Regional by Peter Calthorpe and William Fulton

 

Regional by Peter Calthorpe and William Fulton  is a reading focussed on renewing urban neighbourhoods from the detrimental failures of a series of problems that have plagued the metropolitan area such as, racial bias, economic stagnation, deteriorating schools, gentrification, cheap suburban alternatives etc.

1. Efforts have been made for an urban revitalisation, infill and redevelopment in most cities for some time. These primary problems must be addressed at a regional level as well as a local one. A healthy framework of regional policies needs to be implemented that address affordable housing, schools and tax-base equity. Only then will the urban renewal of neighbourhoods successfully reengage with the opportunity of traditional urbanism.

2.  Several strategies that can transform a neighbourhood by instilling social, economic and physical change include:

-          Regional fair-share housing programs, as this can help dissipate the poverty that distorts the culture and future of many inner-city neighbourhoods.

-          Regional tax sharing schemes can rebalance the capacity of cities to provide services and reduce tax burdens on businesses.

-          Regionally targeted school vouchers can create many acceptable areas for middle class households, while empowering lower earning households.

-          Regionally linked transit systems can provide much needed job access for lower income city residents to the new commercial centres, as well as the reverse.

 

3. A program that has emerged to tackle these degenerating problems on urban neighbourhoods is HUD. This program recognises that while regional problems can help the city, the city itself can aid the region in overcoming sprawl. Several key strategies that have emerged include:

-          The problems and opportunities of urban renewal must be seen in a regional context rather than an isolated problem of a neighbourhood or city.

-          Similarly, the programs and policies that are to be initiated must be seen as whole systems in the context of whole neighbourhoods, rather than isolated programs with separate initiatives.

-          It is this process of regional design, urban renewal and suburban infill that must be inclusive.

-          Community participation is a critical aspect of achieving urban renewal. The process involves educating and engaging the public so that they are given the tools to create their own vision and challenge them to devise their own solutions to the problems.

4. It is not only the neighbourhood in which the process requires unification to succeed but myriad federal and state problems, local city initiatives and local civic groups all need to be integrated. It is with the efforts of a ‘whole system’ that a deeper understanding on how the physical form of a neighbourhood can play a critical role in connecting and facilitating many social and economic programs. There are two federal programs that are part of this urban rethinking, they are:

-          HUD’s Consolidated Planning initiative. It was created with the aim of prompting urban districts to create a neighbourhood vision that integrates all the departments programs with local and citywide efforts. To do this it provides tools, the incentives and the means for neighbourhoods to restructure their applications for support. It is an approach that is holistic, linking economic, human, physical, environmental, and design concerns to build viable communities of opportunity.

-          The second is HUD’s HOPE of VI program. It was created with the goal of providing money to rebuild and redevelop many of America’s worst public housing projects. It concentrates on areas that are a drain on surrounding neighbourhoods. It does this by challenging the neighbourhood to look for a grassroots solution and think about the bigger picture of the neighbourhood framework when it comes to redesigning the public housing projects.

 

       5.   The Consolidated Planning program hopes to overcome and remedy past                      

              mistakes that include:

-    Isolated income groups, family support systems, and housing types

-    Destroyed community identity and history in both an architectural and

      intuitional context,   

-    Dispersed civic facilities and community focus,

-    Displaced small local businesses,

-    Created ‘lost space’ such as freeways and major roads that dissect   

      neighbourhoods and isolate communities.

-    Damaged Natural systems

To do this the first step is to assess the community assets and needs in a methodical manner. Through this a series of community workshops can be developed to provide a comprehensive vision for a three – five year time frame. The vision is called the Community Partnership Strategy and becomes the core of the funding applications to HUD and plan of how all the public community groups, institutions, organisations, families and individuals of the community can coordinate their efforts. It creates benchmarks to measure the progress over time and provides a self-correcting mechanism that allows the vision to adapt and evolve as it does progress.

6. There are four principles involved in laying out a Consolidated Plan, these include:

-          Neighbourhood and community –neighbourhoods form the basis of both the community and the region.

-          Human development and human scale - individuals and families should be the measure of community.

-          Diversity and balance – heterogeneous communities have qualities that generate social capital that create opportunities and growth.

-          Sustainability, restoration and conservation – communities should nurture and restore the natural and built environment, as well as the social fabric.

With these principles it is possible to focus on:

-     Building programs and economic development strategies around            

      neighbourhoods rather than governments.

-     Replacing public housing projects and bureaucratic institutions with     

      human scale communities and local services.

-    Advancing the idea of diverse communities over functionally isolated 

     government programs and segregated land uses.

-    Focus on restoring and conserving human and natural resources rather  

than squandering them.

7. The Consolidated Planning program moves beyond the traditional boundaries of urban revitalization to two fundamental goals which are:

-          To create a neighbourhood that integrates the social, economic and physical dimensions of community building

-          To reinforce these connections to the surrounding city and regions.

 

The community of Ventura, California, for example used the Consolidated

Planning program to create an integrated vision for a low income and mostly

Latino neighbourhood. The neighbourhood gained funds from a series of public workshops. Then presented the city council with an idea based on urban design, economic development and the restoration and reuse of historic buildings. The building that was to be restored was the neighbourhoods signature building – previously a hotel, it was developed into a community library with affordable apartments on the top floor. The library is now the focal point of the community.

8. HOPE IV is a program that has fundamentally rethought the nature and        identity of public housing. It calls for public housing to be designed as neighbourhoods rather than projects. For them to be for various incomes rather than ghettos for the poor and that they are sensitive extensions of a city’s urban history rather than super blocks and high-rises.

The design is to create direct connections to the surrounding neighbourhoods, safe streets, integrated civic spaces, and homes that confer identity and pride. It does this by supporting private yards instead of unsafe common areas, street addresses and front porches rather than building numbers and dark halls, traditional building and materials instead of modernist apartment blocks.

9. The goals that HOPE IV aim to achieve include:

-          Creating mixed income neighbourhoods in the place of projects

-          To rebuild public housing to fit an areas history and surrounding character

-          To support self sufficiency and independence through a continuum of social and economic programs

-          Promote private and public sector partnerships to leverage public investments and increase economic development.

10.

It is important to note that the federal government is not the only major player     in revitalizing neighbourhoods, and the Consolidating Planning and HOPE IV are not the only programs to initialise this revitalization. However, they do target the toughest neighbourhoods and have both had results in transforming neighbourhoods into strong communities that play an important role in the city and region. But, these success stories need to be looked at on a regional level rather than isolated change as they can then become more powerful. They can create and instigate a new vision of the Regional City, one where the problems of sprawl and inequity can at last be addressed properly and solved.