was when our parents passed it on to us.”
— Oath taken by the young men of Athens upon reaching adulthood during
the Golden Age (500-400 B.C.)
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3. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
So..What Makes It a Place? Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
Northgate
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4. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Why Make Places? Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
6th Street Austin
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5. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Placemaking Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
• What is a great street?
• What is great public space?
• The role of managing street vs. building it?
• Negotiating diverse interests adds value:
best structure for managing context
sensitive design?
• Judging economic/ social return: appropriate
time frame?
• Applicability to other settings?
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6. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Placemaking with CSS Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
Placemaking
•Began in the 1970s by architects and planners
•Describes the process of creating squares,
plazas, parks, streets and waterfronts
•Designed to attract people
•Usually pleasurable or interesting
•Landscape important in the design process
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7. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Placemaking with CSS Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
The philosophy of "placemaking" centers on the
belief that a public-participation process defining
and responding to community conditions and needs
from the outset is one of the most critical factors in
achieving transportation design that is truly
sensitive to its context.
Placemaking begins with a thorough understanding
of the dynamics, desires, and conditions within a
community.
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8. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Community Defined Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
• Sense of place: Geographic setting or
natural/physical boundaries, standards of
living, political jurisdictions
• Sense of community: Social interaction,
common ties, mutual satisfaction of needs,
and often a shared space
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),
from Community Culture and the Environment: A Guide to Understanding a Sense of Place
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9. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Transportation Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
How can Placemaking be applied
to transportation projects?
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10. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Sense of Place Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
Yoakum

11. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Sense of Place Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design

12. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Sense of Place Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
Las Colinas

13. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Sense of Place Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
Uvalde

14. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Placemaking Principles Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
Philosophical Underpinnings
1. The community is the expert
2. Highways create place
3. Teamwork is fundamental
4. Obstacles create opportunity
From the Wisconsin Department of Transportation
(adapted from Project for Public Spaces)
http://www.contextsensitivesolutions.org/content/topics/what_is_css/core-principles/principles/
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15. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Placemaking Principles Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
Planning with the Community
5. Learn by observing
6. Develop a joint vision
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16. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Placemaking Principles Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
Designing with the Community
7. Form supports function
8. Synergistic solutions
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17. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Placemaking Principles Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
Implementation
9. Start with quick, small, visible success
10. Money will follow vision and action
11. The project is never complete
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18. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Placemaking with CSS Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
“Placemaking strives to balance all the users of a street
- pedestrians, transit riders, motorists, and bicyclists,
rather than on just designing roads to accommodate
motor vehicles. The focus is on how these streets and
roads connect to the surrounding districts and public
spaces and make these areas more economically stable,
safe, and productive. The input of those who use and
experience a place on a regular basis is essential to the
Place-making process."
How Transportation and Community Partnerships are
Shaping America: Part I: Transit Stops and Stations
http://www.contextsensitivesolutions.org/content/readin
g/how-transportation/resources/how-transportation/
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19. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Placemaking Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
Legacy Town Center Main Street, Plano
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20. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Placemaking Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
Master Planned
Business, Retail
and Residential
Community

21. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Placemaking Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
16th Street Mall in Denver
Pedestrian and Transit
• Original 13-block Mall
opened in October 1982
• 2 years to build
• LoDo portion from Blake
Street to Denver Union
Station constructed in 1992
• 1.25 miles long

22. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Placemaking Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
• The idea for the Mall was initiated in 1976
• City of Denver
• Downtown Denver Partnership (DDP)
• Downtown Denver Business Improvement District
(BID)
• Regional Transportation District (RTD)
• Average 55,000 people use RTD’s Free MallRide shuttles
every weekday
• More than 15 million riders annually
• 36 ultra-low emission hybrid-electric vehicles
• Each shuttle can carry approximately 115 passengers

23. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Placemaking Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
16th Street Mall
Denver

24. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Placemaking Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
16th Street Mall
Denver

25. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Placemaking Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
Main Street Houston
"The emphasis (of the plan) is on public
spaces - the streets and squares that will link
various uses together. High-coverage
buildings are encouraged to promote street-
oriented architecture and active sidewalks.
Although there is less open space, it will be of
a much higher quality."
Main Street Corridor Master Plan

26. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Main Street Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
• Most historic street in Houston
• Was lined by Houston’s finest
architecture and retailers
• De facto bus mall by the 1980’s

27. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Main Street Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
1990’s planned as Transit Street- 130 buses/ hour

28. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Main Street Corridor Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
• 1998- Mayor Brown wanted light rail
• Main was the logical choice
• Main Street Coalition formed and sponsored a
master plan for corridor
• Ehrenkrantz, Eckstut & Kuhn Architects (EEK)
won competition

29. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Main Street Coalition Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
• Central Houston, Inc. (a business association)
• The Midtown Redevelopment Authority
• The South Main Center Association
• Institutions such as the Texas Medical Center and the
Museum of Fine Arts
• The City of Houston
• Harris County
• The Metropolitan Transit Authority
• The Houston-Galveston Area Council, the metropolitan
planning organization (MPO) for the region
• The Texas Department of Transportation
• Other civic groups and nonprofit and businesses

30. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Main Street Coalition Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
Coalition Goals
• Revitalize and transform the Main Street Corridor through the
strategic integration of land use and transportation/transit;
• Stimulate and intensify development, including inner-city
residential housing, new businesses, and urban beautification;
• Offer an alternative to the continuation of the fragmented,
haphazard development patterns of the last few decades;
• Coordinate and leverage public and private investment; and
• Institute innovative techniques to evaluate activites’ success.

31. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Main Street Corridor Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
• Metro determines that it
can build $324 million
light rail with local funds
• 7 mile corridor with
250,000 employees
• 50,000 residents
• Major museums, schools,
parks, hospitals, sports

32. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Main Street in Downtown Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
• METRO limited funds-
$33.1 million downtown
• Vision for great street
• Economic development
worries
• Diverse, long standing
stakeholders
• Concerns about follow
through

33. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Main Street LRT Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
Stakeholders debated optimum configuration
for Main Street with light rail

34. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Main Street in Downtown Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
EEK’s vision for great green street: “oasis”

35. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Main Street in Downtown Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
TIRZ/District funded sidewalk enhancements
& other upgrades- $16.8 million

36. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Main Street in Downtown Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design

37. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Main Street Streetscape Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design

38. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Transit to Tunnel Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
Superstop- 1993

39. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Vision for Core Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
• Stakeholder group
effort with EEK
• Major public square
• LRT Central Station
• Safety concerns of
METRO
• High quality finishes
• Funding sources?

40. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Design Concepts Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design

41. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Main Street Square Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
Central Houston funding of $6.4 million of
three blocks public space

42. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Main Street Square Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
Implementation
• Fulfills 1992 concept for public place in the core
• Extremely difficult deadline: New Year’s Day 2004
• Funding risk
• Multiple construction contracts
• Agreement of City to close street-conflicting views
• Operating responsibility: Downtown District

43. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Main Street Square Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design

44. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Main Street Square Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design

45. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Main Street Square Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design

46. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Main Street Square Today Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
• Highest pedestrian concentration in City
• Retail sales have increased
• Attracting new development
• But…remaining needs to upgrade adjacent
properties
• Street management challenges
• Central station vs. central square?

47. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Main Street Lessons Learned Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
• Communication and coordination are critical.
• Build trust through small-group and one-to-
one meetings.
• Keep people continuously engaged.
• Private-sector involvement is critical to
success.
• Urban arterials can be reinvented with a
transit and pedestrian focus.

48. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Placemaking with CSS Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
Key Attributes of a Great Place
• Access and Linkages
• Comfort and Image
• Uses and Activities
• Sociability
http://www.pps.org/info/gps/60places?referrer=gps_home
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49. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Placemaking with CSS Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
Project for Public Spaces
• Building Community through Transportation
• Streets as Places
• Thinking Beyond the Station
http://www.pps.org/info/gps/60places?referrer=gps_home
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50. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Placemaking with CSS Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
• Getting Ready
– Step 1: Assess public space challenges
– Step 2: Select a site
– Step 3: Identify key stakeholders
• Evaluating your neighborhood
– Step 4: Collect data
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51. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Placemaking with CSS Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
• Making a place plan
– Step 5: Conduct place evaluation workshop
– Step 6: Translate the ideas into action with a working group
– Step 7: Develop a visual concept plan
– Step 8: Create a summary report and presentation
• Implementing your place plan
– Step 9: Implement short-term actions
– Step 10: Develop long-term design and management plans
– Step 11: Assess results and replicate
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